Book of Blood
| Book of Blood | |
|---|---|
| File:Book-hires.jpg Teaser Poster | |
| Directed by | John Harrison |
| Written by | Novel: Clive Barker Screenplay: John Harrison Darin Silverman |
| Produced by | Clive Barker Lauri Apelian Joe Daley Micky McPherson Jorge Saralegui |
| Starring | Jonas Armstrong Sophie Ward Doug Bradley |
| Cinematography | Philip Robertson |
| Edited by | Harry B. Miller III |
| Music by | Guy Farley |
Production companies | Matador Pictures Midnight Picture Show Plum Films Entertainment Motion Pictures (E-MOTION) Scottish Screen Cinema One Motion Investment Group Regent Capital |
| Distributed by | Essential Entertainment |
Release date | 07 March 2009 |
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | Template:Film UK |
| Language | English |
Book of Blood is a 2008 British mystery-drama-horror film directed by John Harrison and stars Jonas Armstrong, Sophie Ward and Doug Bradley.
Plot
The film starts with a hooded, apparently disfigured individual eating at a diner, being watched by a stranger at the bar. Unknown to him, the man's name is Wyburd (Clive Russell) who has been stalking the young man. He eventually convinces the boy to join him in his truck, where he soon passes out. The boy awakens strapped to a table and Wyburd offers the boy a choice by killing him; offering him a slow death, or a quick and clean death by hearing the story of the Book of Blood: a series of scars and inscriptions carved from head to toe. Opting for a clean death, the boy reveals his story.
A young girl alone in her bedroom is violently hurled against the ceiling, raped and beaten in her bed while her parents stand outside screaming her name. Shortly before the authorities break in, an unseen force rips her face off and inscribes on the doorway "Do not mock us." Several months later, paranormal professor Mary Florescu (Sophie Ward) and her partner Reg Fuller (Paul Blair) investigate the house in order to unlock its mysteriously murderous past. Mary encounters Simon McNeal (Jonas Armstrong) a seemingly clairvoyant young boy in her classroom to whom she develops an attraction, both physically and due to his mutual connection to the paranormal as she had had a similar encounter in the past. Simon reluctantly signs on to assist in uncovering the presence in the house, and the three of them move in. The first night, a series of strange encounters culminates in an attack on Simon as he is hurled across his bedroom. A series of writings on the closet walls light up, much to the shock of both Mary and Reg. Mary begins to develop intimate feelings for Simon after a particularly arousing dream, and focuses on his abilities unlocking the potential of paranormal studies in the house. Reg expresses his doubts and has Mary take the charred writing to a lab for an analysis.
Simon reciprocates Mary's feelings and the pair fall in love, in particular after a second incident which was more violent and prevalent than the first, Simon awakening with more scars across his body, and Mary has a violent encounter of her own where she is terrified by the spirits of a group of little girls. She tells Simon and Reg that when she was a child, she had seen a fountain which was dried up, but every night would become soaked and spraying with blood; fearing being called crazy, she never told anyone about these visions, and when excavators decided to remove the fountain, they found the body of a little girl. Tracking down the girl's father, they found he had claimed six more victims before being caught, wracking Mary with guilt for not telling the authorities of what she had seen. One afternoon, Mary receives a phone call and abruptly departs, leaving Simon on the street. When he tracks her down at the house, she reveals that she discovered he had been lying, using gunpowder and sulfur to create the "paranormal" experiences. He confesses that the first time he did fake it, but the second time was real. After she refuses to believe him, he storms out. Reg comes in later and she shows him a transmitter sewn into the bottom of his mattress which was used to flicker the power of Reg's equipment during the experiences. Simon returns, determined to prove that he really had his powers back, as he had believed he had lost his clairvoyance when he was thirteen, after the death of his brother which he had predicted (the prediction which earned his reputation to Mary). This time determined to keep his powers, he goes up again to face the ghosts and again is attacked.
Mary runs up to the attic while Reg spots a terrifying ghost while on the second floor landing and falls over the railing, killing himself when he lands on the equipment below. Mary enters the attic bedroom and sees Simon writhing in agony as a long distant horizon displays itself over the scope of the room. The ghosts carve into Simon's flesh through a variety of means, such as nails and glass shards, and finally Mary understands: she is the key to opening the way for the ghosts; her powers were what awakened them, not Simon's. She remembers what she had been warned earlier: "You didn't listen" and swears to all the ghosts that she will tell all of their stories. The ghosts heed her words and depart, allowing Simon to survive the ordeal.
Simon reveals to Wyburd that he was then on cursed to be the book on which the dead write while Mary wrote books and made millions off of the stories portrayed on him. As she seemed to age, he remained the same youthful appearance, only more and more scarred with new stories, new tales for her to write, portrayed to her as he stood on a cross before her desk. He admitted he couldn't take it anymore, so he ran hence the reason Wyburd was hired to remove his skin. Wyburd, having been unmoved from the depth of the story lives up to his end of the bargain and kills Simon quickly. After placing his skin neatly into a suitcase he seats himself to wait for his payment. While he waits, blood suddenly starts pouring from the case, slowly filling the building that Wyburd is trapped in, and he drowns. Afterward, Mary arrives, and seeing Wyburd on the ground she is not fazed as she moves to the suitcase and opens it, pulling out Simon's intact skin and smiling as she begins again to read the stories still being written upon the flesh.
Cast
- Jonas Armstrong as Simon McNeal
- Sophie Ward as Mary Florescu
- Clive Russell as Wyburd
- Paul Blair as Reg Fuller
- Romana Abercromby as Janie
- Simon Bamford as Derek
- James Watson as Jimmy
- Doug Bradley as Tollington
- Gowan Calder as Janie's Mother
- Graham Colquhoun as Simon's Father
- Marcus McLeod as Janie's Father
- James McAnerney as Doctor Nigel Blake
- Joy McBrinn as Waitress
- Charlie McFadden as Joanne
- Jack North as Simon (age 11)
- Andrew Scott-Ramsay as Male Student
- Siobhan Reilly as Cashier
- Jill Riddiford as Woman
- Isla Stewart as Simon's Mother
- Greig Taylor as Stevie McNeal
- Emma Trevorrow as Child #1
- Hannah Bottone as Child #2
- Kirsty McEachran as Child #3
- Louise McCourt as Child #4
- Hannah O'Malley as Child #5
- Adele Swordy as Child #6
- Sophie Franklin as Child #7
- Martin Brettle as Ghost
- Javed Khan as World War I and 80s Ghost
- Rhys Maitland-Jones as Contemporary Dead Guy
- Simon Green as Terrifying Ghost
Production
Adapted and directed by John Harrison from one of Clive Barker's Books of Blood, the film shoot occurred in Scotland, including Dundas Castle through December 2007 and into early 2008.[1] Following exposure at the 2008 European Film Market, and the completion of the FX shoot in London, the film is awaiting release.[2] Book of Blood is set to have its North American premiere on the big screen during the Montreal Fantasia film festival on July 13, 2009[3]. Book of Blood is the seventh story to be adapted from Barker's collection, following Rawhead Rex (filmed in 1986); The Forbidden (filmed in 1992 as Candyman); The Last Illusion (filmed in 1995 as Lord of Illusions); The Body Politic (filmed in 1997 within Quicksilver Highway); and The Midnight Meat Train. During his appearance at Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors he noted this film will be followed by Dread, Pig Blood Blues, and then Madonna.[4]
Release
The film premiered on 7 March 2009 as part of the Hamburg Fantasy Filmfest Nights. It was released the week of September 28, 2009 in the UK.