Blood Simple

R

Now Playing

1 hr. 37 min.

Mystery & Thriller

Crime

Drama

List

94%

111 Reviews

Tomatometer

88%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

"Blood Simple" was the first feature film from Joel and Ethan Coen. This is the newly restored and re-edited director's cut of the film, introduced by Mortimer Young. The stylish crime thriller premiered at film festivals in 1984. "Blood Simple" begins deep in the heart of Texas, where a jealous saloon owner hires a cheap divorce detective to kill the saloon owner's younger wife and her bartender lover. But the detective gets a better idea: he follows the two lovers, and...

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Critics Consensus

Brutally violent and shockingly funny in equal measure, Blood Simple offers early evidence of the Coen brothers' twisted sensibilities and filmmaking ingenuity.

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Dani G

There's a reason why this film is a cult classic. Simple but efficient, a great opera prima from the Coens

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/22/24

Full Review

Tom F

Almost perfect storytelling. Los Bros Coen hit the ground running. M. Emmet Walsh at his best, this rewatch camer a few days before his death.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/29/24

Full Review

Leaburn O

Solid thriller with some brutality thrown in. Pre the days of the Coen brothers having forged their singular style though there were Fargo elements to the film. It was quite good but a bit plodding in spite of the short runtime. Watched on Film4.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/12/24

Full Review

Wayne K

The Coen Brother's have had incredibly illustrious careers, producing some of the most acclaimed films of the 20th and 21st century. But everyone has to start somewhere, and for Joel & Ethan, that place was Blood Simple. Even from the beginning, they already had a good idea of what style they were going for, and as such the movie feels much like some of their later, more successful projects. Its budgetary limitations are obvious in areas such as editing, where some scenes end very abruptly, like they didn't have enough money to keep shooting so they decided to end things early. Which is weird, because other scenes and shots go on for a long time, which I felt was done as a way to ensure the movie reached feature length. Few people consider it their favourite Coen Brothers film, a sentiment very much shared by the directors themselves. It's got a plot that twists and turns, dropping little clues here and there and building up to a fitting climax, and while some of it is confusing, its satisfying when all is said and done. There's been more confident, polished and well-rounded debuts, but it's still definitely worth checking out.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/08/24

Full Review

Jeff M

If for no other reason, this nifty film noir deserves to be seen as the starting point for the Coen Brothers - one of the most important filmmaking duos in motion picture history. And even though this is their first endeavor, you can already notice and appreciate their extraordinary talent and love for filmmaking. What we have here is an intimate thriller with a handful of main characters, none of whom we fully understand and none of whom we fully trust. It's a gloriously lean and economic adventure, and we don't quite understand who is doing what to whom until the very end - and even then, we have to take a minute to question everything we've seen and experienced. The filmmaking here is impeccable and the suspense amazingly palpable. Like Hitchcock, the Coens are playing all 88 keys of the piano here without us fully realizing it. And what fun there is in watching a young McDormand - now a two-time Oscar winner and one of the most amazing actresses in modern cinema! It doesn't reach the heights of future endeavors such as FARGO, which is one of the great films ever made, but it's definitely a forecast of the feast to come.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/11/24

Full Review

James B

one of the cohen brothers best films an intense noir film really well shot and acted dark film but well worth watching.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/24

Full Review

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Joel Coen

Director

John Getz

Ray

Frances McDormand

Abby

M. Emmet Walsh

Private Detective

Dan Hedaya

Julian Marty

Samm-Art Williams

Meurice

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Jay Scott

Globe and Mail

Blood Simple is entirely self-concious, and good for it.

Dec 6, 2022

Full Review

Adam Nayman

The Ringer

What holds up best about Blood Simple, besides its vice-tight plotting and the rotten charisma of M. Emmet Walsh's evil, manipulative private eye Visser, is the sheer exuberance of the Coens's visual style.

Apr 15, 2019

Full Review

Simran Hans

Observer (UK)

Blood Simple is a reminder that the Coens are formalist film-makers first, with keen noses for composition and taut, structured storytelling, as well as masters of black comedy.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 8, 2017

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Bodies are shot, stabbed, dragged, and buried, blood is spilled and wiped up, evidence planted, swiped, and swapped, and nobody really knows what the story is. Except the audience, and we’re generally a beat behind.

Apr 6, 2024

Full Review

Danielle Solzman

Solzy at the Movies

Blood Simple not only put the Coens on the map but guaranteed that cinema would never again be the same.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 7, 2024

Full Review

Dimitris Passas

PopMatters

The debut neo-noir feature film by the brothers Ethan and Joel Coen is perhaps their most enchanting work. Blood Simple remains loyal to the classic noir tradition while evolving the genre’s prototypical narrative structure.

Nov 28, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

"Blood Simple" was the first feature film from Joel and Ethan Coen. This is the newly restored and re-edited director's cut of the film, introduced by Mortimer Young. The stylish crime thriller premiered at film festivals in 1984. "Blood Simple" begins deep in the heart of Texas, where a jealous saloon owner hires a cheap divorce detective to kill the saloon owner's younger wife and her bartender lover. But the detective gets a better idea: he follows the two lovers, and...

Director: Joel Coen
Executive Producer: Daniel F. Bacaner
Screenwriter: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Distributor: USA Films
Production Co: River Road
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 7, 1984, Wide
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Jul 1, 2016
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.7M
Sound Mix: Stereo

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