 Directors: Raphaël Hernandez & Savitri Joly-Gonfard (aka Seth Ickerman) Writers: Raphaël Hernandez & Savitri Joly-Gonfard (aka Seth Ickerman) Starring: Elisa Lasowski, Joelle Berckmans, Anders Heinrichsen An artificial intelligence escapes her spaceship to turn into a female ghost and challenges two blade runners to a galactic chase. BLOOD MACHINES REVIEW BY SAM KURDBlood Machines is a Shudder Original 3-part music video for the French Synthwave artist Carpenter Brut. It's ostensibly also a story, with characters and dialogue and a plot, but it works far better as a music video. It's written and directed by Seth Ickerman, a pseudonym for Raphaδl Hernandez & Savitri Joly-Gonfard, who also wrote and directed the video for Carpenter Brut's Turbo Killer. The story follows a pair of "blade runners" who chase the ghostly disembodied AI of a downed spaceship through the galaxy, for reasons? Because their space boss told them to? I'll be honest, I have very little clue why anything that happened took place. There's a brief mention of a robot uprising but it's very quickly sidelined in order to spend more time with the odious Captain Vascan (Anders Heinrichsen) as he sleazes up the screen when clashing with the vaguely-shamanistic Corey (Elisa Lasowski, who was excellent). Corey tries to stop Vascan from taking the sentient ship they were pursuing and performs a bizarre ritual that causes the ship's soul to break free and fly into space. The ship's soul, by the way, is a naked woman. There's a lot of that by the end, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that maybe this was just an excuse to show a lot of excellently-soundtracked space tits. It's clearly not, as there's definitely a deeper meaning to be found, but I'm honestly too confused to work out what it is. It feels like the story was sacrificed to serve the imagery and the music, leaving it all a bit empty. I was left thinking that perhaps there's a message against the subjugation and commodification of women (every ship's soul is a woman, Vascan's ship AI is a woman, Vascan himself is nasty and rapey and he's cleary the bad guy, thank God) but it's all so clearly made for the male gaze that it doesn't sit right. Maybe I just don't get it. There is a good side to this, though: it's a fucking gorgeous music video. The lo-fi tech evokes Alien and early Star Wars while still being shiny and sleek, and the sequences where the ships fly through space are stunningly beautiful. They could probably do with an epilepsy warning, mind. And Carpenter Brut is on fine form: if you're not familiar with synthwave, think a mashup of 80s synth soundtracks and video game music. It rocks, and the beautiful purple and magenta tinged visuals complement it beautifully. I wasn't sure at first why this was on Shudder, until the horror elements started coming in towards the end. It's worth sticking with if only for the climactic space battle, which combines a great dance sequence with awesome crashing ship effects. I really wanted to like Blood Machines. I like Carpenter Brut, I like mad out-there space stuff. This felt like a Heavy Metal segment, but it was sadly lacking a lot of that movie's fun. In writing this review I discovered that this actually a sequel to the music video for Turbo Killer. Perhaps if I'd seen that one first then I'd be more open to this one, but as it is it fails to stand up on its own merits, beyond looking and sounding extremely pretty. Blood Machines is a stunning music video, but as a film it sadly falls short. bloodhound pix's review of blood machines In order to give what we believe to be a more unbiased constructive criticism of the piece, the members of Bloodhound Pix are tackling each review as a panel of three. None of the members know the others’ thoughts on the content until after they submit their initial response. Initial Reaction to Blood Machines K. Jam-packed with stunning imagery and featuring a killer synth score by Carpenter Brut, Blood Machines is a sci-fi steampunk homage in 3 parts. Inspired by a prior Carpenter Brut music video directed by Seth Ickerman, it’s no wonder the narrative offers little coherence. It’s really an exercise in style. I mean this thing is dripping with style and CGI, both of which are very well done. The gritty neon futuristic aesthetic and pulsating synth music are what this is really all about, so if you can shut your brain off and enjoy the eye (and ear) candy on display here you won’t be disappointed. C. What needs to be said right away is this thing is gorgeous. It’s brutal and grotesque but from concept to the execution it is art that I wish I could place on my wall. The reasoning is that the world feels lived in, even with all the CGI it feels tangible, a crucial element that’s lost on many CGI-heavy productions. If anything comes from Blood Machines it’s the proof that no matter how much money these companies like Disney throw at a project, passion and a strong artistic voice will prevail. That’s not to say a Disney film can’t have this and some do but it’s the old advice in trying to make something “perfect” you lose the most important part, personality. Now after I have a motivational rant about this short film, broken into 3 parts, I’m forced to say that while the visuals are outstanding, you wish they spent a little more time on the script. In the same way that the Iron Sky short took the world by storm with what could be accomplished on a low budget and a passionate team, then the feature came which was cool to watch but didn’t resonate on a storytelling level. That’s what happens here. Since the piece was inspired by Carpenter Brut’s music video that’s essentially what it feels like. However, there isn’t enough variation in the Brut’s score (while great) to move from traditional narrative to a more visual poetic style. The story’s concept is outstanding with spaceships being living creatures, entering into a psychedelic journey and I can appreciate how “heady” it’s trying to be but the lack of an engaging plot/characters doesn’t hit the way it could. Instead we’re left with something tiptoeing into “look-how-artistic-we-are” territory. This was struggling for me as a reviewer. On one hand it has some objective flaws, while on the other it’s a hypnotic blast that I can’t get enough of. However, what hurts Blood Machines the most is Shudder’s (or whoever made the decision) choice to break a 50 minute film into 3 parts. It doesn’t make sense, especially when the long opening credit sequence comes ⅓ into the second part. Maybe they did it because “people like to binge stuff,” or “they have short attention spans,” but all it accomplished for me is disjointment and being incredibly off putting. Blood Machines works best as an unbelievable proof of concept that I was constantly in awe of. Unfortunately its lack of engagement or emotional resonance, while choosing style over substance, doesn’t allow it to be as memorable as it deserves. J. This was trippy as fuck to say the least. To me, it gave off some serious steampunk-science fiction-Philip K. Dick vibes. The production design and CGI look pretty remarkable and that’s a good thing because there’s a lot of it. The world created in Blood Machines is unlike anything I’ve really seen before and CGI is necessary to create it. Thankfully, it looks great and isn’t a distraction due to video game quality or worse, which would be crippling in going for the ride this wants to take you on. The story was totally lost on me but I’ll be honest, it wasn’t the end of the world due to the amazing visuals and the unique world it presented. 3 ½ SKULLS. Response C. I think we’re all in agreement that the visuals on this thing are amazing and at many points the design is so good that you are able to forgive the lack of a story and character development. The other moments and after the hypnotic effects you experience while viewing it wear off, I found myself underwhelmed because there’s nothing to connect to outside of it looks “cool.” J. And I’ll go ahead and back Craig up on the decision to cut this into 3 “episodes.” I’m not sure why we needed it. The 3 chapters were titled the names of 3 individual female characters but there didn’t seem to be the need for added emphasis in identifying the three women as important. It is also very “music video-ish,” which should come as a surprise to no one. I will say that if you really wanna experience Blood Machines in the manner I’m sure Seth Ickerman would approve of, make sure your A/V set up is fucking stellar because you will feel this one on your eyeballs and ears to be sure. K. I can only echo Craig and Josh here. It is first and foremost a visual experience...and only a visual experience. It feels like a 3-part extended music video, if you know that going in and this sounds up your alley, you’ll dig it. But if you’re looking for any kind of traditional narrative or emotional journey to go on, you’ll be disappointed. I also think the 3-part split doesn’t make a ton of sense, though a 50-min short would’ve been an equally odd length...so there you go. Bloodhound’s average score: 3 1/2 out of 5 Bloodhound Pix is made up of: Craig Draheim, Josh Lee, and Kyle Hintz Follow them at https://www.twitter.com/BloodhoundPix https://www.facebook.com/BloodhoundPix/ https:/www.instagram.com/bloodhoundpix/ Be on the lookout for new episodes of the Bloodhound Pix Podcast every Tuesday. Available on Itunes, Youtube, and Soundcloud.    the heart and soul of Horror movie reviews |
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