Director – Madellaine Paxson
Starring – Ari Boyland (Power Rangers R.P.M.), Milo Cawthorne (Deathgasm), and Olivia Tennet (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)
Release Date – 2015
Rating – 3.5/5
Tagline – “Live the same day. Die a different way”
Some of you may recall several years ago when I coined the term Wal-Mart horror when I was reviewing a generic slasher that was a blind buy when I was at Wal-Mart because it had an awesome DVD case. Since then I have used it to refer to films that I have seen over the years that tend to walk the lines of mediocrity and can usually be purchased at major retailers.
I have seen so many films like that before and when I was sent Blood Punch I thought it was another one of those films. However, I quickly changed my mind when I saw that it starred Olivia Tennet. I love Lord of the Rings, and when people pick and bicker over Star Wars and Star Trek I sit to the side picking the side of Middle Earth. Thank you Midnight Releasing for sending this one my way!
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows former chemistry student Milton (Cawthorne) who was sentenced to rehab after he was busted with a meth lab. While he is attending one of the meetings, he runs into the super hot Skyler (Tennet). She convinces him to break out of the rehab center with her to cook meth for just one day with promises of making enough money to where the two of them, along with her cop boyfriend, can retire. They head out to a secluded cabin to cook the batch.
He strangely awakes on the couch and heads down to the basement to cook when Skyler’s boyfriend shows up with a gun and interrupts him. Milton tries to tell him he is not finished yet but he interrupts him by telling him what needs to be done. Milton is shocked by this revelation and tries to fight back resulting in his death. Skyler and Milton bury the body and go back in the cabin only to awake the next day as if nothing had happened. Milton then learns that they have been there for sometime now reliving the same day over and over again.
It started out with Skyler’s boyfriend killing Milton so many times that she starts to fall for him and started killing her boyfriend. They try to break the cycle and soon learn that this ongoing cycle is related to a Native American bloodbath.**Spoiler Alert**
When I received the film I just thought this would be another barely watchable flick with the only redeemable quality being the cover art. However, that was far from the truth with Blood Punch. The film was surprisingly entertaining…and surprisingly void of blood.
The acting in this one is amazing. Ari Boyland and Milo Cawthorne are great. Boyland is intense and brings a lot of impact to the film. His character is one you will love to hate. Cawthorne does a great at job at playing the film’s protagonist and is a very convincing underdog. Neither of them are on the same level as Olivia Tennet. She brought tons of chaos to the film and stole every scene she was in. It also helps that she is insanely hot. The story for this one is Groundhog’s Day meets Breaking Bad but with kill after kill after kill.
The story pretty much runs it’s course fairly early on but the ending of the film does bring about a different take on the same story making it somewhat enjoyable again. The film really needed something different tossed in to make the story really go the distance.
Finally, the film has several deaths but most of which relied heavily on editing and camera cuts. We miss a majority of the kills which was a bit of a bummer. With a film titled Blood Punch and a plot revolving around a plethora of deaths, one would assume we would get to see one instead of cleverly calling cut. The practical effects look great, in fact, they look amazing. Which makes me wonder why all the kill scenes took place mostly off camera. Overall, Blood Punch is a fun film that offers up a great cast and a fun movie watching experience. Check it out just keep it mind it’s not the blood bath the title makes you believe.
