Blood Punch: Movie review

Don’t let the title fool you! This is anything but a horror flick full of senseless gore and violence. Don’t worry, though, there is plenty of blood and gore to make it an enjoyable romp. With treachery, betrayal, intrigue,supernatural forces, and even dash of romance, Blood Punch is worth every penny! Milo Cawthorne (who plays the lead character “Milton”) is quickly finding his way onto my top 20 “best horror actor” list!
Although the first few minutes of the movie may be a bit slow, it quickly kicks into gear as boy and girl break out of rehab to make a few bucks in the “meth” business.
Skylar (played by Milo Cawthorne’s real life spouse, Olivia Tennet) is a drug dealer who checks into a drug rehab to recruit a “cooker” for a fool-proof opportunity to make a very large sum of cash quickly. There she finds Milton, a chemistry major who was busted for cooking meth and serving time at said rehab. It seems like a match made in heaven. However, things hardly go as planned with, not only, Skyler’s boyfriend in the picture but an ancient curse as well. The three find themselves desperately trying to break out of the “Merry-Go_round” Hell they’ve created. Aside from it being a little slow in couple parts, Blood Punch is a good, fun film that horror fans are sure to enjoy!

*****SPOILER ALERT!!!*****

While there may be a few cliched themes (it’s very reminiscent of “Groundhog Day”) Blood Punch still original enough to hold it’s own. Yes, there is the obvious “bad guy” vs. “good guy” love triangle, and the lead lady lays on the ‘tough chick” a bit thickly (as many of them do), but Cawthorne’s performance pulls it out and keeps it from being tired. The moment you see them pulling up to the remote hunting lodge, there is the looming feeling that something is very wrong with the place, but it keeps you guessing until partway into the movie. What movie taking place outing the woods would be complete without an ancient curse (that just HAS to be triggered by a bloody violent act)? Probably not many, and Blood Punch doesn’t disappoint there either! Just when you think you know exactly how the curse was activated, you learn the truth in, what I call, the “holy crap” moment. There are very subtle hints in the beginning of the film that clue you into the dark history of the area (the scrapbook is put together well and totally believable), but they are subtle enough that you don’t really dwell on them until the curse is in full swing. The best element of the film, in my humble opinion, is the video diary Milton makes as he finally figures out the curse and what has to be done to escape it.