Bloody Murder

Bloody Murder (also known as Scream Bloody Murder in the United Kingdom) is a 2000 American slasher film directed by Ralph E. Portillo and written by John R. Stevenson. It stars Jessica Morris, Crystalle Ford, Peter Guillemette, and Patrick Cavanaugh. The plot follows a group of counselors working at a summer camp, where a masked assailant begins a murder spree. The film was released direct-to-video.

Bloody Murder
DVD cover art
Directed byRalph E. Portillo
Produced by
  • Jamie Elliott
  • Ralph E. Portillo
Screenplay byJohn R. Stevenson
Starring
Music bySteven M. Stern
CinematographyKeith Holland
Edited byCarlos Puente
Production
company
Hemisphere Entertainment
Distributed by
Release date
  • August 21, 2000 (2000-08-21)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Bloody Murder is often criticized for being too similar to the Friday the 13th and Scream franchises.

It was followed by a sequel, Bloody Murder 2: Closing Camp (2003), and a spin-off, The Graveyard (2006).[1]

Plot

Teenage friends Julie, Jason, Dean, Whitney and Tobe are working as summer camp counselors at Camp Placid Pines. Their boss Patrick introduces them to the other counselors Drew, Brad, Jamie and Doug. The groundskeeper, Henry, warns Julie that there is something dangerous in the woods, but Patrick dismisses him as crazy. Later that night, the counselors play a game called "Bloody Murder", a combination of hide and seek and tag. After Jason and Whitney have sex, Jason is confronted by an unknown person.

The next morning, Julie is concerned about Jason's whereabouts and is told he was taking a few days off. The following night, the counselors gather to watch a movie and Whitney is killed in the kitchen by someone wearing a hockey mask. The next day, the counselors inform the local sheriff that Jason and Whitney have gone missing, and Dean is taken in for questioning. At the archery range, Brad is killed and Dean is released from custody at the sheriff station. Julie is attacked by the killer in the woods before Dean is also killed by having his throat slit. Julie finds a photo of her dad at the camp with someone named Nelson Hammond, and discovers that Nelson was almost killed in an accident involving the game Bloody Murder. Years later, he returned to the camp and killed one of the counselors involved. That night, Julie is attacked again but realizes her attacker is Jason and locks him in the freezer. Jason is taken in by the police.

The killer murders Doug before Julie's father arrives and walks with Drew to the lake. Julie gathers her things from her cabin and discovers that Drew's father was Bill Anderson, the man that Nelson killed for revenge, and concludes that Drew is the killer. Julie's father is knocked into the lake. Moments later, Julie confronts Drew before the killer arrives and attacks them, proving her wrong. Drew is knocked out and Julie flees. She runs into Patrick, who reveals he is actually the killer and Nelson Hammond. He chases Julie through the woods before she arrives at the main camp, where Patrick says that Julie hit her head and is delusional. He then takes a swing at her with an axe, but Drew appears and shoots him in the arm before he is arrested for his crimes.

At the station, Patrick denies killing Doug and says someone named Trevor Moorehouse must have been responsible. Julie's father and Drew are taken to the hospital as the remaining counselors depart the camp. As Jason is walking home alone, another hockey-masked assailant, wielding a chainsaw, suddenly comes out of the bushes. Jason screams in terror and the film ends.

Cast
  • Jessica Morris as Julie McConnell
  • Peter Guillemette as Patrick/Nelson Hammond
  • Patrick Cavanaugh as Tobe
  • Crystalle Ford as Drew Zemke/Patricia Zemke
  • Michael Stone as Dean
  • Justin Ross Martin as Jason Hathaway
  • Tracy Pacheco as Whitney Chambers
  • Lindsey Leigh as Jamie
  • David Smigelski as Brad Thompson
  • William Winter as Doug
  • Michael Prohaska as Sheriff Williams
  • Jerry Richards as Tommy McConnell
  • Bobby Stuart as Henry

Production

Filming took place in California at three different camps, which were edited to appear as one location.[2]

Release

Bloody Murder was released on DVD on September 12, 2000, and on VHS on August 21, 2001,[3] by Artisan Entertainment.[4]

Reception

Buzz McClain of AllMovie condemned the film as "infuriatingly boring" and gave it 1/5.[5] A 1 was also awarded by John Fallon of Arrow in the Head, who wrote, "Movies like this make you realize just how good Friday the 13th and Scream are. It tries to blend both together but fails for three reasons: It has no heart, it has no brain and it has no balls. This flick is not even fun in a bad way;"[6] and Devon Bertsch of Digital Retribution, who wrote, "The plotting can get so bad it's almost gibberish. The acting is atrocious. There are BAD fade-outs and just general fades, and poor editing for continuity and the things that need a quick pace. Too many theories as to what happened are presented visually, like some bizarre homage to the ending of Clue, or even Wayne's World. It's all bad, and the great tragedy is that it's not even funny, dammit!"[7]

The film garnered further 1s from G. Noel Gross of DVD Talk, who referred to Bloody Murder as "less a horror movie, but more an inane whodunit with the production values of an after school special with a couple dirty words mixed in,"[8] and Robert Pardi of TV Guide, who dismissed Bloody Murder as a "generic Friday the 13th rip-off" that "is the very model of anonymous filmmaking."[9] In a review for DVD Verdict, Patrick Naugle lambasted the film, writing, "I don't even know where to begin to talk about this movie. It's terrible. It goes beyond terrible. At least cheesy, cruddy films such as the ones Roger Corman made were enjoyable to watch for their high camp value. Bloody Murder doesn't even have that going for it."[10]

References
  1. Jim Harper (2004). Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies. Critical Vision. pp. 70–71. ISBN 9781900486392.
  2. Portillo, Ralph (June 5, 2000). Bloody Murder (DVD) (Liner notes). Artisan Entertainment. p. 1.
  3. "Bloody Murder [VHS]". Amazon. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  4. "Bloody Murder [DVD]". Amazon. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  5. McClain, Buzz. "Bloody Murder (2000)". AllMovie. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  6. Fallon, John. "Bloody Murder (2000)". Arrow in the Head. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  7. Bertsch, Devon (October 21, 2005). "Bloody Murder (2000)". Digital Retribution. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  8. Gross, Noel (October 29, 2010). "Bloody Murder: Special Edition". DVD Talk. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  9. Pardi, Robert. "Bloody Murder". TV Guide. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  10. Naugle, Patrick (October 17, 2010). "Bloody Murder". DVD Verdict. DVD Verdict. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
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