BLOODY HELL
Directed by: Alister Grierson
Starring: Ben O'Toole, Meg Fraser, Caroline Craig, Matthew Sunderland, Travis Jeffery, Uncle Finsterer
When Rex goes vigilante during an armed bank robbery, he gets sent to prison for eight years and is hounded by the tabloids upon his release. In order to get some peace and quiet he decides to go to leave the country but it turns out his destination is even worse…
WARNING - THE FOLLOWING TRAILER CONTAINS SPOILERS!
BLOODY HELL is just an awesome time spent in the company of some really twisted people, including our protagonist Rex.
It kicks off eight years in the past, with two events which are literally worlds apart in both theme and location, you will be wondering where on earth the story is going to begin with. We start with a girl being chased through a misty forest in Finland before hot-footing it to Boise, where our protagonist Rex gets caught up in a violent bank robbery while he is flirting with one of the bank tellers.
Even though he "saved the day", Rex is held responsible for the death of one of the bank staff and spends eight years in jail. When he gets out he discovers the tabloids have picked up on his story again and he's hounded by gutter-press paparazzi everywhere he goes. Having chosen his destination at random, Rex is off to Helsinki (written as HEL on his boarding pass) but even the airport is rife with people wanting to give him a hard time, or even worse.
Rex has his own doppelganger alter-ego who shares his internal monologue. He can see Rex's darkest thoughts and can call him out on his own bullshit, but he also proves to be very good at keeping Rex reasonably mentally healthy and focused in a crisis. This adds an excellent dynamic to the storytelling as there is a lengthy segment in which Rex would otherwise be alone. These scenes, particularly in the basement, are excellently written, showing Rex’s ability to examine his situation. Ben O’Toole does a great job of playing two versions of Rex - the cooler, in control alter-ego and the panicking real version.
The story keeps revisiting what occurred during the bank robbery, parsing out information until we finally find out why Rex went to prison. One of the funnier moments in the film comes from watching a typical Youtube commentator, an armchair self-defence guru, provide blow-by-blow commentary on the security camera footage and explaining what he thinks Rex did wrong.
As fun as Rex is to root for, there comes a moment which, despite what he's being put through, will throw serious shade on audience sympathy. There is an early example of Rex fantasising about throwing a table at the paparazzi before snapping back to reality, and later when this other scene plays out (trust me, you'll know it when you see it) you will be waiting and waiting for that “snap” back because surely he didn't really….
The film mixes some dark fairytale elements into the narrative. Alia (the girl we saw at the start of the film, now grown up) is reading Jack and the Beanstalk to her younger brother, while one of her other brothers epitomizes the human eating giant from the story. Alia herself leads something of a Cinderella existence. Her family has fallen into the habit of committing heinous acts in order to keep the family unit together. However as Alia keeps refusing to take part, it cracks the delusion her parents have allowed to engulf them and they despise her for it. It’s always interesting to have villains who don't realise they are the bad guys and instead want to know why this "monster" is trying to kill them.
THE VERDICT
BLOODY HELL has set the bar really high for 2021, right out of the gate. It has an inventive script, strong characters and is very well shot and edited. I have kept this review short and relatively vague to not get bogged down in the details, as going into this as cold as possible is the best way to enjoy its many shocks and surprises.