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Rating: 0.5 out of 5
Do you know the name Elizabeth Bathory? If you watched some vampire movies or a serial killer documentary, you might have come across her. If you watched Netflix’s Castlevania: Nocturne, she appears. She was a Hungarian noblewoman who is known for killing hundreds of girls and bathing in their blood to have a youthful appearance. Stories were developed that she had vampire tendencies. She was known as the Blood Countess.
The reason I brought this up is that I watched a film called A Blood Story. A movie centered on the legend of Countess Bathory as its main driving point. Thanks to the world of Tubi, I recently landed on this film. As you know by now, Tubi has some films that are questionable and were scraping the bottom of the barrel. Sometimes, before the opening credits even start, you know deep down that it’s going to be a low-budget film that makes little sense and has many plot holes. Get ready for a movie that has blood, mystery, and craziness.
The story centers on Madison Sheffield, played by the beautiful Mindy Robinson. Madison was a popular underwear model before her husband went insane by killing one girl and disfiguring her. Madison manages to kill her husband in self-defense. This one instance killed Madison’s career. Instead, Madison gets the bright idea to become a writer. She is assigned a job to write a romance novel, but it doesn’t progress. To gain inspiration, she decides to visit a rumored place that holds the fabled Fountain of Youth, with the hope of repairing her disfigured body.
While at the villa, she meets several people. The main characters are Francis (Camden Toy), who addresses Wade (Tim Hays), a regular, Carter (Mark Hanson), a quiet man, and Madison herself. Francis also introduces his co-host, Anna (Melanie Robel), along with their servants, Kira (Janine King) and Istvan (Luc Bernier). Shit gets weird as the group watched Istvan whip a woman until she is bloodied, and her virgin blood will be used for bathing. Francis explains that when you bathe in blood. Here we come, vampires.
Madison is drawn to Carter and disgusted by Wade, who Francis explains has a specific taste. Boom, we see Madison bathing in the blood and talking about how great it is for her. If you think you are going to see anything, you will not see any of Madison’s nude body. When Madison sleeps, BOOM, we are introduced to a hideous, bandaged creature who creeps over Madison. One evening, Madison walks through the house when she hears Francis and Anna speaking. We receive a bombshell that they are father and daughter, not lovers, and want to bring back their mother. They have a creepy father-daughter relationship. As Madison watches, Wade is brought in and caught trying to steal gold coins. He is killed, and when a coin falls, Madison puts it in her bra but is soon captured herself. She wakes up in Carter’s bed, where he says he found her under it. Really? Under your bed. The pair goes out and talks. The film skips ten months later, when Madison states that the coin is worth millions and that the Fountain of Youth is real, because her scars have miraculously disappeared. Madison contacts Carter to steal more coins.
Still no nudity at this point, and still crazy whipping scenes. The second half of the film, I suppose, brings it all together, explaining why the villa and fountain of youth aspect was discussed. Madison somehow discovers that Francis is Ferenc Nadasdy, aka Elizabeth’s husband. We learn that Ferenc and Elizabeth died, and it was Anna who brought Ferenc from the great beyond, but they are not vampires. Elizabeth is that freaky mummy-looking thing running around Madison. Do you want to know the key to bringing someone back from the dead? You need virgin hearts or around 1000 of them. That’s a shit ton of virgins. Oh, and apparently, you can consume or bathe in the living blood of a family member because it will kill you.
Yup, hope you got all of that because I was like, “W.T.F are you talking about?” Whatever, because Madison and Carter roll up and then get captured. Madison is tied to a stake, and Carter is stabbed. Then the film gives another big reveal. To bring back Elizabeth, you need the blood of her offspring. Anna feels deceived by it and provides some of her blood to Madison. Elizabeth is revived, and the picture of her changes somehow. She does some creepy, weird looks at Madison before biting her arm, and then starts dying. Yeah, the scene was bizarre, and Anna reveals she is behind her mom’s death, kills her dad, and burns the building to the ground. Once again, “W.T.F. is going on?”
I would say that Mindy Robinson as Madison was decent. She spent most of her time trying to give a seductive look. Had her lips sticking out and the whole seductive look in her eyes. I felt that her character was inconsistent. She takes out a gun and then puts it back in her purse in one scene. For her performance, she needs a cake that says, “At least you tried.” She wasn’t God awful, but she really didn’t light up the scene. She was beautiful to look at, but after a while, you can only see her talk about her bloody scars and sit in Kool-Aid water for so long.
As for the performances, Camden Toy was head and shoulders above everyone else. He seemed to command the scenes he was in and had an evil, mysterious charm about him. He is no De Niro, but for a movie like this, he might have been. He played the creepy old aristocrat pretty well. Besides him, I won’t get into the others, as it’s not worth it. At least everyone tried.
I don’t want to sound like a creepy person, but where was the nudity in this film? You somewhat or kind of wish for it and get nothing. Madison sits in the bath, and you expect her to show something, but nope, access denied. You don’t even get an ass shot. No nudity, and maybe I should applaud the director for saying we are going to tease but give you nothing just to keep you interested.
A Blood Story is a film that takes the concept of the Fountain of Youth, combines it with the story of the Bloody Countess Elizabeth Bathory, and adds in elements of a dramatic trauma, a lead character who is beautiful but has issues, rolls it into a ball, and tries to give it to you. It is one of those films you might watch or get halfway through and then give up because it is all over the place and makes little sense. Might as well sit in your own Kool-Aid water and hope for a youthful appearance.
