A horror anthology film based on the collection of short stories of the same name by Clive Barker, Books of Blood was directed by Brannon Braga and released in 2020. Three segments, “Jenna”, “Simon”, and “Bennett”, named after their main characters tell the tales of three individuals, and range from the topics of love and death to particular phobias, secrets, lies, and fate.
+ the main players in each segment were nothing bad overall. Britt Robertson as the titular Jenna; Anna Friel as Mary and Fari Gavron as Simon in “Simon”; and Andy McQueen and Yul Vazquez as Steve and Bennett, respectively, in “Bennett” were all fine, but none stood out in any meaningful way
– this movies goes for a Southbound-style chronology, where event don’t necessarily play out chronologically and/or are maybe connection (Maybe, potentially, open to interpretation, sort of), but it doesn’t do so nearly as well
– the whole movie is just boring. I was ready and willing to turn this off at about the half hour mark, but powered through to save you, dear reader, the trouble
Should you see this film: No. This movie was simply not good, with a shocking zero-for-three record in its segments, and Clive Barker deserves better. Watch Southbound or The Mortuary Collection instead, in fact, watch them both before you watch this.
MoshFish Reviews 