User Reviews

Interesting, held my attention, stunning visuals. Lead actor and German actor got my attention. Good for a low budget film.

What a strange film !!!!!!! .. the acting from the two male leads (were they brothers, I'm not sure .. he said he had known him half his life !?!?) was dreadful .. hammy, camp and way over the top ... Olga the sister was like a panto villain

Dreadful.

I did actually find this film painful to watch, when I read the description of a "twist in the tale" I expected something more than the motivations of every typical TV drama murder ever just coming out. But hey, watch it in almost real time it feels that slow.

I actually regret watching, and sticking through the painful acting, and even more painful slow burn set up to see what the twist adds. Because anyone "reading the room" in the first few minutes are going to know what happens throughout this entire film, that just drags out. It's truly dull, and unrealistic at the same time.

I watched this based on it being on Amazon Prime and thought the story looked good. But it just never got going. Acting was dire, that was my main issue. Like it's hilariously bad at times. For about an hour as well literally nothing happens, it's the same situation as it started. It's poorly executed unfortunately.

It's very evident these 10/10 reviews are from people associated with this film. And another 1/10 review states this as well. Which is just a bit sad really as clearly they cannot take criticism.

This film is horrendous from start to finish.

I watched it based on the synopsis, but that sets a bar that the story never comes close to reaching.

And then when I look it up, all I find are sycophantic reviews clearly left by people involved with it - the fact that six reviews were left almost immediately after someone left a genuine review?!'get a grip.

And for the record: if your saving grace is that you filmed it in SA, then you know you really have no business making a film. Location does NOT excuse a bad story and worse acting

Seriously, why do directors, actors and finally film companies make such total drivel. It's a waste of everyone's time or is it that with companes like Amazon Prime and Netflix, it's financially viable as they just need content regardless of the quality. So it's just us who suffer watching this mind numbing crap.

Title says it all.

The only narcissism in this film is that the script writer felt it was good enough to produce and self funded it.

That fact this absolute disgrace is on amazon prime is concerning. The acting in this was horrendous and that's being generous. I'm extremely confident I could act better then everyone in this Film, in fact I think I could create a better film myself with the loose change in my pocket. For the love of god no one make the mistake of watching this like I did, I was miserable the entire time. An hour and half I'm never going to get back.

Wonderful directing and shots. Such a treat to see Saffer actors and scenery. Great job Brett!!

A somewhat unusual suspense drama in a way compared to many others. With the lead character it has elements of The Shining. It kept me engaged.

I am giving 2 stars as there was a story to it and for the fun factor and

Great Psychological thriller that is set in South Africa. Well done Brett and Gill for this great movie!

I'm so glad I came across this on Amazon Prime. Was looking for a good film with suspense. That husband is crazy! The tone of the film keeps you right in there.

I don't think I would accept a dinner invitation to Panos' house, pretty scary stuff.

This is a bizarre film that doesn't quite fit into the genre of thriller, horror, or drama. It is quite different, but the storyline is quite clever, it does keep you on the edge of your seat, and is certainly worth a watch.

Having watched only a few South African films, I was curious to give it a go. I loved the setting, particularly the outdoors which reminded me a bit of a rural Aussie landscape. The interaction between the black and white characters was quite intriguing, and led me to ask questions.

The story is well set up, beginning with horse riding, drone footage of the beautiful South African terrain, with a wistful song playing over. This very strong opening was beautifully shot and edited. Throughout the cinematography doesn't disappoint, truly stunning visuals, with a great score. The choice of colour palette fully supported the visuals, however, I wasn't really a fan of the monochrome used later in the film and found it distracting.

The acting works well for a psychological drama, and the scripting created a monster. I don't think I've ever seen a coked-up narcissist like Panos in a film on that level. And a psycho, though at times his performance was OTT, I felt he executed a difficult role extremely well. It was quite intriguing to watch him throughout. One can only feel for the wife and sadly misguided daughter who I was particularly taken with. Keira, the wife, was a typical victim eroded by years of abuse and I thought she was convincing in this role. Totally believable. The Gunther character was an interesting element, and reminded me of a classic foreign film characterisation.

However, a few of the performances were not great. I didn't really buy the cops as South African police, and the performances at the African home scene. At times, other performances lacked grit and were somewhat confusing.

The story started slowly, developed in tempo after the crossing of the first threshold, then relief when the threat was removed, until the next unexpected onslaught, which was I thought, quite clever. That twist at the end I didn't see coming, that was great, I felt some satisfaction there.

Definitely worth a watch, a film that left me with many questions, but maybe that was the intention of the director? All in all, a well executed foreign film.

May strike a nerve for people.

A film that is entertaining, with an underlying social message, but it may strike a nerve for some people. Possibly this may account for the few, similar emotionally charged negative reviews?

The imagery is great and the performances acceptably portray the characters. The script develops steadily though, in a few instances, the impetus seems to become lost causing the story to lag at times.

The film, though a low budget, does convey a strong social message, the thematic undertones exploring the issues of gender-based violence. This is executed by portraying violence as a symptom of the characters' inherent dysfunction and disorder. The film highlights the relationship between dysfunction and abuse, suggesting gender-based violence can be read as a symptom of a greater, overarching societal condition, or dysfunction.

Many of society's problems stem from dysfunctional family units and Rare Blood addresses these social issues by weaving the plot around a conniving, narcissistic family. With the breakdown of the nuclear family in contemporary society, and blurring of absolutes, and the impact of social media narcissism is on the increase.

Rare Blood clearly strives to illustrate how destructive narcissism is to the family unit though, given the end story result, and the portrayal of the antagonist, this may strike a nerve for some people. It would be interesting to see what this film would be like on a higher budget, impressive I imagine.

Great thriller that had my wife and I on the edge of our seat! Amazing cast with music and scenery to match. Sorry no spoilers from me, you have to watch to see the twists unfold. Looking forward to seeing what more comes from this exciting production team!!

Its great to see a professional glossy high quality thriller coming out of South Africa a superb cast make this a treat of twists and turns the scenery is truly awe inspiring so many good performances cant fault it 10 out of 10 for me

look forward to more form this wonderful director & cast

No blood, no dungeons or dragons or stuff that would appeal to the kids. I found that it instilled a notable sense of discomfort as a world of apparent 'comfortable normality' begins to come unglued...

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I had to go out for an unbreakable appointment with 15 minutes to go and couldn't wait to get home to see the conclusion.

Fiona Ramsey was perfectly cast as the domineering and overbearing sister of Panos. I'm sure as I did, most people came to hate her quite early into the action.

Brendan Grealy was fantastic as the alcohol and drug fueled Psycho husband who became more menacing as the story unfolded.

The mother and daughter characters were again well cast giving credibility to a sometimes strange plot.

The main character for me was Mark Mulder as Gunther. He gave a superb performance with a great twist in the story.

I would thoroughly recommend this movie to anyone.