Blood Red Sky Review

When mother and son, Nadja and Elias (Peri Baumeister and Karl Anton Koch, respectively) board a transatlantic flight, they aren’t expecting what lays in store for them on the journey ahead. While thousands of feet above the Atlantic Ocean, the airplane is hijacked by a group of terrorists who are hoping to crash the stock exchange. Blood Red Sky is the latest big hit movie from media giants, Netflix.

A Bizzarre but Beautiful Mash-up

With an abundance of toothy vampires and the omnipresent Snakes on a Plane vibes, Blood Red Sky is a mish-mash of From Dusk ’till Dawn and the latter. On paper, I admit this sounds like a terrible idea; on-screen, however, it somehow works – albeit in a somewhat confusing way. If you’re an avid fan of the horror genre, you will find a lot to like in this movie. From the vampires of old to the new ideas that have been bundled into the 124-minute movie; it all fits together like some sort of macabre, gory jigsaw. With that being said, it can be quite difficult to take Blood Red Sky seriously, at times.

Terrible Dubbing

Blood Red Sky is a German movie, so, of course, a lot of the spoken language is German. Although a lot of the German is spoken between the mother and the son, it is advisable to watch the subtitled version as the dubbing is atrocious. There’s something about bad dubbing that can add an accidental comedic element to a movie; with horror, that is seldom a good thing.

With that being said, don’t be put off by the fact that Blood Red Sky is a German movie. In fact, the majority of the spoken dialogue is in the English language. This is ideal, as you don’t become reliant on close captions throughout the entirety of the movie.

The Plot

I touched upon Blood Red Sky’s plot in the intro to this review. What I failed to mention, however, was that aside from the terrorists, the plane is host to a vampire; Elias’s mother. During a feat of bravery, Nadja is shot and “killed”. This is where we discover her dark, hidden secret in a pretty cool scene where she transitions from mother to monster. We see, in close-up detail, her fangs pushing their way through her gums; her fingers elongate; she starts to make cool vampire noises, and her face deforms into a Nostrafarius-like structure. This is where the Netflix hit gets interesting.

I’m reluctant to write any spoilers here, but from this moment, the movie seems to knock it down a gear and really pick up some pace. The movie reaches a chaotic crescendo of carnage which ties things off in quite a confusing but satisfying way.

If you’re looking for a deep plot, you’re not going to find it here, Blood Red Sky is a turbulent journey, filled with action and gore but it won’t be stretching your concentration, by any means.

Unnessecary Flashbacks

If there’s anything bad to be said about Blood Red Sky, it’s the needless flashbacks. Rather than existing to inform, they are timed to break the momentum of the plot and are often quite drawn out. They do tell a sort of backstory, yes; just not in a way that needed so much screen time.

Summary

If you want a thoroughly enjoyable movie that doesn’t take you down long and winding complex roads, BRS is the ideal go-to from this year’s horror catalog. The slow-burning pace takes a little time to settle, but when it does it’s time to fasten your seatbelts, as it’s one hell of a rocky landing. As a horror, however, it isn’t going to keep you awake at night.