My Thoughts on Blood Barn
On paper, Blood barn is the usual setup of a group of counselors at a remote location, something goes wrong, and people start dying - a tired story where we have all been many times.
But the film has this manic energy that occasionally lifts it above that cliché, but unfortunately it doesn’t always succeed either, and sometimes that energy just feels messy.
Blood Barn revolves around Josie (Lena Redford), a counselor who convinces her friends to spend one last weekend together before college, at an isolated barn of all places.
You can probably guess what happens.
We get early montages of dancing in a car, hanging out at the lake, and playing volleyball, I suppose in an attempt to give the characters a tiny bit of personality, which doesn't really work as you never end up actually giving a damn about any of them.
The handheld camera style is nice too, though sometimes it’s a little too shaky for comfort.
The horror itself in Blood Barn is where the film is at its most effective and, ironically, its most frustrating, where the main “antagonist” is often unseen, which I liked - it keeps things unpredictable - but when the ropes and other practical effects dominate, they’re genuinely inventive.
Ropes twisting and snapping as if alive, bodies contorting unnaturally, and ghostly figures appearing and disappearing all feel well crafted, - a hands-on, handmade and tactile approach to it all.
At the same time, all the chaos can be a bit confusing, and by the third act, characters move through spaces that seem to break all rules of geometry, and thick red lighting makes it difficult to know exactly what’s happening.
A character is pulled into a chest, ends up in a small red room, and is attacked by someone in farmer’s clothes, and while there’s thrill in the surrealism, but some of it felt like style overshadowing clarity, and I can see viewers either loving that free-for-all approach or getting frustrated by the lack of logic.
The possession sequences play a huge a nod to The Evil Dead too, complete with waxy skin and jerky movements, and I thought these moments were handled well enough, but on the other hand, the possessed characters are oddly fragile - capable of surviving what should be fatal injuries - which introduces a comedic element that undercuts some of the horror, where you find yourself laughing during moments you're clearly not meant to.
That balance between absurdity and terror is part of the film’s charm, but it also makes it hard to gauge how seriously you’re supposed to take anything.
Pacing is generally strong at 76 minutes, but it’s not flawless, as the first two acts feel structured and energetic, but the final act is less disciplined, where the narrative becomes almost abstract.
The character development is minimal as mentioned apart from a little at the start, and most of them don't resemble any rational thought, and while I didn’t mind that the other characters were over-the-top or didn’t match their supposed ages - part of the retro horror vibe - but it does mean you’re not emotionally invested in most of the deaths.
That’s fine if you’re here for inventive kills and mayhem, but it’s a limitation for viewers wanting stakes.
Where the film succeeds, though is in its energy and creativity, as the practical effects are good, the rope sequences are inventive, and the party-to-horror transition is handled with gusto, but where it falters, it’s in its focus, and the reliance on extreme exaggeration means tension can slip into silliness.
By the end, Blood Barn is a mixed bag - it's a movie that thrives on style, movement, and spectacle, but largely ignores subtlety and logic, and while that’s exhilarating when it works, it's also frustrating when it doesn’t.
But I thought it was fine enough, if you don't take it too seriously.