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Family Blood

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Sonny Mallhi

Vinessa Shaw

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Family Blood (3/5)

Posted by Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard | May 8, 2018 | 4 minutes

Family Blood is a very simple story that just works. A slow-burner and an interesting new twist on the vampire genre. Be sure to check it out!

After watching the trailer for  Family Blood , I knew it would be a movie for me. Not only does it star Vinessa Shaw from  Clinical  ( read our review of that little gem here ), it also seems very laidback.

The vampire genre has suffered from a teen-romance vibe ever since  Twilight and  Vampire Diaries . Nothing wrong with that, but I like for it to be mixed up a bit.  Family Blood is more along the lines of  The Transfiguration , but with more horror and drama to it.

In fact, it also reminded me of  Raw , which is definitely a compliment. In other ways, it had a  Fright Night vibe to it. Generally speaking, I don’t like to mention other movies to describe something, but when it’s a smaller movie, it helps get the idea across.

You can watch the trailer for Family Blood right here or continue reading our review below.

Vinessa Shaw should be an indie horror icon

I can’t remember having seen Vinessa Shaw in anything and not be impressed. Or rather, she always makes an impact. I first remember seeing her in Alexandre Aja’s remake of  The Hills Have Eyes from 2006 and she’s been on my radar ever since.

As a rule, I’ll watch anything with Vinessa Shaw in it.

While she often does both drama and thrillers, she often works on projects that touch on the horror genre as well. I know  Family Blood could easily be described as a thriller, but come on, this  is a vampire movie . Even if the story is told in a slightly different way. And vampires are definitely part of the horror genre.

In  Family Blood , she delivers yet another great performance in the role of Ellie;  A recovering addict, who divorced her husband and has her two teenage kids living with her.

The kids remember all too well how their mom is on drugs. This means they’re also very aware of any signs that she’s using again. Vinessa Shaw has to play the role very delicately to make sure the audience can understand both her point of view and that of her kids. She absolutely nails it as far as I’m concerned.

• Deliver Me – Netflix Series Review - April 24, 2024
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• The Jinx: Part Two – HBO/Max Review - April 20, 2024

About The Author

Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!

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Average Movie Reviews

Movie Reviews and Explanations from an Average Moviegoer.

Family Blood (2018) Explained

An average movie-goer’s review, spoilers if you don’t want spoilers – check out the spoiler-free post.

I love horror movies and if I’m going to watch them anyway, why not write an entertaining/funny review from the POV of an average movie-goer and not a professional critic.

Today we’re looking at the Netflix 2018’s exclusive, Family Blood

Recovering drug addict Ellie (Vinessa Shaw) becomes addicted to a deadlier substance after she’s attacked by a vampiric monster.

Is it Scary?

While there are a few cheap jump scares and Family Blood tries to set up a creepy atmosphere, it leans more into a character study of how addiction can destroy a family. In the end won’t you leave the movie scared unless you’re weirdly addicted to blood and refuse to try any other means to get it besides murder.

Detailed Plot:

The film opens with a crying girl hiding in her home from an intruder. Thinking she’s safe she grabs a crucifix off the wall and slowly walks through the house as she calls out for her other family members.

Approaching a closet, a man, who she calls Richard, off-screen tells her he couldn’t help himself implying he killed them. After she sees her family’s bodies in the closet she raises the crucifix up to Richard but he says it won’t work.

Richard tells her he loved her and her family and could’ve brought them but he couldn’t help himself. Richard tells her to run before it’s too late but as she runs to several exits he appears at each of them preventing her escape, which is sending some pretty mixed messages.

At one of the doors, although we don’t see his face, Richard removes his teeth to reveal some pretty jacked-up teeth and he attacks as we cut to black. So I guess he’s a vampire or wolf kind of monster?

Title screen!

We open at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting and meet our main character Ellie (played by Vinessa Shaw). While another member named Eddie shares his story, Ellie looks out in the distance so we, the audience, know that she’s been through some shit. Who cares what Eddie is saying right? 

When it’s Ellie’s turn to share her story we learn she and her family just recently moved to the area. Due to alcohol and pills, her husband divorced her and took away the kids. She eventually got them back but she still struggles with keeping clean.

Arriving back at her home, there’s a jump scare when a cat jumps out of the bushes and we learn it belongs to her neighbor Ms. Jensen. There’s a bit of hostility when Mr. Jensen accuses Ellie of trying to buy her out of the neighborhood, AKA gentrification, but Ellie assures her she’s just renting.

The following day at a high school we meet Ellie’s kids, troublemaker Kyle (played by Colin Ford) and the younger introvert Amy (played by Eloise Lushina). Kyle is suspended by the principal for pulling the fire alarm, getting into two fights, and defacing school property. Although Kyle says he didn’t tag the bulletin board with graffiti it doesn’t help his case when the principal never mentioned the bulletin board.

Later Kyle is at a skatepark drawing in a notebook when another student, Meegan (played by Ajiona Alexus) approaches him. She reveals she was the one who tagged the bulletin board and asks to see his drawings. Kyle is a bit shy but eventually lets her, and Meegan comments “wow… you might be a serial killer Kyle, in a good way.” What the fuck does that even mean?

That night Ellie is back at the Narcotics Anonymous meeting and the group welcomes new member Christopher (played by James Ransone). Afterward, feeling good about herself, Ellie decides to head to the nearby park to swing on the swings and spots Eddie who didn’t show up to the meeting.

She approaches him asking why he didn’t show and he offers her some pills which she takes. Back on the swings and tripping balls, she doesn’t see Christopher attack Eddie. As she passes out, Christopher walks over to her and removes his teeth revealing himself to be Richard from the start of the movie. 

After biting into his wrist, Richard pulls Ellie’s head back and drips blood into her mouth. He then grabs Eddie’s body and jumps clear over a pretty large wall. 

Sometime later, Ellie wakes up and stumbles back to her car but slips and gives herself a pretty nasty cut on her forehead. Before she can open her car door, Richard appears behind her and snaps her neck making you question, “hey why didn’t you just do that before when she was unconscious?”

We see a quick glimpse of a scene with red lighting (red light always means evil) where Richard is draining Eddie’s blood into a bucket. Cutting back to Ellie, she wakes up with no recollection of her death and heads back home.

The next morning Amy wakes Ellie who has a large bandage on her head and asks her to see the wound. Ellie removes the bandage and she no longer has a wound. Meanwhile, Kyle is standing by the door and it’s clear he believes Ellie is using again. Later Ellie starts having other vampire symptoms when she stares a bit too long at Amy’s neck.

At Narcotics Anonymous, Ellie reveals she used but we cut away before we see any fallout from that admission. Now in a diner with Richard, he thanks her for agreeing to get coffee and tells her she’s the only one who can understand him. Also, he has no reflection…

The next day Kyle catches Ellie vomiting up her entire life and assumes it’s drug-related but after searching the home he doesn’t find anything. That night while Ellie tastes some blood from a raw steak, Kyle and Amy are upstairs eating pizza trying to figure out if Ellie is using again.

Amy then looks at Kyle’s sketches and says she likes them because they make her feel at home.

Outside as Ellie has a cigarette she stares at her hand and possibly to test her new Wolverine-healing powers, she decides to burn her hand multiple times. Later as Kyle is sketching he gets a paper cut and after he falls asleep, Ellie smells the blood on the tissue in his trashcan. Searching through it she finds it and eats the tissue.

Heading back downstairs, she opens the front door and it’s Richard. The two sit outside and he admits to Ellie that he turned her into whatever he is. The whole conversation is pretty relaxed with barely any questions from Ellie despite the fact that she should be asking, “The fuck you mean whatever you are?” and “Wait, did you fucking kill me?”

Terrified Ellie realizes the burns on her hand are gone and starts to stumble back inside. Richard tells her it will get easier and asks to be invited inside so they can talk. Ellie refuses and goes inside.

The next night, Kyle finds Meegan spray-painting a random wall and the movie doesn’t want you to think how it was possible for this scenario to come about. Meegan doesn’t appear to ask either and instead, she brings him to a gallery where they talk about Ellie’s addiction. 

Meegan tells Kyle that maybe Ellie is going through something else, not drugs. She shares that her mother passed away from cancer but, despite showing signs of an illness, her mother always said she wasn’t sick. Since trauma bonding makes the best relationships, Kyle and Meegan kiss.

We cut to Ellie arriving at Narcotics Anonymous but deciding not to go in. Instead, she heads back home where she spots Ms. Jensen’s cat running by. Ellie chases after it, kills it, and starts just chomping on some raw feline mignon.

Walking back to the house, Kyle steps on a random nail, and at this point, the whole thing feels forced. I could buy the paper cut happening, but the very next day he just happens to step on a nail which will have him leaving blood on the floor? How many times is this kid going to get injured?

We then have a very cheap forced jumpscare when Amy, who is wandering around the house looking for Ellie, gets scared when Kyle walks into the house. 

Instead of tending to his wound, Kyle walks through the different rooms in the house leaving a blood trail and looking for Ellie. Hearing her crying in her room, he offers to help her and says he’s not going anywhere until she tells him what’s wrong. After she says he can’t help, Kyle leaves so he’s not the most resilient person.

Still not tending to his wounded foot, Kyle finds the backdoor open, walks outside, and finds Ms. Jensen’s cat in pieces. Turning back around he sees Ellie licking up the blood trail he’s been leaving behind with his foot. Looking up she sees him staring at her… awkward.

They then don’t talk about it! Not a, “hold up, what?” or even a “hey mom, once you’re done licking up my blood that’s on the ground, I got a quick question for ya. I’d be surprised if you didn’t know what it is.” 

Instead, Kyle forces Amy to pack a bag and they leave to go to their father’s house. Meanwhile, Ellie cleans up the rest of the blood trail, the normal way and is interrupted by the doorbell. Opening it, we see it’s Ms. Jensen who asks if Ellie has seen her cat. After Ellie says no, Ms. Jensen asks to search Ellie’s basement. Before Ellie can answer, she just walks right in and heads to the basement to search.

In the basement, Ellie kills her, and honestly, I’m with Ellie on this one. If you show up randomly at someone’s house, walk in uninvited, and then start searching their rooms like it’s your house don’t be shocked when you’re killed; I don’t even like unscheduled phone calls.

Meanwhile, Kyle and Amy have arrived at their father’s house and Kyle announces that he’s going back home to check on Ellie. So that’s a random change in character that just happens with no motivating factor.

Entering the basement Kyle is kicked out of it by Ellie who yells at him from a dark corner. Kyle runs up the stairs, grabs a knife, and heads back downstairs. A deeply regretful Ellie tells Kyle to call the police as the knife won’t protect him. Kyle sees Ms. Jensen’s body and goes to turn on the light but Ellie swipes at the lightbulb breaking it. A terrified Kyle runs upstairs and shuts the door behind him.

Moments later, Ellie breaks through it and runs out the back door in the sunlight. So the sun doesn’t hurt these vampires. That night Kyle is still contemplating calling the police and Ellie returns to the house. Later Richard arrives at the front door and Ellie tells Kyle to let him as he is the one who turned her.

Kyle implies that Richard is a vampire but Richard corrects him that the word is made up as if all words aren’t made up. Kyle refuses to let him saying that since he’s a vampire he can’t come in unless he’s invited in. But Richard says he was just being polite and walks right in. Honestly, that got a pretty good chuckle out of me because it was a great joke set-up in several prior scenes.

Kyle asks why Richard turned Ellie and Richard says it’s because he cares about her… what? When was this shown? We also learn that the transformation is not curable probably because of the whole snapping the neck part but Richard says it’s a manageable addiction.

Basically, he’s saying that the “need to kill for blood” craving can be controlled after some time but, at first, you’ll need to get a few murders in.

Kyle yells at him to leave and Richard does… but only goes as far as sitting outside on the porch. Also, it’s nighttime now all of a sudden. Ellie shamefully looks at Kyle and leaves the house to join Richard on a hunt. Realizing that his mom and a stranger are about to kill someone for their blood, Kyle finally calls the cops.

Oh, wait, no he doesn’t. He just sulks at the house while Ellie and Richard target the waitress at the diner from earlier in the movie. While Ellie distracts her, Richard grabs her from behind and they presumably kill her. 

The following morning Ellie and Richard shower to get the blood off of them because I guess they’re messy eaters. Richard tries to talk to Kyle who for some reason is still in the house. Why wouldn’t he have left? Did he see them come back bloody and was just cool with it?

Also, he’s still holding that knife and wearing the same clothes as the day before; he’s in his house, he could have changed at any point. This makes me think this scene was supposed to happen a few scenes earlier in the movie during the random day/night switching.

Kyle watches as Ellie and Richard dance and Ellie asks Kyle to stay. Later as Ellie rests, Richard tells Kyle the vampirism will prevent Ellie from ever using drugs again. He then tries to convince Kyle that though he may perceive him as a monster, he’s actually there to keep him safe. Although this sentiment is completely undermined when a MOMENT later Richard throws Kyle down the stairs. What the fuck is happening in this movie.

We next see Kyle buying some things from a hardware store and then at his school using tools to make something. As he leaves he bumps into Meegan who tries to talk to him but he dismisses her and runs off. Kyle returns to the house and pulls a wooden stake out of his backpack but finds the house empty.

That night Ellie and Richard break into her ex-husband’s house and while Ellie wakes up Amy, Richard kills Amy and Kyle’s dad. In the morning they bring Amy back to the house, shocking Kyle who takes her to her room.

Later Kyle tells Amy to stay in her room no matter what she hears and, if you’ve seen movies, you know that means she’ll be leaving that room the first chance she gets.

Taking his wooden stake, Kyle approaches a sleeping Richard and takes forever to attempt to stab him. Unsurprisingly this gives Richard enough time to wake up and throw Kyle across the room. As Richard grabs him, Ellie appears and throws Richard across the room threatening him to stay away from Kyle because all of a sudden she wants to protect him.

Ellie tells Kyle to leave her alone with Richard to talk and Kyle reluctantly leaves. Ellie confronts Richard about her cravings and he admits he lied about it being a manageable addiction. So she beats the shit out of him. We don’t see any of it as we cut to Kyle and Amy (called it) outside the room reacting to the sounds of monstrous growls and items breaking from within the room.

The door opens and a severely injured Richard is gasping for air as he lays bleeding from a deep gash on his neck. Kyle enters and stabs him in the chest with the stake several times, eventually resorting to beheading him with a hatchet. By the way, Amy is watching the whole thing and no one has mentioned anything about what is going on to her.

Kyle drags Richard’s body to the basement and burns it. Meanwhile, the doorbell rings and it’s Meegan… in the same clothes as the day before. This further proves my theory that all the scenes are out of the originally intended order.

Ellie opens the door and Meegan is pretty freaked out because Ellie hasn’t cleaned Richard’s blood off of her. Meegan walks in and calls out to Kyle who runs up from the basement holding the bloody wooden stake pretty aggressively in his hand.

Ellie grabs Meegan from behind and we see her contemplating biting her as Kyle yells for her to let her go. Ellie fights the urge and throws Meegan away from her causing her to accidentally land on the wooden stake that Kyle is holding. So she’s dead.

From the stairs, Amy announces she’s called the police. You know, the thing Kyle should have done 2 days ago… or was it 3 days ago? Honestly, I don’t even know at this point. Also, the police literally arrive moments later, it’s like they were just waiting outside for a call.

Ellie sends Kyle and Amy to the basement but before doing so, begs them not to leave her. She then kills the cops. I have to say, knowing your mom is about to murder some cops is a pretty strong incentive to leave when she’s not looking. 

In the basement, Kyle helps Amy escape through a window and tells her to run. He then grabs his wooden stake and heads back upstairs. Kyle reveals to Ellie that Amy is gone and Ellie tells him he should leave too but he refuses. He throws the stake away and he hugs her completely forgetting she’s a vampire.

Ellie refuses to let go and is about to bite him but is stabbed in the side by Amy using the stake. By the way, this means Ellie was able to resist the urge to bite Meegan, a total stranger, but can’t resist the urge to bite her own son. 

Ellie falls to the ground and Kyle picks up the stake, raising it up to stab her. Ellie begs him to do it but he instead cuts his wrist and starts feeding her his blood so she can heal. Amy pushes him away and as he passes out, she wraps his wound with her sweater.

Ellie tries to help but Amy yells at her, demanding she leaves. This would be great character development for Amy if we knew literally anything about her character but, she was sidelined the whole movie.

Ellie leaves and there’s an annoyingly cheap jump scare with Kyle waking up and grabbing Amy’s arm. The film ends with a scene sometime later of Ellie putting on some fake teeth as we hear her introducing herself to a Narcotics Anonymous group and telling them she hopes to get her family back one day.

Family Blood is not good. While it has a great premise and some pretty good performances from James Ransone and Vinessa Shaw, it falls short everywhere else.

Character motivations don’t entirely sense or are expected to be pieced together by the audience without being given all the pieces. For example, we’re supposed to believe Richard fell in love and turned Ellie just because he saw her? The scene where she tells her story is cut off so we don’t see his reaction. It would have helped his character motivation if we saw his reaction when he first joins the group and hears her story.

The pacing and editing of this movie really ruins the third act. It shifts between morning and night literally within the same scene, Kyle does nothing but sit around for two days and make a wooden stake, and all characters wear the same clothes over the course of what is supposed to be 2 days. You’re left wondering what the characters have been doing the entire time other characters are shown besides sitting and waiting.

On top of that, Meegan’s death was supposed to signify Ellie overcoming the addiction but then Meegan dies anyway. It’s a pointless and contrived death that adds nothing to the story. It would have been more impactful to see Ellie overcome the urge from biting one of her children.

Kyle’s choices don’t make sense for his character in the third act. The only way it sort of makes sense is that the director/writer wanted to make it seem like Kyle was addicted to his family or mom but nothing from the first half of the movie supports that in any way so that justification is flimsy at best.

Despite all the negatives I’ve listed the movie isn’t entirely bad, it is effective at showing its main point, comparing the dangers of drug addiction with a vampire’s addiction to blood. You really feel for most of the family as the addiction of one starts to destroy the entire family.

Overall I wouldn’t recommend Family Blood unless you’re looking for a character-focused vampire movie with good acting, not a lot of vampire in it and if you’re not looking to be scared.

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Rotten Tomatoes – No Score / 9% Audience

Metacritic – No Score

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Family Blood

Where to Watch

Vinessa Shaw (Ellie) James Ransone (Christopher) Colin Ford (Kyle) Ajiona Alexus (Meegan) France Jean-Baptiste (Ms. Jensen) Eloise Lushina (Amy) Carson Meyer (Kristen) Louis Robert Thompson (Stephen Fuller) Ciaran Brown (Eddie) Davis Aguila (Police Officer #1)

Sonny Mallhi

Ellie, a recovering drug addict, moves to a new city with her two teenage children. Struggling to stay sober, her life changes when she meets Christopher, who is a different kind of addict.

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• Blumhouse Productions

Summary Ellie, a recovering drug addict, has just moved to a new city with her two teenage children. She has struggled to stay sober in the past and is determined to make it work this time, finding a stable job and regularly attending her meetings. Unfortunately, new friends, a new job, and the chance of a new life, can't keep Ellie from slippin ... Read More

Directed By : Sonny Mallhi

Written By : Nick Savvides, Sonny Mallhi

Family Blood

Vinessa Shaw

James Ransone

Christopher.

Ajiona Alexus

France jean-baptiste, eloise lushina, carson meyer, louis robert thompson, stephen fuller, ciaran brown, davis aguila, police officer #1, kate jo hughes, leader (secretary), erica hector, wallace tucker, bishop stevens, pawn salesman, denise santos, amy teacher, matthew davis, drug addict, david dickerson, dead parent, nicholas palacio, emmalee parker, critic reviews.

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[Review] ‘Family Blood’ Has Teeth, But Lacks a Strong Bite

Anyone who has dealt with the disease of addiction in their lives knows what an absolute nightmare it can be. Director Sonny Malhi ’s second feature film, Family Blood , seeks to take its audience on a journey through that nightmare.

The film follows Ellie ( Vinessa Shaw ), a divorced mother of two who has recently regained custody of her teenage children and moved to a “sketchy” neighborhood. Ellie happens to be a recovering pill addict who regularly attends Narcotics Anonymous meetings. One evening, a mysterious stranger, Christopher ( James Ransone ), an addict of a different sort, finds Ellie, high and barely conscious, in a park after a meeting and decides to assist her. After the interaction, Ellie begins to feel ill and notice changes in her appetite. Meanwhile, her children are fed up with both their mother’s apparent inability to remain sober and her new, twisted relationship with Christopher. Things come to a head when the children finally need to decide how to deal with their mother’s addiction once and for all.

Family Blood gets right to it and opens with a young girl frightfully searching her disheveled home for surviving family members while a mysterious person or entity hunts her down. The scene is suspenseful and sets up the viewer for an atmospheric thrill ride. Shockingly, Family Blood turns out to be a melodrama with gore. Sure, there is copious amounts of blood, but there is also the angsty teenage son, Kyle ( Colin Ford ), who acts out at school, broods in his room while listening to loud rap music, and draws disturbing pictures. Of course, Kyle begins dating Meegan ( Ajiona Alexus ), another angry teenager with delinquency issues whose mother died of an unnamed sickness, which is tearfully explained the second time the characters interact.

While it’s probably inevitable to go for the drama in a film about a mother in recovery and the effects her addiction has on her children, the after-school special type of teenagers, around whom most of the film is centered, are unnecessary and distracting. Addiction is a horrible, terrifying disease that is, unfortunately, not explored in much depth here. The cornerstones of what creates a film’s most basic addict character are all in place – Ellie has lost everything, she goes to Narcotics Anonymous meetings, she struggles to rebuild her family, but that’s about it. Instead of presenting the audience with a unique look into the life and mind of someone struggling with sobriety, a lot of time was spent focusing on mother-son arguments and unearned death scenes. For a film taking a bold stance and saying that addiction is itself a monstrous force and the horror is in the cycles it creates, there are no unique insights or thought-provoking ideas for the audience to grasp within this particular story. What’s more, the central thesis is so muddled by the useless drama that, by the end, it’s not altogether clear whose side Family Blood t akes.

That’s not to say the story is bad, after all, there is a rather poignant metaphor to be found within Family Blood . The issue is that the film is just simply not as groundbreaking as it believes itself to be or, perhaps worse, as it ultimately could have been. If the film had been a bit more patient with its story, dug a little deeper, gone a bit further into Ellie’s psyche, explored the struggles of addiction beyond what the audience has seen on various episodes of Intervention , Family Blood could have been excellent. To its merit, the film is stylized, well-shot, and makes good use of music. It even (fleetingly) touches upon important ideas surrounding gentrification and race. The one glaring issue with the film is that the concept is gripping, yet underdeveloped and rushed.

In addition to its great style and imagery, the film also boasts a wonderful lead actress in Vinessa Shaw. While the film never explicitly seeks to judge Ellie for her struggles, Shaw portrays the weary mother with such vulnerability and heartfelt empathy that it would be nearly impossible to do so. In one particular scene, Ellie recounts how she came to be addicted to pills to her Narcotics Anonymous group. It’s a heartbreaking moment, highlighted by how Shaw manages to convey pure despair and guilt with merely her face and her voice. The audience remains on Ellie’s side throughout the film, even when she relapses, even when she develops an insatiable bloodlust, and this is in large part due to Shaw’s performance.

Family Blood takes the seeds of a great idea and plants them in the soil, but nothing fully blooms. However, while the film may not live up to its full potential, the end product is certainly worth a watch. The film takes a risk in making a monster of addiction, and while Family Blood may stumble a bit, it’s a commendable effort despite itself.

Dog dad, film lover, horror fan, and bookworm. Used to be 5% more punk than he is now. Please follow @DaxEbaben on twitter

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‘The Strangers: Chapter 1’ Rated “R” for “Horror Violence” and “Language”

We are now less than one month away from the release of Lionsgate’s The Strangers: Chapter 1 , the first film in a brand new reboot trilogy from director Renny Harlin  ( A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master, Deep Blue Sea ). It’s coming to theaters May 17, 2024 .

The Strangers: Chapter 1 has officially been rated “R” this week for…

“Horror violence, language and brief drug use.”

For the sake of comparison, Bryan Bertino’s original home invasion film was rated “R” for “violence/terror,” while Prey at Night was rated “R” for “horror violence and terror throughout.”

Madelaine Petsch  (“Riverdale”),  Froy Gutierrez  ( Hocus Pocus 2 ),  Rachel Shenton  ( The Silent Child ),  Ema Horvath  (“Rings of Power”) and  Gabe Basso  ( Hillbilly Elegy ) star.

Based on the original 2008 cult horror franchise, the project features Petsch, who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend (Gutierrez) to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.

Here’s the full official synopsis: “After their car breaks down in an eerie small town, a young couple are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive .”

Renny Harlin ( Cliffhanger ,  Deep Blue Sea ,  Die Hard 2 ) is directing from a script by  Alan R. Cohen  and  Alan Freedland  ( The Freak Brothers ,  Due Date ). Lionsgate will distribute worldwide.

The Strangers  began in 2008 with Bryan Bertino’s original home invasion horror movie,  a terrifying film  that introduced three masked killers who returned 10 years later with  The Strangers: Prey at Night  in 2018. The first film took place in a remote house in the woods while the sequel brought the murderous Man in the Mask, Dollface and Pinup Girl into a trailer park.

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Family Blood

Ellie, a recovering drug addict, moves to a new city with her two teenage children. Struggling to stay sober, her life changes when she meets Christopher, who is a different kind of addict. Ellie, a recovering drug addict, moves to a new city with her two teenage children. Struggling to stay sober, her life changes when she meets Christopher, who is a different kind of addict. Ellie, a recovering drug addict, moves to a new city with her two teenage children. Struggling to stay sober, her life changes when she meets Christopher, who is a different kind of addict.

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Family Blood (2018)

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Ellie, a recovering drug addict, has just moved to a new city with her two teenage children. She has struggled to stay sober in the past and is determined to make it work this time, finding a stable job and regularly attending her meetings. Unfortunately, new friends, a new job, and the chance of a new life, can’t keep Ellie from slipping once again. Her life changes when she meets Christopher – a different kind of addict – which forces her daughter and son to accept a new version of Ellie.

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Family Blood: Ending Explained

Posted on May 12, 2018 by deffinition

Family Blood: Ending Explained By Deffinition

Family Blood is a 2018 Blumhouse Horror Film . The direct to Netflix movie centres around a single mother dealing with her transformation into a vampire .

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Avoiding the usual Jump-Scare centric motif that Blumhouse are known for, this movie thematically tries to study addiction under a horror premise.

Throughout this video, I will be discussing the film’s plot and ending as well as some of the main conceptual ideas that it tries to tackle.

There will be huge spoilers throughout this video so make sure you avoid this for now if you are looking to check out the film with fresh eyes.

With that out the way, I’m Deffinition and this is my ending explanation of Family Blood .

The Prologue

The film opens on Christopher , the movie’s main antagonist and vampire, slaughtering a family. Christopher attempts to control his addiction and let Kristen, the daughter escape but when his bloodlust gets the better of him he too adds her to the body count.

From here we join Ellie and her family. Ellie is a recovering drug addict that once was heavily under the influence of an unnamed pill. This addiction ruined her family and has led to her children having a troubled childhood that means they find it difficult fitting in and conforming to the rules.

During an addict’s meeting, Ellie is joined by Christopher. He fits in well because like the addicts, his efforts to control his vampirism often fail and his demons regularly get the better of him. We see this come to fruition when he kills a drug dealer and forces, Ellie, to become a monster like he is.

Ellie Becomes A Vampire

After this Ellie begins to exhibit signs that her body is transforming into a creature of the night. She rapidly heals from wounds and is unable to stomach anything other than blood. Her addiction is shown to grow monstrously when she digs through trash in order to find a blood-soaked napkin to eat and after this encounter, Christopher informs her that there is nothing she can do to halt the change.

Her bloodlust comes to a head when she murders a neighbour and her cat. Her son, Kyle, discovers this and realises what is happening. Christopher puts doubt in Kyle’s mind when he tells him that he cares about Ellie and that he did it to stop her from taking pills. He reiterates that she now has a new addiction but it can be managed and therefore Ellie will not ruin her family like she did when she was a slave to pills.

Ellie and Christopher begin a murder spree that culminates in Kyle attempting to kill the lead vampire once and for all. Failing to drive a steak through his heart, Ellie leaps to Kyles side and as a team, they manage to stop Christopher by stabbing him with a stake repeatedly. From this Kyle vows to never leave Ellie’s side but once again the addiction becomes too much and Ellie attempts to murder him. Both children violently fight their mother and are left on the brink of death whilst defending themselves.

Ellie flees into the night leaving them behind and at the films close we see Ellie going under a fake name, attending a new 12 step programme.

Personally I would like to take this as a positive note that she is trying to control her addiction, however, it is most likely that she is operating in a similar fashion that Christopher had and her next victim isn’t too far away.

What the themes of the film are

Family Blood is obviously heavily centered around addiction and whilst the vampirism is supernatural, there are several aspects of addiction based in reality that we see throughout the film. The most obvious is the fact that Ellie destroys her relationship with not only her lover but also her family. Addicts often express regret at how they have treated others when under the influence and drugs and alcohol are often cited as the reason for several breakups and estranged family relationships.

There are also several other allusions in the form of Ellie self-harming and going through rubbish looking for a hit. Meth addicts are often attributed as having picked at their face until there are deep scabs and cuts due to the drug’s effect on them and I have seen several addiction documentaries that often focus on people rooting through rubbish in order to secure something that can provide another hit.

Similar to the way that most addicts feel, Ellie views herself as a curse upon her family and thinks that they would be better off without her. This is often a tragic symptom of mental illness and addiction and one of the huge negativities of drugs that causes suffering in the long-term.

Overall I thought Family Blood did an admirable job at tackling some of the more weighty themes that exist today. However, the film was poorly paced in my eyes and the overall execution left it feeling hollow. This is a shame as there is a wealth of discussion to be had on the film thematically but it just doesn’t seem to quite nail down its points in a way that would provide an interesting analysis.

As always I’d love to hear your thoughts on the film so if you’ve seen it please comment below discussing your takeaways from it. If you are struggling with addiction then I highly recommend checking out Mind. They deal heavily with addiction and dependency and are always willing to help those who want to turn their life around.

If you enjoyed this video, please like it and subscribe to my channel. I do ending explained videos across a wide range of media from films, to games and TV. I recently discussed the ending of God Of War and Infinity War so make sure you check out those next.

Thanks very much for taking the time to watch this video. I’ll see you next time, take care, PEACE!

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Movie Reviews

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Brad Anderson's “ Blood ” wants to serve as both a grisly horror thriller and an exercise in situational ethics. It presents a seemingly impossible situation to viewers and asks them “What would you do?” The problem is that it's never gripping or scary enough to work as the former and never engaging to work as the latter. "Blood" delivers plenty of the titular substance but not much else of note other than a couple of decent scenes here and there; a central performance from Michelle Monaghan is ultimately more interesting than the film surrounding it.

Monaghan plays Jess, a nurse and recovering addict in the throes of a contentious divorce from her husband ( Skeet Ulrich ). In order to make a fresh start, she moves to the remote farmhouse that belonged to her late parents with her kids, teen daughter Tyler (Skylar Morgan Jones) and young son Owen ( Finlay Wojtak-Hissong ). The three have hardly settled in when their dog, seemingly fixated on something in the forbidding woods right next door, runs out into the night. A few days later, the dog returns, covered in blood with a weird green gleam in his eye. The dog takes a chomp out of Owen, who is rushed to the hospital. Owen appears to have contracted some infection that leaves him almost at death’s door.

Jess is despairing—worried both about the health of her child and how her ex will use this against her in their divorce—when she enters Owen’s hospital room one day and finds that he has taken the bag of the blood being used for a transfusion and is sucking away at as if it were a juice box. She is revulsed, of course, but when he quickly perks back up immediately afterward only to regress a little while later, she knows what to do. Not telling anyone about Owen’s condition, she sneaks a few bags of blood out of the hospital’s supply and takes him home to care for him away from prying eyes. But the purloined plasma cannot last forever. And when she is no longer able to access the hospital’s blood supply, her determination to keep her son alive forces her into the increasingly desperate acts that probably won’t be commemorated on Mother’s Day cards anytime soon.

The film's basic premise—how far would you go to keep your child alive—is not particularly subtle, I grant you, but it's a grabber. The trouble with the film is that once Will Honley ’s screenplay establishes it, it fails to do much of anything of interest with it. We are meant to empathize with Jess and the gruesome lengths that she is forced to go to to keep Owen alive, but her actions are so inconsistent that it is hard to fully get on board with her increasingly messy actions. 

Anderson, who has dabbled in the horror genre more successfully in the past with such films as “Session 9,” “ The Machinist ” and “Vanishing on 7th Street,” directs the material in a competent enough manner for most of the running time. But not even he can make much of the increasingly convoluted plot machinations of the concluding scenes, which are closer to inspiring unintentional laughs than chills, and leave a lot of seemingly pertinent questions unanswered.

And yet, while the film does not succeed, it has a couple of points of interest. The main one is Monaghan, who has done some wonderful work in the past in films such as the cult favorite “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and “ Trucker ” (a straightforward indie drama that has certain thematic similarities to “Blood”) but has never quite had the significant star-making role she clearly deserves. This film isn’t it, though she clearly puts her all into the part of Jess. That "Blood" doesn’t fly off the tracks into complete implausibility (at least until the finale) is due almost entirely to her considerable efforts. There are also a couple of scenes that work, at least on an individual basis—in my favorite, Tyler finally learns about her brother’s ghastly secret and the conversation they have as a result has a truth and believability to it that is otherwise absent in the film.

Despite those elements, I cannot recommend “Blood.” But I can point you in the direction of another film that utilizes the same basic premise in a more exciting and thought-provoking manner: “My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To,” an indie horror exercise from Jonathan Cuartas . Cuartas' film works as a spin on the typical vampire mythos and explores the dark and dysfunctional side of family ties that bind and eventually choke. “Blood” raises the same issues but lacks the nerve to explore them meaningfully. Anderson's film often feels like it's in dire need of a creative transfusion. 

Peter Sobczynski

A moderately insightful critic, full-on Swiftie and all-around  bon vivant , Peter Sobczynski, in addition to his work at this site, is also a contributor to The Spool and can be heard weekly discussing new Blu-Ray releases on the Movie Madness podcast on the Now Playing network.

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Blood (2023)

Michelle Monaghan as Jess

• Brad Anderson
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• Robert Mead
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A recovered addict sees her young son acquire an even worse dependency in director Brad Anderson's grim vampire variation.

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Even less happy about it is ex-husband Patrick (Skeet Ulrich), who’s had those kids to himself for three years. He’s resentful over Jessica’s uprooting them, as well as doubtful about her recovery: She clearly put them all through the mill. He’s also moved on in establishing a new spousal relationship with Shelley (Danika Frederick), who started as the children’s nanny and is now pregnant with their half-sibling. This doesn’t sit much better with Jessica than his ominous rumblings about winning back full custody. 

Limning a protagonist whose maternal devotion seldom wavers in crossing some appalling lines, Monaghan doesn’t shrink from making Jessica unsympathetic. As she lies, connives and worse to maintain her son’s grotesque habit, it’s no wonder Ulrich’s ex suspects she’s using again. Jones is good as the adolescent who suspects what’s going on before anyone else, while Wojtak-Hissong does well as a child who gradually disappears into feral behavior and creature makeup. 

The cruelest aspect of Will Honley’s screenplay is the fate that befalls Helen (June B. Wilde), an older woman who confides her suicidal despair over a terminal cancer diagnosis to her nurse. That intel in turn leads Jessica to some truly horrible rationalizing once she needs a long-term blood “donor” for the little monster at home, voluntary or not. The prolonged, gruesome suffering that ensues is almost more than this film can handle, its queasy aftertaste hardly alleviated when the narrative ultimately renders poor Helen irrelevant.

In feature (as opposed to series) work, Anderson has been reliable in tonally melding the disparate elements of variable screenplays, from the sinister mental-health puzzles of “Session 9” and “The Machinist” to the international intrigue of “Transsiberian” and “Beirut.” Sometimes his material has defeated him, however, as in “Stonehearst Asylum” and “Vanishing on 7th Street.” “Blood” falls somewhere in between: Its psychological realism adds depth to a fantasy-horror hook that itself is somewhat underdeveloped, and which it can’t quite transcend. (We never do find out just who or what the whole vampirism thing came from, beyond an ambiguous connection to a dead tree in a dried-up lake near the farmhouse.) 

The story’s shotgun marriage of opposing elements never takes as smoothly as it has in a number of other offbeat bloodsucker screen depictions, from Romero’s “Martin” to “Let the Right One In.” Nonetheless, the director and his collaborators bring some grit and propulsion to a macabre concept. If the effect is often less suspenseful than simply discomfiting (because Jessica’s actions frequently do make it look like she’s relapsed), that too has appeal for certain horror fans. 

Shot primarily in Manitoba, the U.S. production has sturdy, handsome, unshowy design elements that reinforce its tonal slant as more a depressing tale of very bad familial luck than an overt dive into the fantastical. 

Reviewed online, Jan. 20, 2023. Running time: 108 MIN.

• Production: A Vertical Entertainment release of a Hercules Film Fund presentation of an H2L, A Rhea Films production in association with 1821 Studios, Thundersnow Pictures. Producers: Gary Levinsohn, Billy Hines, Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis, Terry Dougas. Executive producers: Jean-Luc de Fanti, Alexis Varouxakis, Max Work, Brad Anderson, Daniel Bekerman, Steven Sims, Ryan Bartecki. 
• Crew: Director: Brad Anderson. Screenplay: Will Honley. Camera: Bjorn Charpentier. Editor: Robert Mead. Music: Matthew Rogers.
• With: Michelle Monaghan, Skeet Ulrich, Finlay Wojtak-Hissong, June B. Wilde, Skylar Morgan Jones, Danika Frederick, Jennifer Rose Garcia, Sarah Constable.

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Abigail (2024) Review

A swan lake filled with blood.

Heist, check. Vampire child, check. Will anyone make it out alive? You will have to watch and see it yourself! Abigail has been on my radar for some time now, following Kathryn Newton’s interesting films of late with Lisa Frankenstein and Freaky under her belt. She seems to be on a horror streak. The same could easily be said about Melissa Berrera during her latest Scream films! But nothing could have prepared me for the performance from Alisha Weir as the titular character Abigail.

Based on and a reimagining of the 1936 Universal Classic Monsters film Dracula’s Daughter , Abigail follows a group of professional criminals from different backgrounds and expertise. No one knows each other, and no one uses their real names. It is a classic heist movie setup where the criminals are tasked to kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure.

Giancarlo Esposito’s Lambert assembled the scrappy bunch of criminals, announcing the prize: $50 million split seven ways. All they have to do is babysit the girl for 24 hours in a manor resembling something out of a Resident Evil video game to obtain the prize. However, some of the manor’s inhabitants begin to go missing (body parts), and soon, they realize they are locked inside with a not-so-normal little ballerina girl.

I would argue that knowing the twist is only half of the movie because I genuinely adored the fact that the second half of the movie still invited so many questions and had me guessing where the plot was going to end up. But that does not mean the film was less interesting when you knew Abigail was a vampire—a small ballerina vampire! Weir’s dance recitals, aka murder chases, were too hilarious, especially seeing some as big and muscular as Kevin Durand running away from a small child.

The directorial duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett continue to incorporate, blend and create new grounds in the horror genre. The two achieved a lot of success with the V.H.S. franchise, Ready or Not , and Scream V and VI. Every franchise or film the two have done pays homage to the horror roots while bending the rules horror fans have experienced before.

I always enjoy horror films because of the gore, suspense, jump scares, and laughing at some of the characters’ sometimes cringy dialogue. Abigail has a lot of these things but done with just the right amount of horror and comedy. My favourite part of the story is how quickly the ragtag adult criminals accept the reality that the tween kid is truly a vampire. The fact that they got to brainstorming and theorizing so fast on how to slay her was even wilder!

The acting from the whole cast was superb in this sense. I think it is so overdone in horror when characters are stuck in disbelief like, “Oh, this can’t be happening” or “No, you’re crazy.” Sometimes the best horror films are the ones where you have to embrace the weirdness or absurdity to get the plot moving to the more unique aspects of the film—this is what made Abigail a fun ride.

Dan Stevens stood out for me because he went for a Queens, New York accent, which I thought he did relatively well. He has been known to do many voices apart from his native English accent, like in the FX series Legion or even most recently in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire —despite being from the U.K. I thought his ability to sound like he was specifically from Queens was very impressive—or at least an interpretation of one that my Canadian self could appreciate.

Newton, playing the naive girl Sammy, bordered on annoying with some of her antics but was very true to the character in the end. She has a moment when they are brainstorming ideas to take down the tiny vampire, “What are we talking about, like an Anne Rice or a True Blood ? You know Twilight ? Very different kind of vampires.”

In retrospect, the mansion itself stood out to me as a character of its own. The fact that the audience and the characters do not know who or what the manor was is a mystery too. As the characters explore the home, it has a lot of hidden passageways and breakable walls. There was also a lot of history and lore packed into the house, definitely giving off Resident Evil vibes. This attention to detail and how the characters interacted within the bounds of the house was immaculate.

Weir stole the show as the titular character because she really perfected the concept of appearing like an old vampire stuck in a child’s body once the facade was broken through. What I found profound about this film was that it was not a typical predator/prey situation movie. Abigail did not immediately go off killing people; this movie is smarter than that—she literally played with her food. By doing this, we get to see a lot more thinking and problem-solving from the criminals trapped in the vampire’s den.

“Abigail did not immediately go off killing people; this movie is smarter than that—she literally played with her food.”

This band of misfit criminals went through some decent experimentation of old vampire tropes, and it was so clumsy and great to see. Let us just say the characters had a lot of time to do some trial-and-error. One very nitpick scene I facepalmed at was when a character did the typical line and fighting stance. They put their hands up after getting beaten and said a line like “You’re going down,” even though the character did nothing to change their power dynamics over the villain. It made for good laughing material, though.

In terms of practical effects and VFX/CGI, Abigail brought some heat. The movie utilized a fair mix of it all. The practical effects stood out to me the most, of course, with things like decapitations and severed limbs. But really, this film brought gallons of fake blood! It may not have been a river like in The Shining or a rainfall-worth like in Evil Dead (2013) , but it was packing some viscous blood and innards. If you are someone who does not want to see buckets of blood, well, it’s too bad. This movie brought tons of gore cannons shooting off left and right!

The practical use of makeup for the proper bloody faces and vampire’s teeth was also a major detail I appreciated. There were also contact lenses for the change from innocent girl Abigail to bloodsucking vampire Abigail. In addition, the costume department also deserves a shoutout for Abigail’s ballerina outfit ensemble. The practical sets should also be applauded; I really liked the allure of the manor. The amount of mess this house went through…oh, boy.

“Abigail is at the top of my list for best horror films this year.”

Surprisingly, there was some wire work involved, too. Abigail was quite the acrobat with her ballerina moves alongside her vampiric prowess, so it was really cool to see this combination. The studio noted that Weir learned all of the choreography for all of her ballet performances in the film, and I have to say that it was really impressive. The interpretative dancing and killing were almost poetic at times while also being menacing.

I know I always make some hard claims, but I would say Abigail is at the top of my list for best horror films this year. It was very cognizant of what it was: a silly-premised story with tons of heart and thrilling moments. Even though it was not as original a concept as last year’s Talk To Me, I found this unique genre remix entertaining since it was done right.

For a film that is almost two hours long, Abigail provided lots of laughs, screams and gut-wrenching moments to make you wince a little. While I did not care for the emotional beats too much, they opened up some laughable lines too. At the end of the night, this is a fun watch for horror fans who are very aware of the genre and crave something more. It zanily pushed, bit and slashed expectations. The film was also dedicated to the late Angus Cloud, who played his part with a ton of hilarity, and he will dearly be missed but remembered for these iconic moments.

Final Thoughts

Ridge has almost always grown up around three things: Star Wars, video games, anime, manga, TV shows, films, basketball, hockey, volleyball, and anime. He typically writes about—you guessed it—anime-centric content. When he is not doing any of those things, he is usually trying out something new like streaming on his Twitch channel @wrainsparrow.

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