By Geno McGahee
Zero budget usually means a bad product. Not everyone with a video camera should be making a movie, but the people at Second Commandment Productions put out a pretty good one when they released: Blood Rites. I found this gem on a 6 pack of flicks, released from Pendulum Pictures, and usually when you find six movies for six dollars, you might not great movies. This is not a great movie, but if you appreciate horror movies, you will appreciate this one.
We begin with a young girl running away from a man dressed completely in white, and wearing a white mask. The girl makes it home, only to be dragged outside by her father, “Sam Greene,” played by David Williams. You probably don’t know his name, but it deserves mention. He is a great actor. Sam, the dad, does the unexpected and kills his daughter in front of this being, satisfying the need for sacrifice that this thing apparently demanded.
Rachel Zimmerman moves to this town with her father and things seem to be wrong right away. From nearly getting raped by a moving man, to the odd comments by her new classmates, and the fact that she looks 30 and she is supposed to be 17. Well, this happens in low budget movies. You need to squeeze people into roles that they don’t necessarily always fit.
As the story goes on, it is revealed that the police department and Sam are working together to appease this demon. The entire town is aware of it, and the only one that is trying to stop this thing is Chester, a priest, that was once accused of sexual misconduct and gauged out his eyes to further avoid temptation…then he became the town priest. Priest and sexual misconduct? You don’t hear that often, do yah?
Eventually, it all comes a head and the demon wants blood again, and Rachel was going to be sacrificed, but the town opts to put up “Isaac,” the son of Sam instead, prompting a rescue mission. Chester, Rachel, Sam and Jo (Sam’s wife) all team up to rescue this young boy. This is the climax of the film where Chester and this demon trade punches and kicks, while the others try to rescue the boy. This is when some more stuff comes to the surface.
Jo Greene begins stabbing Sam, and kills him, admitting that they are brother and sister and that his perversions are what ruined the town. Now, the ending of this movie needs some work, for sure. The very ending tells me that they couldn’t figure out how to end it, but I will forgive them on that. The lighting at times is horrible and the music is out of place a lot of the times. The volume varies throughout the film, but if you can take this movie for what it is: a no budget movie with limitations, and I know about this stuff, then you will enjoy it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 4.5/10, but a very strong 4.5
