Dark Blood

2012

1h 26m

Mystery & Thriller

List

80%

5 Reviews

Tomatometer

62%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

A widower living in the desert waits for the end of the world. When a wealthy married couple arrives seeking shelter, the widower becomes obsessed with the wife.

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maya r

It's a great love story and it's River's last movie he Finished

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Apparently the only reason anyone can find for watching this is the fact that it is River Phoenix' final film, since it's not only incomplete but mainly sterile and forgettable, unable to be tense or sexy as a provocative thriller and with some serious racist and sexist undertones.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This film was a long time coming. I'd been waiting for it since 1993. The film suffers as a result of the untimely death of its star, River Phoenix, but this mostly finished film still has enough in it to warrant a viewing from fans. I am glad that it was finally edited and finished as much as it could be.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It`s story about loneliness,isolatio and the suffering that comes with it.River`s performance is that good that you find yourself rooting for the bad gay and hoping that his charactor will find a light at the end of his tunnel.The main scenes are missing and they are narrated by the director but it`s like reading the book you create your own scenes the way you want them to be,this brings even more sadness and eternal feeling that something is missing and that something will never be finished.Sound and photograhpy is incredible in this movie,the music is so haunting and complements the feeling of the movie perfectly.This move deserves to be seen it`s totally different experience.It is far more better then the movies that are coming out these days.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/26/15

Full Review

Audience Member

Interesting. Interesting isn't always the best word to describe something but in the case of this movie I believe it is most fitting. Dark Blood was filmed in 1993 and never completed because of the untimely death of its young star, River Phoenix (My Own Private Idaho), and the emotional connections its director George Sluizer (The Vanishing) had with the late star. As Sluizer got sick later in life, he decided that the world should see River's last filmed moments and completed the film with his own voice-over narration of the movie's incomplete scenes. This makes the film feel oddly incomplete but also wholly complete at the same time ... it is rather intriguing as it gives the film a whole new, never-before-felt tone of its own. It is the story of a young widower claiming to be part Hopi (Phoenix) who escapes to the desert to await the End Times but his peaceful existence becomes disrupted by a Hollywood couple whose car breaks down near his abode. The boy takes a liking to the flirty female (Judy Davis - Husbands and Wives) but him and the guy (Jonathan Pryce - Brazil) don't see eye-to-eye. As the boy's sanity seems to waver and unravel, he (somewhat) holds the couple hostage in the desert as he believes she has been brought to him to fulfill some kind of a Hopi destiny. Had the film been released years ago ... it would have been forgotten; but it is now a curious oddity ... that I rather liked. It is a tragic story for more than one reason. Phoenix was a talent ... and it is evident here and his loss was a sad one. Some people aren't necessarily meant to be fully understood ... like Boy/Phoenix himself and we are to appreciate what we get to see and know. Again ... interesting.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Good acting. Visually appealing. Too bad I can't say the same about the storyline. Farewell River.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

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George Sluizer

Director

River Phoenix

Boy

Jonathan Pryce

Harry Fletcher

Judy Davis

Buffy Fletcher

Karen Black

Motel Woman

T. Dan Hopkins

Joe Tapesi

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Scott Foundas

Village Voice

Dark Blood quickly announces itself as pure folly -- a movie that, had it made it to theaters two decades ago, would be long forgotten by now, save for the occasional late-night airing in the basic-cable badlands.

Feb 24, 2013

Full Review

Jordan Mintzer

Hollywood Reporter

Left unfinished when River Phoenix died of drug-related causes in the middle of shooting, this terrifically played and superbly photographed three-hander reveals to what extent the 23-year-old star was an intense and unpredictable talent.

Feb 14, 2013

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Boyd van Hoeij

Variety

Phoenix exerts a suitably charismatic and commanding air in his final role, making Boy a complex, fully mature character.

Oct 22, 2012

Full Review

Brian Orndorf

Blu-ray.com

It's fascinating to watch the feature after all these years of rumors and leaked clips, finally able to grasp the last images of River Phoenix before his untimely death. For that alone, Dark Blood is worth a look.

Rated: B-

Oct 10, 2013

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Synopsis

A widower living in the desert waits for the end of the world. When a wealthy married couple arrives seeking shelter, the widower becomes obsessed with the wife.

Director: George Sluizer
Producer: Stephen Woolley
Screenwriter: Jim Barton
Production Co: Fine Line Features, Scala Productions
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 26m