Book of Blood

1/22/2025

Fresh from his success as tea-time totty "Robin Hood" for the BBC, Jonas Armstrong takes on something altogether more sinister here in this low brow adaptation of Clive Barker's "Book of Blood" stories. He is "Simon" who becomes the fascination of writer "Mary" (Sophie Ward) who works with her electronics expert buddy to track down the paranormal. Of course the vast majority of her cases end up fakes, but she senses something legit about her new pal and when they all find themselves in a really creepy Edinburgh house, she thinks that just perhaps they are slap bang in the middle of a super spooky highway where souls commute from here to there! Thing is, is he the real deal or is it all smoke and mirrors? He's not a shy man and is semi-naked for much of this film; Ward isn't far behind and

5/1/2026

This is nowhere near as good or as though-out as the 2020-version. This narrative-within-a-narrative is not a draw, the story meanders at times and then tries to rush tension. The characters are not really compelling, and thus the tension is missing. The casting is decent and the direction is good, but that's not enough to live up to the later version, which showed how to utilize this potential better.