| Bloodline | |
| Director: | Henry Jacobson |
| Music: | Trevor Gureckis |
| Cinematography: | Isaac Bauman |
| Editing: | Nigel Galt |
| Distributor: | Momentum Pictures |
| Runtime: | 95 minutes[1] |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Bloodline is a 2018 American psychological horror film directed by Henry Jacobson. The film was written by Avra Fox-Lerne, Will Honley and Jacobson. It stars Seann William Scott, Mariela Garriga, Dale Dickey, and Kevin Carroll. The film is a co-production between Divide/Conquer and Blumhouse Productions.[2]
The film premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2018.[3]
The film was released on September 20, 2019 by Momentum Pictures,[4] and received mixed reviews from critics.
A nurse finishing her shift goes to the staff changing room to take a shower and change. While in the shower an unseen person slashes her throat.
Three months earlier, Evan is a social worker who works with abused and troubled teens. Evan's wife Lauren gives birth to a son, whom they named Andrew. Evan's mother Marie visits the hospital as Lauren is having trouble breastfeeding her baby. The nurse is rude when Marie asks her to be more gentle with the baby.
Evan has a session with one of his students, who was beaten by his father. Stopping in front of a bar, the boy's father is thrown out, and Evan convinces the man to let him give him a ride home. At an abandoned mansion the man is squatting in, Evan knocks the man unconscious with a club and ties him to a chair. The man breaks down and explains he can not help himself when he is in a rage. Evan then kills the man.
Some time later, Evan is speaking with a female student who makes it apparent that her uncle has raped her. That night, Evan abducts the girl's uncle and takes him to the abandoned mansion before killing him.
Evan gets a call from one of his students, Chris. Chris's drug-addicted father has returned home and hit Chris after an argument. The following night, Evan visits the hospital. The rude nurse tells a junkie looking for pain meds to leave and then ends her shift. The nurse is then murdered. At the same time, Evan is revealed to be in another area of the hospital, and offers the junkie some free drugs. It is revealed that the junkie is actually Chris's father, and the nurse was murdered by Marie.
Back at the abandoned mansion, Chris's father is killed by Evan. The following morning, it is revealed in a news broadcast that the bodies Evan buried were found. It is also revealed that as a child Evan's father returned after being driven away and attacked him and his mother. In order to protect his mother, Evan killed his father in the exact same way he does all his victims. Marie covered up the murder, buried his father in the garden, and promised to always protect him.
At Evan's home a Detective arrives. He interviews the family and reveals his suspicion that Evan is involved due to all the victims having a connection to him. Lauren begins to become suspicious of Evan. That night Chris shows up at Evan's house to confront him with a gun about the killing of his father. Evan defuses the situation and sends the boy home without the gun. Lauren, now almost convinced of Evan's involvement, searches his garage and finds some of the audio recordings Evan made while killing his victims. Lauren phones someone and tells them she would like to meet them. Marie points out to Evan that Lauren is behaving suspiciously, and Evan follows her. Lauren arrives at a remote location, and it is revealed that she is meeting with Chris. Lauren tells Chris she found proof that Evan killed his father, she then forces a gun into Chris's hand and forces him to shoot himself in the head. All is witnessed by Evan who smiles as he realizes Lauren is willing to do anything to protect him, just like his mother. Lauren picks up Chris's phone and begins typing a message.
The detective shows up at the house to close the case as a social media post made from Chris's phone took credit for all the murders, saying he went after the abusers and then killed himself after killing his dad. Evan tells the detective he often let Chris be alone in his office and that is likely how he knew about the other abused kids. The detective leaves as the family stand looking at their sleeping child.
Principal photography on the film began in January 2018.[5]
Bloodline had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2018.[6] [7] The film was theatrically released on September 20, 2019 by Momentum Pictures.
Lakeshore Records released the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of Bloodline, composed by Trevor Gureckis, on September 20, 2019.[8]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews from critics, with an average rating of .[9] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 50% based on reviews from 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[10]
Dennis Harvey of Variety magazine wrote: "Well acted (though Garriga doesn't quite make a coherent character out of Lauren, or create believable marital chemistry with Scott), this is a smooth movie that maybe should have been a little less tidy for maximum impact."[11]