Blood Red Sky

Blood Red Sky (2021)
Directed by: Peter Thorwarth
Written by: Stefan Holtz
Starring: Alexander Scheer, Dominic Purcell, Karl Anton Koch, Peri Baumeister

Its Passenger 57 meets 30 Days of Nights in this action/horror mashup that lands its touchdown as one of 2021’s most unexpected delights….

Just when we thought we had seen everything possible with the Die Hard formula after it was milked to death once John McClane walked into the Nakatomi Plaza, director Peter Thorwarth only goes and throws a blood sucking Vampire into the mix!

This audacious concept is what makes Blood Red Sky such an enjoyable watch from start to finish. Yes its a tad overlong which makes the storyline become more sillier as the minutes tick by, but I haven’t had this much fun with a dumb horror/action flick in what seems an age.

Peri Baumeister is sensational as “Mum” or by her name Nadja, a woman harbouring a dark secret as she sits alone in her hotel room while her young son Elias (Kart Anton Koch) checks in the luggage and tickets as they are set to embark on an evening plane trip to New York.

Instant flashbacks show us that Nadja is unwell and is booked in for a life saving operation when their plane lands, but unfortunately their flight is overtaken by the usual movie terrorists led by Prison Break’s Dominic Purcell who is really just a face to get the fanbase in as its Alexander Scheer’s Eightball who is the real evil bad guy, a man who loves nothing more than to gorge an eyeball out of a flight marshal.

So far its all Passenger 57, until Nadja gets shot, Elias screams in terror and the terrorists soon realise that they have mistakenly not “let the right one in” as there was a reason why Nadja wore sunglasses during the day. Rising like an extra from 30 Days of Night and muttering the words “Yippee Ki Ay I want to suck your blood” – OK, I made that part up- Nadja becomes the ultimate creature with fangs, a woman who can actually save everyone onboard, that is, if she contains her urge not to eat them all.

What follows is blood splattered action piece that had me enthralled from start to finish. Yes, it vastly overstays its welcome, with the plot badly losing its way towards the end and even the heartfelt finale doesn’t really pull at the heartstrings like the more grounded Train to Busan accomplished, but for the majority of the time all you do is find yourself having loads of fun with what is happening.

Those who hate reading subtitles and can not be bothered with “dubbed” dialogue will be pleasantly surprised that while this is a “German horror movie”, there is enough scenes in English to not put you off and the action sequences really do mask the moments where the mouth movements do not match the words coming out.

As the chaos unfolds, so does the stakes-excuse the pun- and with Nadja infecting more people around her in which we sort of become into a kind of The Walking Vamp mode, Blood Red Sky becomes a gory actioner with enough heart to make it stand out as one of 2021’s best horror films.

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