''Book of Blood'' is a 2009 British

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by

John Harrison John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was an English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the History of longitude, problem of how to calculate longitude while at sea. Harrison's sol ...

and starring

Jonas Armstrong Jonas Armstrong (born 1 January 1981) is an Irish-English actor who rose to prominence playing the title character on the BBC's ''Robin Hood'' (2006–2009). He has since appeared in miniseries such as '' Dark Angel'' (2016), '' Troy: Fall of a ...

Sophie Ward Sophie Anna Ward (born 30 December 1964) is a British stage and screen actress, and a writer of non-fiction and fiction from London. As an actress, she played Jocelyn Sheffield in '' The Nanny''; she also played Elizabeth Hardy, the female l ...

, and

Doug Bradley Douglas William Bradley (born 7 September 1954) is an English actor best known for his role as the Cenobite leader Pinhead in the ''Hellraiser'' film series. Early life Douglas William Bradley was born in Liverpool on 7 September 1954. He ...

. It is based on the framing stories "The Book of Blood" and "On Jerusalem Street (A Postscript)" from

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English writer, filmmaker, and visual artist. He came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of short stories collectively named the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading horror author ...

's ''

Books of Blood ''Books of Blood'' is a series of six horror fiction anthologies collecting original stories written by English author, playwright, and filmmaker Clive Barker in 1984 and 1985. Known primarily for writing stage plays beforehand, Barker gained ...

''.

Plot

A hooded, disfigured young man is eating at a diner, being watched by a stranger. The stranger is Wyburd (

Clive Russell Clive Russell (born 7 December 1945) is a British actor. He is known for his roles as Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline in '' Ripper Street'', Angus O'Connor in ''Happiness'', Lord Lovat in '' Outlander'', and Brynden Tully in the HBO series ...

), who has been stalking the young man, Simon (

). Wyburd convinces Simon to join him in his truck, where Simon passes out and awakens strapped to a table. Wyburd offers him a choice: a slow death, or a quick and clean death by telling the story of the Book of Blood, a series of scars and inscriptions carved on Simon from head to toe. Opting for a clean death, Simon reveals his story. A teen girl is violently raped and beaten in her bed while her parents stand outside screaming her name. An unseen force rips her face off, killing her. Several months later, paranormal professor Mary Florescu (

) and her partner Reg Fuller ( Paul Blair) investigate the house to unlock its mysteriously murderous past. Mary encounters Simon McNeal, a seemingly

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to ...

young man to whom she develops an attraction. Simon reluctantly signs on to assist, and the three of them move in. Early on, Mary hallucinates six girls dancing in a circle, playing ring-around-the-rosy. When they stop and look at her, they are all ghosts. All three of them hear and witness strange phenomena, including Simon being locked in his room and attacked by

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

s, as well as writing scrawled on walls that bursts into flame. Reg convinces Mary to take a sample of the walls and send it in for analysis. Mary and Simon grow closer, eventually sleeping together. While she sleeps, a dragonfly lands on her, and she has a vision of bloody skeletons dancing in a fountain. She admits that as a girl, she had visions of a fountain that spouted blood at night, the burial ground of a serial killer's young victim. She feels guilty because she never said anything, and he killed five more girls before being caught. When she goes to leave the house, she sees a final message on the walls - "You didn't listen." The lab gets back to Mary and says the substances on the walls is gunpowder - perfect for making a wall appear to burst into flame. Mary realizes that Simon has been faking some of the phenomena, and confronts him; he admits his deception, but argues that some of it is not him, that his powers stopped when he was 13 but they have returned and he thinks it is Mary. Mary begins to pack up her belongings and drink, but begins to have visions of some of the people who have died. Before she can leave the house, she doubles over and throws up, and realizes Simon smuggled the gunpowder in with the pills. She and Reg break down all his other tricks. Simon confronts Mary and Reg and says that the house has chosen him - he's supposed to be there. He tells her she will beg to write his story when it's over, and returns to the room, stripping off his shirt. Another dragonfly lands on Mary's hand, and she looks at it. As all of Reg's equipment begins to go crazy, dragonflies land on Mary's eyes and mouth. When Reg comes to tell her about his equipment, the room is swarming with dragonflies. Mary says she realizes the house is an intersection that allows the dead to spill over into their world. She says Simon has led them to a crossroads, and Reg contradicts her - it's not Simon, it's Mary. She is the key to opening the way for the ghosts; her powers were what awakened them. Simon is again attacked by

s; this time, they carve into his flesh with nails and glass shards. Mary runs to find him, ghosts slowly descending the stairs past her as she ascends. Reg runs after her, but is startled by a terrifying ghost and falls over the railing to his death. When Mary enters Simon's room, she sees a vast haunted panorama filled with ghosts. She swears to the ghosts that she will listen this time; she will tell all of their stories. The ghosts heed her words and depart, allowing Simon to survive the ordeal. Simon reveals to Wyburd that he was from then on kept prisoner, cursed to be the book on which the dead write while Mary wrote books and made millions off of the stories portrayed on him. As she aged, he remained the same youthful appearance, only more scarred with new stories for her to write. He admitted he couldn't take it anymore, so he fled, hence the reason Wyburd was hired to remove his skin. Wyburd, unmoved, lives up to his end of the bargain and kills Simon quickly. After placing his skin neatly into a suitcase, he waits for his payment. Blood suddenly starts pouring from the case, slowly filling the building that Wyburd is trapped in, and he drowns. Mary arrives, and is unfazed by Wyburd's body. She opens the suitcase, pulls out Simon's intact skin, and smiles as she begins to read the stories still being written upon the flesh.

Cast

Production

Adapted and directed by John Harrison from one of Clive Barker's ''Books of Blood'', the film shoot occurred in Scotland, including

Dundas Castle Dundas Castle is a 15th-century castle, with substantial 19th-century additions by William Burn, in the Dalmeny parish of West Lothian, Scotland. The home of the Dundas family since the Middle Ages, it was sold in the late 19th century and is c ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

through December 2007 and into early 2008. Following exposure at the 2008 European Film Market, and the completion of the FX shoot in London ''Book of Blood'' premiered in North America premiere during the

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Fantasia film festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...

on 13 July 2009. ''Book of Blood'' is the seventh story to be adapted from Barker's collection, following '' Rawhead Rex'' ( filmed in 1986), '' The Forbidden'' (filmed in 1992 as '' Candyman''), '' The Last Illusion'' (filmed in 1995 as ''

Lord of Illusions ''Lord of Illusions'' is a 1995 American neo-noir supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his own short story ''The Last Illusion'' published in 1985 in the anthology ''Books of Blood'' Volume 6. The same story intr ...

''), '' The Body Politic'' (filmed in 1997 within ''

Quicksilver Highway ''Quicksilver Highway'' is a 1997 made for television comedy horror anthology film directed by Mick Garris. It is based on Clive Barker's 1985 short story " The Body Politic" and Stephen King's 1992 short story " Chattery Teeth". The film was ...

''), and ''

The Midnight Meat Train ''The Midnight Meat Train'' is a 2008 American horror film based on Clive Barker's 1984 short story of the same name. Its plot follows a photographer who attempts to track down a serial killer dubbed the "Subway Butcher", and discovers more th ...

''. During his appearance at

Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors Weekend of Horrors was traditionally a tri-annual (with occasionally more) traveling convention which focuses on horror films. Formerly produced in partnership with Creation Entertainment, the Weekend of Horrors show is now owned exclusively b ...

, he noted that the film would be followed by '' Dread'', ''Pig Blood Blues'', and then ''Madonna''.

Release

The film premiered on 7 March 2009 as part of the Hamburg Fantasy Filmfest Nights. It was released the week of 28 September 2009 in the UK.

References

External links