Blood Conscious (2021)

Directed by: Timothy Covell | 81 minutes | drama, horror | Actors: DeShawn White, Lenny Thomas, Oghenero Gbaje, Annette Adams-Brown, Jacklyn Collier, Nick Damici, , Lori Hammel, Jean-Remy Monnay

Sitting in a hut on the moor, it should be quiet and relaxing. But in horror movies, it’s best not to retire to a remote cottage. Most people who hide in forest huts in horror movies don’t make it out alive. The examples of this so-called ‘cabin horror’ are countless. Just think of director Sam Raimi’s ‘Evil Dead’ trilogy. Another, more recent example is ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ (2012). Ideal if you have little money to spend, because you don’t need much for such a ‘cabin horror’ film, except for a suitable holiday home in an apparently idyllic (but in reality horribly) remote forest area, a creepy killer and a bunch of willing victims. Preferably teenagers or students who can scream very loudly and always do exactly what any sane person would not do. For his debut film ‘Blood Conscious’ (2021), Timothy Covell also sought out such a forest house. In addition to the aforementioned films, he clearly drew inspiration from the classic ‘The Thing (1982) and the work of Jordan Peele (the neo-genre classics ‘Get Out’ (2017) and ‘Us’ (2019)). He uses only one location and a handful of actors, but manages to maintain the tension from start to finish and interweaves the necessary social criticism throughout the story.

In her twenties, Brittney (DeShawn White) is on her way to her parents’ vacation home with her boyfriend Tony (Lenny Thomas) and younger brother Kevin (Oghenero Gbaje). Kevin doesn’t feel like spending the weekend in the idyllic – he’d rather hang out in the city with his friends – but a secluded cabin on the edge of a beautiful lake and in the middle of the woods, but their parents are expecting them , so he reluctantly agreed to go. But the three had better stay at home, because once they arrive at the holiday home, their parents appear to have been shot, as well as several other people who were staying in the area. The gunman (Nick Damici) soon appears on the scene. He has come to his act because he is convinced that Brittney and Kevin’s parents and everyone else in the park are possessed by demons. And he also suspects the three young people of that. They manage to chase him away (for now), but he does take their phones with him. Their car is also not safe for him, so that the three cannot go anywhere. Then, in the twilight, a mysterious woman appears who claims to have escaped the mass slaughter. Can they trust her? And how do they survive the night, without turning against each other, and without themselves becoming possessed by what haunts the forest?

Using modest means, screenwriter and director Timothy Covell has crafted an intense film that is cleverly constructed and exudes the same freshness from the outset as Jordan Peele’s films. Once in the forest house, he misleads his audience more than once, leaving you guessing how the fork is in the end. The fact that the protagonists are of African American descent is taken for granted. At the same time, you feel a certain racial tension in every confrontation. Certainly at the end, where Covell does not provide all questions with a ready-made answer, but where the tension under the skin reaches a peak. To offer some counterpoint, the film has a touch of humor, especially thanks to the character Kevin, played charmingly by Oghenero Gbaje. ‘Blood Conscious’ is certainly not such a brilliant balancing act between horror and comedy as ‘Get Out’, but it is clearly inspired by that. This work by Timothy Covell is certainly not as original, sharp and urgent as that film, but anyone who likes a good dose of suspense, a murderous mystery and subtle social criticism will undoubtedly enjoy th