‘Blood in Them Hills’ VOD Review
Stars: Chris Cleveland, Bill Wetherill, Heather Renee Wake, Kellen Garner, Chade Green, Aria Song | Written by Kellen Garner | Directed by Christopher Sheffield, Kellen Garner
I was just thinking the other day that it had been a while since I’d reviewed a western and then along comes Blood in Them Hills a tale of outlaws stolen gold, hostile Apaches and a Wendigo.
In a cabin outside of town a badly injured man begins to act strangely as his daughter pulls a tooth out of his infected shoulder. In the midst of this Apaches attack the cabin and he announces “I’m awake!” before attacking his family.
Back in town the Christmas festivities are taking a dark turn as a mob surrounds the jail looking to lynch one of the prisoners Mack (Chris Cleveland; The Sleep: Survival Horror, Where the Dead Go to Die) for allegedly killing one of the townsfolk. Far from being afraid, he talks tough as the doctor stitches him up. And he has plenty of reason to feel safe, the rest of his gang including Big Earll (Bill Wetherill; Come Out Fighting, Unearthed: The Curse of Nephthys) and Smiley (Heather Renee Wake; Sex and the Single Alien, Heroine Legends: Altered Universe) are in town too, planning to rob the bank. And rob it they do, even if their getaway turns into a shootout.
After they make it out of town, one of them, Joe (Kellen Garner; Road to Revenge, Blackout) gets caught by Doc (Chade Green) who is out for revenge for the death of a friend in the bank robbery on the way back to town they run across the cabin from the opening scenes occupied by Willow Polly (Aria Song; Chronicles of Jessica Wu, The Monkey Prince and The Flower Maiden) the midwife they were waiting for, and a baby. It’s not long before they find themselves hunted by the gang, the Wendigo and the cannibalistic tribesmen under its control.
Co-directed by Christopher Sheffield (Welcome to the Sting, Bite the Dust) and Kellen Garner from a script by Garner. Blood in Them Hills is a bit of a slow burn after the opening scenes. Focusing on the characters in the run-up to the bank heist for much of the first hour. And if it was a straight-up western it would be good, but I was looking for monsters and they’re late in showing up. How late, about ninety minutes into the almost two-hour film we finally see the creature and the creepy-looking thing it is. Unfortunately, it’s barely in the film with the creature functioning more as a plot device than anything else.
And that’s too bad because the Wendigo has never really had its potential as a monster fully exploited by filmmakers. From its appearance as a human with a deer skull instead of a head, its ability to cloud people’s minds, its association with cannibalism and its ability to shape-shift it could make a formidable adversary for a group of hunters settlers or others it saw as invaders in its territory. Imagine The Thing in the Old West.
While Blood in Them Hills didn’t need that level of effects, having it impersonate various characters could have been an easy way to create some badly needed tension tension as it set them against each other. Instead, they just use it as a big dumb brute, a scarier-looking Sasquatch if you will.
Despite an interesting plot and promising trailer Blood in Them Hills is a thrill-less and suspense-free film that wastes a creepy-looking creature in a talky, nearly bloodless, exercise in tedium that will have you looking at your phone long before its hour and forty-five-minute run is over. Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo is still the only film to do the legend justice.
*½ 1.5/5
Blood in Them Hills is currently available on digital via Uncork’d Entertainment.
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