Blood Red Sky: A High-Flying Horror Hybrid
Nadia (Peri Baumeister), our protagonist, carries a dark secret: she’s been turned into a vampire. Determined to find a cure, she boards a transatlantic flight to New York with her son. However, their journey takes a terrifying turn when terrorists hijack the plane, aiming to manipulate the stock market. Nadia, forced to confront her inner monster, unleashes both her maternal instincts and her vampiric fury to protect the passengers, especially her son.
Leonie Brill as Julia in a still from “Blood Red Sky”
What if you combined “Die Hard 2” with Tony Scott’s “The Hunger”? Or perhaps “Passenger 57” with “Blade”? This is the creative question German director Peter Thorwarth, along with screenwriter Stefan Holtz, seems to have pondered. Their film, “Blood Red Sky,” presents a fascinating concept: a fusion of two genres that have traditionally existed in parallel – the classic hostage thriller and the vampire horror. This kind of genre blending is becoming increasingly popular, especially after the success of the cannibal-western “Bone Tomahawk” and the heist-themed zombie horror “Army of the Dead.”
Peri Baumeister as Nadia in a still from “Blood Red Sky”
This German production channels its ambitions, transforming the usually charming Peri Baumeister into a John McClane-esque figure, but instead of wit and weaponry, she wields vampiric rage akin to a berserker’s fury. Despite the over-saturation of vampires in pop culture, Nadia’s enraged form – with pointed ears, a shaved head, and a bestial snarl – feels surprisingly original and imposing. Cinematic influences are evident: the mother fiercely protecting her son is a visual homage to Count Orlok from F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu.” It’s a delight to watch her unleash her inner demons, causing mayhem on board. The stereotypical terrorists, led by a menacing Dominic Purcell, are completely unprepared for what they face when they try to kill her.
More Than Just a Thriller
Thorwarth crafts the film not only as a tense, claustrophobic thriller, where a bloody chaos unfolds within the confines of a Boeing, but also as a commentary on contemporary anxieties. The film touches upon mass hysteria in the wake of potential 9/11-esque attacks, stock market manipulation, Islamophobia, and the fear of global pandemics. Ultimately, vampirism becomes a deadly virus, and the passengers become its carriers, interacting within the tight corridors and cargo holds.
Peri Baumeister as Nadia in a still from “Blood Red Sky”
The film’s steady grip and confident pacing are occasionally disrupted by flashbacks (deviating from the main action to explain the origins of Nadia’s vampiric curse), adding a more complex dramatic structure. Thorwarth’s creation aspires to be a poignant drama about maternal love and unconditional devotion, portraying Nadia not as a one-dimensional monster, but as a complex individual who not only deals with hijackers but also struggles to control her own bloodlust. However, these narrative stretches, including lengthy introductions to the characters’ backstories, feel somewhat perfunctory. Ultimately, “Blood Red Sky” is a self-indulgent B-movie, a perfect midnight horror film that doesn’t shy away from its fangs and predatory instincts.
A Bloody Good Time
Thorwarth drenches the screen in blood, fully aware that graphic violence is the best part of his deadly genre outing, which aims to be the new “Train to Busan.” By the second hour, after navigating through a ton of unnecessary scenes and teetering between high drama and trash, the film embraces its true nature and unleashes its imagination: vampires clinging to the fuselage, antagonists transformed into ghouls, and a final action sequence involving a military assault. “Blood Red Sky” knows the formula for a late-night guilty pleasure, perfect for those who miss “30 Days of Night” and crave intense genre thrills. In the end, as Thorwarth demonstrates, behind almost every insane and gory plot lies a touching story in the vein of “A Mother for a Mammoth” – a fact that is undeniably heartwarming, even as flesh is torn and ghouls lick their lips on screen.