Reeling after her latest novel flops, a best-selling crime writer is sent by her publisher to the Swedish countryside to regain inspiration. Totally out of place in her new surroundings, she discovers just how dangerous farm life can be.

BLOOD PARADISE Screens at Cinequest March 6th, 15th, and 16th

In their first feature film, director Patrick von Barkenberg and screenwriter Andréa Winter bring us their art catalog of a horror-film Blood Paradise, a 2018 indie thriller that is as humorous as it is beautiful. A movie about obsession that pays homage to some of my favorite directors, Blood Paradise will be showing at Cinequest’s film festival this upcoming 2019 season.

A beautiful, famous crime writer, Robin Richards, has a chronic case of writer’s block and is sent on holiday by her publishing agent in an attempt to find her voice again. Traveling from Spain, she is picked up by a driver, “Bubi”, who turns out to be her biggest fan and quite obsessed with the author.  He drives her to the idyllic farm her agent booked for her – an out of the way place in the Swedish countryside where the farm animals are not the only ones around with animalistic behavior. Her boyfriend would be meeting her a day later, so she explores the surrounding woods and lake in order to get some inspiration for her next novel. Still coming up empty and not wanting to rough it without her missing boyfriend, she resigns to quit writing and go home, however, the proprietors of this misplaced farm have other disturbing ideas in mind. Instead of getting her groove back, she winds up in a showdown of woman vs crazies.

This film was surprisingly well done. Some of the shots are just downright beautiful, and the performances felt natural despite the majority of the cast being newcomers. This movie was truly a family affair, as Andréa Winter’s real-life family fulfilled most of the roles: her father, Rolf Brunnström, played the mentally unstable farmer and room-boarder, Farmer Rolf, her mother-in-law, Ingrid Hedström, plays his sinister accomplice and sister-in-law, meanwhile her brother, Jakob Brunnström-Hedström, plays their gun-nut farmhand. Andréa fulfilled the starring role of Robin Richards, while director and real-life boyfriend, Patrick von Barkenberg, plays the unhelpful boy-toy boyfriend, Teddy. One of the professional actors, and my favorite character in this cast, was Hans Bubi, performed by Christer Cavallius, who played Robin’s biggest fan with an eerie admiration, and his comically volatile and jealous wife, played by Swedish actress Linda Dahlin, rounds out this interesting cast.

Blood Paradise at times felt Hitchcock-ian with use of POV shots, initially unassuming murderers, and suspenseful moments heightened by sharp interruptions of violins, only instead of a platinum blonde, this movie’s muse was a striking redhead. The dreamy-ness to the film and the landscape choice also reminded me of Ingmar Bergman’s, Persona, the chic-ness of the costuming added to this as well. If Bergman had gotten more into horror his film might have looked something like Blood Paradise: female-centric, a love letter to the Swedish countryside, and lots of use of reds and whites like in Cries and Whispers. I like the use of color in this movie, going from white as she transitions from being in her modern, vapid world, into brighter tones and redder hues as she immerses into the dangerous farm setting and surrounding woods. And by the end of the movie, she is covered in red – in the red blood of her enemies. Methinks this lady doth also detect even a bit of that dark but smart Cohen bros humor. I got 70’s slasher film vibes from this as well, with its graphic show of brutality and the landscapes’ sparseness captured in washed-out, wide shots. Furthermore, I loved the use of silence vs music – all of this music, silence, POV shots, and mystery culminated in one pretty creepy experience.

Blood Paradise started out a little slow, but it gets more fun by the minute. If I take away anything from this movie it is always read the Yelp reviews before going anywhere! If you appreciate 70’s-styled frank violence, nudity, and wide shots or if you like films with dark humor, mentally unstable killers, or cabin-in-the-woods settings, then there will most likely be something for you to enjoy about Patrick von Barkenberg’s and Andréa Winter’s Blood Paradise.

BLOOD PARADISE Screens at Cinequest March 6th, 15th, and 16th