''Blood Red Sky'' (also known as ''Transatlantic 473'') is a 2021 British-German action-horror

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

vampire film Vampire films have been a staple in world cinema since the era of silent films, so much so that the depiction of vampires in popular culture is strongly based upon their depiction in films throughout the years. The most popular cinematic adaptat ...

directed by Peter Thorwarth, who co-wrote the screenplay with Stefan Holtz. The film stars Peri Baumeister,

Roland Møller Roland Møller (; born 28 May 1972) is a Danish actor. He won the Bodil Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for '' Land of Mine'' (2015), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for ''Nordvest'' (2013). He has appeared in high-profile films li ...

, Chidi Ajufo, and

Alexander Scheer Alexander Scheer (born 1 June 1976 in East Berlin) is a German actor and musician. He has won several national awards for his performances in film and theater, including one German Film Award for "Best Actor in a Leading Role" and one Bavarian F ...

. It was released on 23 July 2021 by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. In 2025, '' IndieWire'' placed it among their list of "the 25 Scariest Movies on Netflix."

Plot

A German

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...

, Nadja, and her son Elias prepare to board a plane to New York; Nadja, who appears to suffer from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

, plans to visit a doctor for treatment. At the airport, Elias befriends a man named Farid, while his mother takes medicine that causes her severe discomfort. As the passengers settle down for the evening, a group of men, including the co-pilot Bastian, murder the sky marshals and sabotage the

black box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

, preventing the plane from being tracked on radar. Their leader, Berg, announces that he and his men are now in control and expect everyone to stay put until a

ransom Ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release. It also refers to the sum of money paid by the other party to secure a captive's freedom. When ransom means "payment", the word ...

is paid. Elias tries to hide, and Nadja follows him. A sociopathic

hijack Hijack, Highjack, or High Jack may refer to: Film and television * ''Hijack'' (1973 film), an American television action film * ''Hijack!'' (1975 film), a British children's drama film * ''Hijack'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi-language action f ...

er named Eightball sees them and shoots Nadja. Assuming she is dead, the hijackers force Farid to record a statement that makes it appear the plane has been seized by

Islamic terrorist Islamic terrorism (also known as Islamist terrorism, radical Islamic terrorism, or jihadist terrorism) refers to terrorist acts carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists. Since at least the 1990s, Islami ...

s for a suicide attack, knowing it will be shot down. As Nadja regains consciousness, she relives the day her husband, Nikolai, died. He had gone to a local farmhouse for help after their car broke down. When he failed to return, Nadja went looking for him and was bitten by his murderer, a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

who dies during sunrise. Nadja, now a vampire, returned to the farmhouse looking for answers. An elderly vampire attacked her for killing his son and to avoid the spread of "the evil", but she beat him to death and escaped with vials of vampire suppressant. Nadja accesses the

cargo hold 120px, View of the hold of a container ship A ship's hold or cargo hold is a space for carrying cargo in a ship or airplane compartment. Description Cargo in holds may be either packaged in crates, bales, etc., or unpackaged (bulk cargo). Acc ...

, removes the contacts and dentures that conceal her mutated eyes and fangs, and feeds on a dog. A hijacker catches her in the act, and she kills him and drinks his blood, which fully transforms her into a vampire. She finds Farid, and they regain control of the plane with the help of a student named Mohammed as the hijackers are about to parachute out. Mohammed returns them to their original flightplan. When Berg tries to take back control of the cockpit, Nadja surprises and bites him. She stabs him with a knife before he can fully transform. The hijackers task Eightball with killing Nadja. He subdues her with

UV light Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of t ...

and extracts her blood, but as he is about to stake her, Elias accidentally depressurizes the plane with Berg's gun. When Mohammed

asphyxiate Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are ma ...

s, the hijackers take back the cockpit and decrease the plane's altitude, restoring the pressure. Eightball flees into the cargo hold and injects himself with Nadja's blood; she fails to kill him before he transforms into a vampire. Eightball ambushes and kills the other hijackers, except for Bastian. The rest of the passengers arm themselves. Nadja convinces them that she wants to help, and they lock Eightball in the hold and secure the plane. Bastian informs Nadja that the plane does not have enough fuel to reach

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and they must land soon. A dying passenger releases Eightball in the hopes of being bitten; instead, Eightball kills him and proceeds to turn most of the other passengers into vampires. Nadja, knowing that they will escape if the plane lands, decides to

sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...

herself by using the hijackers' explosives to kill them. Elias stops her and goes himself, but he is surrounded by vampires after grabbing the detonator. Nadja makes Farid promise to look after Elias, then kills and feeds on Bastian. She tries to save her son, but Eightball attacks her and drains her blood. As he goes for Elias, Farid steers the plane into the path of the morning sun, causing Eightball to burn and fall to his death. Elias uses his blood to save Nadja's life, but she rejects him and flees, knowing that her taste for his blood puts him in danger. The plane lands at an RAF base in Scotland, but the authorities ignore Elias and Farid's pleas and board the plane looking for survivors, resulting in a massacre to the soldiers. Elias escapes from an ambulance and runs back to the plane, seeing his mother feeding on a soldier. Knowing that she is too far gone, he activates the detonator he hid in his teddy bear, seemingly killing her and the other vampires. Farid is released from custody and hugs Elias.

Cast

Production

On 11 September 2020, it was announced that filming in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

for the film, then known as ''Transatlantic 473'', was temporarily closed after an extra tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Release

''Blood Red Sky'' was released on 23 July 2021 by

. It is one of the 71 original films that Netflix would release in 2021, being part of a strategy that intends to release at least one new film every week.

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 81% based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Blood Red Sky'' makes the most of its high-concept vampire story, delivering a fast-paced treat for genre enthusiasts." The audience consensus reads, "Blood Red Sky has a great idea for a horror movie, even if it's quite a bit slower than its cool setup might suggest." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 43 out of 100, based on six critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The film ranks on Rotten Tomatoes' Best Horror Movies of 2021. '' IndieWire'', placing it among their list of "the 25 Scariest Movies on Netflix," writes that the movie "gets more mileage out of its 'vampires on a plane' story than it had any right to. While the German hijacking thriller may never get as gory as its wild

logline A log line or logline is a brief (usually one-sentence) summary of a television program, film, short film or book, that states the central conflict of the story, often providing both a synopsis of the story's plot, and an emotional "hook" to sti ...

suggests, it makes up for it with enough psychological drama to make for a highly entertaining viewing. While the idea sounds like pure

camp Camp may refer to: Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution * Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups * Extermination ...

, it takes itself more seriously than one might think and delivers some real scares in the process."

Audience viewership

Netflix reported the film was watched by 50 million subscribers over its first four weeks of release, making it the most successful German original title to date.

Possible sequel

Due to the success of ''Blood Red Sky'', a sequel reportedly began development by Netflix a few months after the first film was released. Thorwath declined the offer to direct the sequel, stating "I’m ..looking for the next challenge." Further details such as the plot and casting are yet to be confirmed.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title 2021 action thriller films 2021 crime thriller films 2021 horror thriller films 2020s action horror films 2020s supernatural horror films 2020s monster movies 2020s British films 2020s German films 2020s English-language films 2020s German-language films English-language German films English-language action horror films English-language action thriller films English-language crime thriller films English-language horror thriller films English-language science fiction horror films Netflix original films British action horror films British action thriller films British crime action films British crime thriller films British horror thriller films British science fiction horror films British supernatural horror films British vampire films German action horror films German action thriller films German crime action films German crime thriller films German horror thriller films German science fiction horror films German supernatural horror films German vampire films Crime horror films Fiction about vampire outbreaks Films about mother–son relationships Films about widowhood Films about infectious diseases Films about viral outbreaks Films about aircraft hijackings Films about hostage taking Films about terrorism in Europe Films about the Royal Air Force Films set on airplanes Films set in Germany Films set in Scotland