‘Here For Blood’ Review – A Gory, Dark, Energetic Splatterfest [FrightFest 2023]

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.

We recently had a string of fun babysitter horror movies such as Michael Thelin’s Emelie, Chris Peckover’s Better Watch Out, McG’s The Babysitter, Kohl Glass’ Babysitter Must Die and Abiel Bruhn and John Rocco’s The Night Sitter. Now director Daniel Torres adds another splatterfest to this list with his directional debut Here For Blood. While there’s a massive difference – as the babysitter is a big, muscly man – the movie perfectly fits in that list as it’s a great combination of dark humour, gore and unmatched energy!

Rowdy pro-wrestler Tom O’Bannon (Shawn Roberts) has taken on a lot of difficult, heavy and demanding challenges in his life. However, he’s now taking on the hardest yet, and it’s not even in the ring. His girlfriend (Joelle Farrow) asks him to cover a babysitting shift for her so that she can study for her exam. She doesn’t want to lose money or dent her outstanding reputation as a babysitter, so she turns to her boyfriend. After much convincing, Tom agrees to babysit Grace (Maya Misaljevic) and heads off to the isolated (of course!) house, where he meets her mother, Barb (Tara Spencer-Nairn) and stepfather Gil (Michael Therriault).

While there’s some hesitation at first – men being around little girls still scares some parents after all – they leave their kid in Tom’s very capable and strong hands. It seems it will be a chill and straightforward evening; Grace has her video games, and Tom has ample pizza money. That is until a mask-wearing cult enters the house with one thing on their mind and multiple murder weapons in their hands.

While we could have given you much more storyline, this feature is best left unspoiled. If you go and see this film, the less you know about the storyline, the better. However, let us tell you, from the moment the masked vigilantes enter the building, bloody carnage starts! From burning people on a stovetop burner to brutal beheadings and repeated stabbings in every body part possible to hitting people with the usual frying pan, it’s all there! The filmmakers didn’t spare any expenses for creating a bloody mess.

Luckily, there’s no mess regarding the acting performances; they’re all extremely fun to see. Roberts (the Resident Evil franchise) is having a blast when portraying Tom. His role mainly involves tearing everyone apart who comes too close to his character, and while this was indeed physically demanding, he pulls it off with a lot of flair and wit. There’s even some room for humour and emotional moments, especially when Tom and Grace finally bond. What they bond over might not be that child-friendly, but a solid connection between babysitter and kid is a great thing, no?

While Misaljevic does not have much to work with at the beginning when she’s just the innocent, sweet girl playing video games, she brings much more power and sassiness to the screen the longer Here For Blood goes on. The same goes for Farrow (Turkey Drop), who only gets to slice and dice people from the middle part of this movie. During our interview, she mentioned that she was the most excited for all the blood, and that becomes clear when watching her performance.

When watching Here for Blood, you can tell that the filmmakers gained some inspiration from horror classics such as Pet Sematary, Evil Dead, Cabin in the Woods and Last House on the Left. Not only storyline-wise but also when it comes to creating the special effects. The special effects team behind this film – The Butcher Shop FX – uses minimal computer-generated effects. They fully embrace the practical side of things with the makeup department team. Every blood-gushing vain, each cut and every burn looks incredibly realistic on-screen because that is precisely how it was on set.

This results in scenes that might not be for the faint of heart but oozes horror and gore. Here For Blood was made by people who love horror films and bloody real-life effects. There also run some dark humour and great one-liners throughout all the blood, and because of that, the gore doesn’t become too overwhelming or uninteresting.

What looks like a cliché horror movie turns out to be anything but that. The early ‘predictable’ elements of James Roberts’ script aren’t as apparent as you think, the character dynamics work exceptionally well, and the entire cast and crew’s love, passion and creativity make Here For Blood a riot!

Here For Blood had its English Premiere at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2023 courtesy of Pageman Productions. No US release date announced yet.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ayPIn6ighcI%3Fsi%3DZFxCwLZf-YdT9Cve