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Cast: Peter Stormare, Gustaf Skarsgard, Sophie Lowe
High in the Mountains, a widowed mother dies, leaving her two children orphaned. Fearing being split up they keep their mother's death a secret. They survive until villagers destroy their innocence when they brutally assault the girl. Now the siblings must come of age to protect each other and survive.
"Autumn Blood" tells the story of a 16-year-old girl and her younger brother who are left alone after their mother dies. The father was killed by the mountain town's ruthless mayor. Things go from bad to worse for the siblings when the mayor's son rapes the young girl and then returns another time with a few friends. When a social worker shows up at their home the siblings decide to take off because of fear that they might be separated through child services. Seeing the social worker in town sets the son's mayor into action to hunt down the girl and boy and finish them off before the social worker gets to them and finds out what is going on.
This was a mixed bag of good and not so good for me. A few things of interest here, this to me was more a drama/thriller than a revenge thriller. I really did not see any revenge tactics going on by the siblings just a lot of running and hiding. Secondly the film has very little dialogue in it. The story is told more through the characters and their actions and the cinematography is simply gorgeous making the vast landscapes another character in the film.
The story is what let the film now for me. It is simple but the main problem for me was that there was no character development in the film. You never know why the mayor killed the father or why his son and his buddies picked on the girl and her brother. This made it very hard to have any kind of feelings towards anyone in the film.
So in the end I do not think this is going to be a film for everyone. I think a lot of people are going to be bored because of the film's slow pace and lack of dialogue to hold their interest. I was expecting something a bit different myself so I too was left a little disappointed but I think there was enough good things in the like the amazing visuals and the fantastic cast to at least recommend a rental. "Autumn Blood" is available now on DVD, you can order it HERE.
I recommend checking it out, the film was a little above average for me but had the potential to be even better, I do see where the Director was going with it I just do not think it will have mass appeal.
Released by Arc Entertainment
** 3/4 Out Of *****