While this isn’t Justin Dix’s first time as director, that was the feature Crawlspace [2012] he primarily works with his career in special effects, hence is aware of the ebb and flow of a horror film, herein he’s venturing to a truly dark time in world history. This time it’s for an independent horror movie, entitled Blood Vessel which impressively was filmed the HMAS Castlemaine, a WWII Bathurst-class ship anchored and docked in Williamstown, Victoria, Australia, as a museum, and this is not purely a ghost story movie, rather a much more deadlier creature, while atmosphere aboard the ship echoes horrors and  it works to sink fangs into the viewers curiosity. The film has worked slowly to find its proper audience but has now found a home on several streaming sites thanks to distribution from The Horror Collective in 2020, who was willing to board passage and take on b-movie.

I often state this when covering this particular subject, but it’s necessary, the Nazi exploitation is always a sensitive subject and requires utmost respect to those who suffered from murderous, and atrocities committed by them. Many directors have used them for taping into the occult, and sought treasures; makes for plenty of material, especially in the horror genre, Dead Walkers [2013] or Shock Waves [1977] with undead/zombie soldiers or a time-loop feature called Living Space [2018]; and aboard a ship doesn’t escape from the horrors either Ghost Ship (2002), Below (2002), Death Ship (1980), even the psychological suspense thriller Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat [1944] and the distributing controversial horror-thriller Reichsfuhrer-SS [2015].

In 1945, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean a clearly marked hospital ship was crossed while a U-boat (submarine) hailing from the Kriegmarine Navy, on patrol near the end of the war sinks this ship. Those lucky enough are set adrift in a rickety lifeboat, the enemy never surfaces, rather leaving them to the horrors of survival which soon becomes a nightmarish scene as the food and water are depleted, near starvation, but a ship appears on the horizon, sailing with an infamous swastika flag however with no other choices they board it. The survivors have their own regrets and animosities fueling them all, especially with Captain Malone (Robert Taylor) making it onto the lifeboat, rather honorably descending with his ship to the ocean floor, as is the duty-bound option. Nevertheless, joining him in the cast of characters, even some are stereotypical cardboard versions of who is expected in one of these films. They are Nurse Ms. Prescott (Alyssa Sutherland), American cook, Jackson (Christopher Kirby), and his boss, New York chef, Bigelow (Mark Diaco), Australian POW, Sinclair (Nathan Phillips); Russian sniper, Teplov (Alex Cooke), and injured, obnoxious Faraday (John Lloyd Fillingham), awaiting their fate to become a POW and suffer severely worst horrors. However, the ship is lifeless, desecrated of all living souls, though quickly begin searching the ship discovering three decapitated boards and then men covered with black veins, learn that the captain inflicted the damage with burned soldiers’ bodies. Then down in cargo hold they find a series of coffins chained, as to hold something dangerous within them, soon their trouble is swarmed to greater fears and agonies. One needs to inform the creature feature fans; you’ll like to guess the origin of the subspecies, but they don’t appear on screen for nearly an hour into the movie. Therefore, due to the limited budget, much of the horror is occurring in the shadows, quick cuts, using every bit of atmosphere to create psychological terror, dread, and thrills then shock and awe. As the story progresses some realize no one, at least no person is at the helm, rather unbeknownst to them  a hidden demonic power, that was sought by the Nazi high command to use for sinister purposes backfires greatly to their crew and now these new visitors.

Dix smartly uses every aspect of darkness to his advantage, allowing to add to the mysterious lurking doomful shots, and enhances the mood, but likely excessively done to cover the budgetary limits, usage of quick editing cuts. However, what works best as there’s the other side of the director’s resume, the effects background as he deployed mostly practical effects, using CGI very sparingly aiding both the actors and filming in general is the claustrophobic feeling generated within the structure of the ship,

One of the weaknesses I found in the story comes from a very early and impossible to miss hint to everything which lies ahead, this results in a disruption in the narrative of the story. Then a strange pivot occurs causing an unevenness in the plot to occur, there must have been something in the production that caused this, a sudden rewrite perhaps, as the tone goes from mysterious to more action, hence leaving behind the tension once generated and sails into troublesome waves of characters making illogical decisions. Therefore, if you can overlook huge foreshadowing issues, and some irrational characters, which are often common in the horror genre then there’s entertainment on the horizon.

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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8009938/

IMDb Rating: 5.4/10

Baron’s Rating: 5.0/10