It's In The Blood (2012)

There's a brand of films out there which I've labeled as "Southern Weird." I don't know if I'm the only person who has ever labeled it as such, but that's what I call it. Those are movies that usually take place in the deep American South, and they will have this surrealist tone and look to them, which will typically be enhanced by non-traditional storytelling and editing. What you end up with is usually a experience where you're not exactly sure what in the world just happened, but you know for a fact it was sweaty, very yellow-tinted, and probably more than a little drunk.

Movies like "Killer Joe," "In The Electric Mist" or "Bad Lieutenant" are good examples of what I'm talking about. It's often a tripy experience, and as such can also lend itself well to the horror genre. As long as you don't mind not exactly understanding everything. Personally I'm about 30% when it comes to whether or not I'll like it. It's not really my thing, although on occasion it can be awesome.

"It's In The Blood" is most certainly worthy of the label of "Southern Weird," as it takes place in the South and is most definitely weird. And while the presence of Lance Henriksen is enough to make me take notice in any case, I was hopeful that the film would be either scary enough or weird enough to be unique and memorable.

Unfortunately "It's In The Blood" wasn't scary, although it was weird enough. The weirdness is twofold here, as the actors make some questionable choices in their acting methods, and the story is obtuse and borderline indecipherable. Now, the real question is: Is it solid enough to make those things not matter? The answer is: "No."

"It's In The Blood" follows the unfortunately named October (Sean Elliot) as he goes on a hike in the woods with his father Russell (Lance Henriksen), who is a sheriff in a small hick town. October hasn't seen his father in a long time due to some horrifying things that happened, which are explained as the film progresses. Eventually we find out that October and his girlfriend (who is also his adopted sister) Iris were tortured by one of Russell's deputies, which ended with Russell getting shot in the stomach and the guy blowing Iris' head off before shooting himself. This is, naturally, after the deputy  rapes her.

So yeah, good times all around, really.

Understandably October has issues with going back there, for which I can't blame him. Personally if that happened to me in a town where psychos like that make deputy I'd nuke the site from orbit. (It's the only way to be sure.) But he goes back, mostly because he does kind of feel bad for his dad since he's all alone now, but deep down there's a part of him that hates Russell and wants to tell him so to his face.

And there is where the main thrust of the film is, so to speak. "It's In The Blood" goes into some metaphorical, surrealist territory which finds October literally fighting his demons which manifest into real creatures, severely hurt Russell, and trap them in the woods. From that point on it's really about October and Russell begrudgingly working together and trying to patch things up while they attempt to survive the whole mess, which given Russell's condition doesn't seem likely. And then more weird stuff happens, October faces his demons both figuratively and literally and the movie ends without really explaining a thing.

Wow. The film literally ends with the main character walking through a door in the middle of field of sunflowers. If an artsy cliche is so cheesy that it would normally be used to make fun of artsy cliches, and a film still uses it, is it still artsy or just cheesy?

I "get it," you know. It's a metaphor for forgiveness and holding on to rage and blame and whatnot, but honestly I just didn't find it that interesting. While the acting is good on occasion, particularly from Henriksen, it doesn't help much because it's still a movie that is trying way too hard to be cerebral when it's not that complex. And the mixing of the real and trippy was, to me, detrimental to the film as a whole. I just prefer one or the other, otherwise it's distracting when we fall down the rabbit hole into Wonderland after stepping off of Big Daddy's porch.

Speaking of distracting, don't equate teaching your son how to drive a manual transmission to having an orgasm. It's...unsettling. Particularly when it's coming from Lance Henriksen. I like him as an actor. Please don't put the image of him sexually aroused in my head. I don't need that, movie. Keep in mind that this is already a film featuring brother/adopted sister action. Let's not add "father getting off on his son's stick shifting abilities" to the list of "ew" present. Freaking South.

Mmmm that's good shifting.

I will give the film credit for a rather well done scene of leg amputation. It's not that it's particularly good in terms of effects, although I can imagine it being done much worse, but the lead up to it and the acting is solid, and it was enough to make me wince and not want to look. Although through Lance's screams and moans I caught him simply saying "Ow" once, which while pretty funny kind of ruined the moment.

But again, Henriksen is quite good here, and it's probably one of the better roles he's had in some time. There's a lot of character for him to chew on, and it's fun watching him get into the depths of the sadness and loneliness of Russell. One little monologue in particular that struck me as surprisingly good when compared to the film overall concerns Russell talking about how pathetic and empty his life is. It's so bad that every night he gets drunk and watches static on the TV until he passes out. It's actually a sadly moving speech, and Lance kills it. But then again, I'm not sure if one good speech from Lance Henriksen, as awesome as he is, is enough to make the whole experience worthwhile.

And no, I have no idea what "It's In The Blood" is referencing, since the mental trauma suffered by October is most certainly not genetic, and October is about as different from his father as you could reasonably be. Even the stretched sexual connotations ones could torturously make between him and Iris doesn't work because they're not blood relatives. Even the psycho wasn't related. What's in the damn blood?! Am I stupid for missing something?

Or is it just an ominous sounding but ultimately pointless title? You pick.

 
THE BOTTOM LINE - "It's In The Blood" honestly comes across more like an episode of "The X-Files." One of the lousy ones you only watched once because David Duchovney or Gillian Anderson were off filming something else, so it became a go nowhere filler episode that wasn't necessarily bad, but you just couldn't bring yourself to care about it. Sure it's weird and all, but it's weird without feeling like you've seen anything worth seeing by the end.