So Close Yet So Far in Blood Hunters: A Critical Film Analysis

SPOILER ALERT

This is analysis of the film which discusses theme, plot, and storylines from all parts of the film.  I highly implore you to watch the film and come up with your own opinions before reading this post.

SYNOPSIS

Tricia Lee’s Blood Hunters is her third feature which has won Audiences Choice Best Feature at the Fright Night Theater Film Festival (FNTFF) and was nominated for Best Feature Director at the Other Worlds Austin SciFi Film Festival.  The story follows Ellie Barnes, played by Lara Gilchrist, who passes out from a heroin overdose only to wake up in an abandoned hospital nine months pregnant.  After seeing a dead male doctor next to her, she hears that the backup generator is at 35% and leaves the room with only a scalpel as protection.  

Ellie sees no one is alive until she hears the voice of a man calling for help.  She can be nothing but skeptical as she finds Henry, played by Benjamin Arthur, tied to a bed in a tent labeled “Quarantine”.  Here is where we find out that this place is crawling with monsters when one crawls into the room quickly to be scared off by the operating light.  The pair then meet Marion, played by Torri Higginson, who is a scientist at the lab looking for a clearance card with a high enough level to exit through the underground buildings only exit.  

Along the way they meet an intern and a priest, who are played by Mark Taylor and Julian Richings.  Ellie learns that these people implanted one of these monsters inside of her to give birth to.  The intern figures out a way for her to survive the birth process by administering experimental drugs and having a C-Section.  The baby monster dies, and Ellie survives leaving them just needing to escape.  The priest believes he is fulfilling Gods calling by opening the doors and letting the monsters out in to the whole world where they can wreak unlimited havoc.  Ellie realizes her blood is poisonous to the monsters because of the medication and sacrifices herself to save humanity.

SYMBOLISM AND ICONOGRAPHY

This film begins with a jarring shot of a spoon being lit with a bubbling substance (presumably heroin) followed by Ellie walking into the street with bleeding wounds only to pass out after no one helped her. Drugs are a recurring topic in this film that adds to the themes of pain and escapism.  Ellie finds “oxys” in the room she wakes up in and carries them around the whole movie.  She is portrayed taking multiple on different occasions indicating both her familiarity with opiates and opioids and her abuse issues.  Drugs are also seen later in the feature when they are administered to Ellie during the C-Section.  These experimental drugs play a crucial role in the film because they hold the key to killing these “unkillable” monsters.  They do not just play a physical role but an emotional one too.  

The priest in the film is seen as the main antagonist.  He embodies the “cruelty of Gods will” in which he chooses to do nothing instead of helping the others when given the opportunity.  He is framed by the entrance in a heavenly glow as he monologues about how letting these monsters into the world is his purpose and within “God’s will”.  Marion devises a way to bury the monsters by blowing up the furnace only to have the priest ruin the plan by completely shutting down the furnace.  Instead of dying by fire, (a Christians view of proverbial hell) he chooses to die at the mouths of these monsters in darkness.  This symbolizes how far he has strayed from God’s light and maybe faces fire in the afterlife instead of this one.  

Another large aspect is the matriarchal iconography throughout the film.  Ellies pregnancy alone embodies many fears experienced by women today.  The first fear addressed is the fear of being left alone after already being a single mother.  When she starts her contractions, Henry goes to check out the hallway and she is terrified because she can barely move.  Her current child’s father was not in the picture and this scene is a direct reference to the physical troubles of pregnancy let alone the emotional troubles.  Another fear this addresses, is the fear of dying during pregnancy.  Ellie is directly told that giving birth to the monster will kill her.  Despite advances in modern medicine, dying during childbirth is still a possibility today.  Ellie is in the position where she must overcome this fear to give herself a shot at life.  

Henry is portrayed with slit wrists fittingly due to his outgoing and comedic nature yet bears the burden of seeing and feeling the other characters deaths.  The symbolism of vertical slit wrists is usually death despite being a common misconception.  Henry is a representation of a mediator between all the other characters connected by death. This all ties together in the next topic.

DEATH

This entire film is about death.  From what we know about the facility, it was made to study death itself.  All of the symbolism from the previous paragraphs can relate to the topic of death.  The priest was outfitted in a cross instead of a crucifix (the depiction of Jesus on the cross).  Whether this is intentional or not, it shows that Jesus had not died for our sins and without doing so, this priest let evil into the world.  His death turns into a vengeful spite because his uncle had drowned him saying it was “God’s will” and he used this messed up euphemism to justify his evil behavior.  

Ellie’s drug addiction did not only cause her to overdose and die, but it caused the death of her relationship to her son.  Henry tells us after experiencing Ellie’s death that he saw her son there and at the end of the film, Ellie calls her son, and he doesn’t believe she is alive and hangs up on her.  This death of relationship is directly represented in her C-Section as they sit and watch the body of the unborn creature decay.  Henry was the catalyst for all of this, and his sole purpose was to further Ellie’s story.  This is emphasized not only in his dreams about her death but his physical action of throwing the pill bottle into the ocean symbolizing death of addiction.  She had overcome death after fighting her way out of her situation, she had overcome her addiction, and yet, she chose to give her life to save humanity.  Her death itself could be linked back to the biblical story of the death of Jesus except Ellie is our Lord and Savior. 

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I think this movie had too much going on.  It touched on concepts like it was a kid running down a hotel hallway knocking on rooms planning to never come back.  The opened doors such as, abandonment, drug addiction, self-harm, suicide, religion, and motherhood, and only half-way closed a couple of those doors.  I think Tricia Lee did a fantastic job directing.  The shots were both compelling and visually stimulating but the writing lacked and left me feeling a little underwhelmed.  This concept is really cool I just feel like this story would be an amazing limited series instead of a feature. 

WOMEN THAT WORKED ON THIS FEATURE

Lara Gilchrist - Ellie Barnes

Torri Higginson - Marion

Leah Doz - creature

Breeanna Booth - creature

Briar Nolet - creature

Ana Shepherd - Marion's double

Eileen Chan - bystander

Lauren Chung - bystander

Merideth Brown - bystander

Ruth Harris - dead co-worker

Kim Kearney - dead doctor

Nancy Lala - dead surgeon

McRae Lindsay - dead body

Renata Lowles - dead surgeon

Samantha Nemeth - dead body

Ruth-Ann Simpson - dead body

Jess Joss - associate producer

Brigitte Kingsley - executive producer

Tricia Lee - producer

Lisa Elaine Scott - associate producer

Diane B. Wolfenden - associate producer

Kat Crisp - key makeup artist

Ekaterina Pakhlavuni - hair stylist

Carlene Williams - assistant makeup artist

Lauren Chung - trainee assistant director

Emma Jean Sutherland - second assistant director

Kendra Legault - property master

Kelsey Tremblay - art consultant

Karen Dean - director of sound operations

Laurie Melhus - post audio manager

Bianca Monteiro - foley assistant

Angelica Avendaño - special effects makeup assistant (as Angelica Avendano)

Julia Chemij - special effects makeup assistant

Jenna Collins - special effects makeup assistant

Megan Fraser - special effects makeup assistant

Bethany Leblanc - special effects makeup assistant

Sheilagh McGrory - special effects makeup assistant

Amy Sorensen - special effects makeup assistant

Jennifer Mitchell - lighting assistant

Erika Osmani - grip

Sarah Pidgeon - electrician

Krystina Pucci - still photographer / stills photographer

Sabrina Spilotro - 2nd assistant camera: daily

Meredith Brown - wardrobe assistant

Jane Garrah - producer: post colour

Kendra Smith - coordinator: post colour

Alison Milward - location production assistant: daily

Cynthia Amsden - unit publicist

Michelle Chiu - production assistant

Kyla Garvey - production assistant

Erin Harris - production assistant

Kerri Lonergan - office production assistant

Samantha Nemeth - production coordinator

Nicole Orlans - office production assistant

Lisa Paemurd - catering services

Sara Sabbagh - production assistant

Jody Tansley - medic/safety supervisor