Bloody Hell

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Alister Grierson directs. Brad Shield behind the camera. Brian Cachia scores. Robert Benjamin cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Australia, United States of America. Dialogue in English, Finnish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 6 years ago.
• 2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Finnish.
• 3International production across 2 countries: Australia, United States of America.
• 4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 5Directed by Alister Grierson, shot by Brad Shield. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Original score by Brian Cachia. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Robert Benjamin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8Ben O'Toole and Meg Fraser and Caroline Craig carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "One Hell of a Fairytale".
• 10IMDB entry: tt9772374 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Classified under 16 themes, including "helsinki, finland", "escape", "basement", "cannibal".

The technical file

Cinematography

Brad Shield

Original score

Brian Cachia

Editing

Robert Benjamin

Production design

Michael Rumpf

Runtime

94 min · 1h 34m

Status

Released

Box office

$28,037

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Bloody Hell (2020) ↗

Also by

Alister Grierson

• 
  The Doctor Blake Mysteries

  2013 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Bomb

  2005 · ★ 7.0
• 
  Nowhere Boys

  2013 · ★ 6.8
• 
  Tiger

  2018 · ★ 6.4
• 
  Kokoda

  2006 · ★ 6.2
• 
  Sanctum

  2011 · ★ 6.1

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  BLOODY HELL (2021) - Official Red Band Trailer [HD]

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots2021-03-09
  ★ 8/10

  It’s not often that a midnight movie excels in its quest for perfection, but “Bloody Hell” comes close. This violent, unruly horror-comedy is a tale of monsters, forbidden love, a demented family, and one very unlucky guy who just wants to turn his life around. Packed with a twisted sense of humor and plenty of surprises, this is one rowdy roller coaster of a movie that’s well on its way to becoming a modern cult classic. When a video of him turning the tables during a bank robbery goes viral, Rex (Ben O’Toole) finds himself at the center of a public debate. Rex is on trial because thanks to his heroics, he rescued a bank full of people although an innocent bystander was inadvertently killed in the commotion. Depending on their perspective, some people hold Rex up as a gutsy savior while others scorn him as a violent lunatic. He’s sentenced to eight years in an Idaho prison and even after he is released almost a decade later, the man can’t escape the court of public opinion. Wanting to run away to a place where he can start over in an anonymous life, Rex randomly chooses to flee to Finland. But once the plane touches down in Helsinki, he is gassed in the back of a taxi and later wakes up shackled in a dark basement — with a body part missing. The story is simple but solid, with a terrific setup that pays off tenfold. Director Alister Grierson relies on creative storytelling with the clever idea to have Rex talk to an imaginary version of himself. This two-way stream of consciousness device lets the hero’s inner monologue manifest as a sort of evil twin who shows up at opportune moments to encourage Rex’s devilish side as he struggles to escape. There are thrills, but the film never gets super dark because of the wacky, wry sense of humor (when a character discovers he has been talking to himself for years, Rex shrugs it off, saying “we all have issues”). It doesn’t take long to become emotionally invested in the what-where-why mystery of the story, mostly because of the charismatic lead actor and his committed performance. The cast is terrific across the board, landing the nerdy film-literate references in the script and fully trusting the cohesive, inspired vision from Grierson and screenwriter Robert Benjamin. As great as this movie eventually becomes, the first fifteen minutes are brutal to suffer through. At first I was so annoyed by the directorial style that I almost gave up entirely. Grierson’s overuse of artsy visuals is massively irritating but once the story gets going and the director settles down (and purges all the junk jump cuts out of his system), this turns into what amounts to the near-perfect midnight movie. Once Rex arrives in Finland, everything on screen is outrageously satisfying. The last half of “Bloody Hell” made me scream with delight more than once, and it will probably be even better if you can watch it in the company of a raucous audience. Genre fans won’t want to miss this one.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• EC

  Eclectik Vision

  AU

• HE

  Heart Sleeve Productions

• EN

  Entertainment Squad

Key crew

• ProducerBrett Thornquest
• StuntsMichael Matthews
• Executive ProducerSteven Matusko
• EditorRobert Benjamin
• EditorAlister Grierson
• Production DesignMichael Rumpf

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• helsinki, finland
• escape
• basement
• cannibal
• sadistic psychopath
• bank heist
• abduction
• masked criminals
• inner monologue
• fight for survival
• remote house
• cold atmosphere
• panic decisions
• boise, idaho, usa
• family of killers
• dark humor

Release history · US

When it landed

• Digital2020-10-09R· Nightstream Film Festival

Also known as

International titles

• 빌어먹을KR
• Bloody Hell - One Hell of a Fairy TaleUS
• Bloody Hell - Ein höllisches MärchenDE
• Чёртов адRU