Bloody Hell (film)

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Bloody Hell
Film poster
Directed by	Alister Grierson
Screenplay by
Produced by	Robert Benjamin
Starring	Caroline Craig Matthew Sunderland Jack Finsterer
Cinematography
Edited by	Robert Benjamin Alister Grierson
Music by
Production companies
Distributed by	Entertainment Squad
Release dates	8 October 2020 (2020-10-08) (Australia) 9 October 2020 (2020-10-09) (United States)
Running time	93 min
Countries	Australia United States
Language	English
Box office	$60,283[1][2]

Bloody Hell is a 2020 Australian-British action horror film directed by Alister Grierson and written by . It tells the story of a man with a mysterious past who flees from his homeland to escape his own personal hell - to unknowingly experience something even more sinister and hellish. The film stars , Caroline Craig and Matthew Sunderland.^[3]

The film premiered in Australia on October 8, 2020,^[4] and in the United States a day later at the .^[5]

Plot[]

Rex (Ben O'Toole), a veteran and resident of Boise, Idaho visits a Boise bank to see a teller named Maddy that he has a crush on. He purposefully manipulates the bank's line so that when Maddy is available he is able to speak with her. While Rex is flirting and asking Maddy out on a date, a group of armed robbers storm the bank and demand both the register tills and all of the customers' purses and wallets. Rex instructs Maddy to run and prepares to hand over his wallet. Another customer's spilt open purse reveals a firearm which Rex debates using to defend himself as well as the bank customers and employees.

Flashback sequences reveal that Rex was able to successfully secure the bank by dispatching the armed robbers one at a time. Unfortunately, an innocent bystander was killed in the process. The reception of Rex's actions is split down the line believing him to either be a hero who saved the day or a rogue vigilante who caused an unnecessary death. Rex goes back and forth with his attorney before his trial, where he can either take a plea deal and serve 8 years in prison or try and prove his innocence but serve 20 to life if he is found guilty. Rex takes the plea deal and serves 8 years in prison.

Upon being released, the media has a field day with Rex's actions in the bank and follow him obsessively while he enjoys some small luxuries of freedom like grocery shopping and eating a burger. He then returns to the bar where he was previously employed and speaks with another bartender. They banter back and forth and Rex explains that he has made a calculated decision to get away to Finland. The calculated decision turns out to be shooting a spitwad at a map in his cell, where the spitwad landed on Finland.

Rex is shown at the airport being adorned by an obnoxious fan who compares him to Batman. He is also uncomfortably stared at by an elderly Finnish couple who mention something in Finnish about capturing him. Another Finnish passenger who overheard the couple sidles up to Rex and whispers their ominous conversation to him. Brushing this off as coincidence, Rex boards his flight, realizing that the airport codes for Boise to Helsinki, Finland are Boi to Hel (Boy to Hell), but boards his flight anyway. Upon landing, he quickly enters a taxi but during the journey sleeping gas fills the back seat. Rex then awakens in a basement turned torture chamber with one of his legs amputated at the knee and his hands bound to the ceiling. He works with his conscience, a physical manifestation of himself that only he can see and hear, to deduce as much information about his predicament as possible. Rex and his conscience quickly discern that Rex is being held captive by a family as there are lots of various toys around the room, however, Rex is unable to escape his binds. The audience learns that Rex is in the basement of a large family estate in rural Finland.

A young boy from the family holding Rex captive is wandering around the house and enters the basement to find Rex being held hostage. Rex's conscience tells him that he can hold the boy (we learn his name is Olaf) hostage as an insurance policy to be set free from the family. Olaf is wielding a small knife and debates freeing Rex; however, Rex quickly incapacitates and traps Olaf between his legs despite being held captive. Olaf's older sister Alia then goes searching for Olaf and she finds Rex holding Olaf captive. Rex negotiates with Alia to free him in exchange for not killing Olaf. Before any kind of deal can be negotiated, Rex loses his hold on Olaf and Alia is able to retreat with a wounded Olaf upstairs. The family then needs to take Olaf to the hospital to receive medical attention, as Olaf is completely unconscious. Alia then explains that Olaf was injured falling out of bed to protect Rex. She then fantasizes about a wedding to Rex and comes back downstairs to clean and dress his wound, professing her affection for Rex.

Alia explains that her family, particularly her eldest brother Pati, are cannibals who will eat Rex piece by piece (explaining his missing leg) until there is nothing left. A flashback shows that Pati has craved human flesh since birth and his family tried a number of other options but finally the family gave in and started killing American travelers and feeding them to Pati. Alia has always been an outcast from her family, perpetually disturbed by their murderous and cannibalistic behavior. She tried to escape many times, once with her younger brother. Alas, the attempts were always unsuccessful with her being captured and returned to the family. As punishment, Alia was forced to feed and tend to Pati, though she explains that she was constantly looking for a chance to escape. Despite Alia's fear of her family, she refuses to help Rex escape as she is confident that Rex cannot stop her family. Rex and Alia bond over their traumatic pasts, and Alia leaves Rex with a small knife to cut his ropes.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family returns from the hospital. A doctor's diagnosis ruled out Olaf's nose injury as being from a simple fall so they know that Alia lied to them. Rex is unable to cut himself loose before being injected by the father of the family and loses consciousness. While he is unconscious, a flashback is shown recounting the events that took place during the bank robbery. When presented with the firearm in the bank, Rex is told by his conscience to 'kill them all' referring to the robbers. He quickly dispatches one robber with the handgun he has found then trades up for a shotgun and dispatches the other robbers. Simultaneously we are shown that the bank's cameras were turned into YouTube videos with views that accumulate into the millions. Rex dispatches 3 of the 4 robbers when the final robber takes a hostage, however, Rex is able to release all of the other hostages. The flashback then shows the trial, explaining one opinion that Rex was reckless and led to the death of a bystander named Angela. However, Rex explains that the robbers were violent without provocation and likely would have hurt someone else. The flashback then shows Rex in a stand-off with the final robber who was holding his crush Maddy hostage. He negotiates for Maddy's release and despite being free and clear, Rex shoots the final robber in the groin (per his conscience's advice). The robber fires off a stray round that goes through a door, killing Angela, a bystander hiding behind the door. In another flashback, Maddy visits Rex in prison asking to be left alone so that she can recover from the trauma she experienced. Rex is then shown talking to his cellmate in prison who explains that he cannot outrun his problems. Rex is shown having actually shot 3 spitwads at the map when deciding where to live, each one landing on Finland.

Rex awakens to find Uncle Arto starting to saw off his remaining leg, however, Rex is able to unsheath the knife from Alia and stab Uncle in the head, killing him, before the operation is complete. Rex then is able to free himself and begins searching the basement for objects he can improvise into weapons, finding a flare gun, a large knife, and other various items he can improvise into weapons. Rex and his conscience debate whether to save Alia or not before escaping with Rex seeming reluctant to try and help another woman when it ended tragically last time. He approaches the front door of the house and the scene cuts away to the remainder of the family returning from the hospital.

The family debates fleeing should the authorities show up and ultimately explaining they will search for Rex and find him or he will most likely die in the surrounding woods. While debating the course of action, Father and one of the older twin brothers are shot by an unseen Rex, quickly revealed to be hiding under a table. He is able to dispatch the entire family with the help of Alia, via the nail-gun, knives, and Alia strangling her mother. However, Pati is still alive. He is revealed to be a grotesque giant that becomes enraged by the death of his family. Rex attempts to shoot Pati with the flare gun but is unsuccessful. In his battle with Pati, Rex finds his severed lower leg in the family's refrigerator with the jagged leg bone still intact. While being grappled by Pati, Rex is able to jam the foot and sharp bone into Pati's throat, killing him. Alia explains they are now safe. Rex is praised by his conscience who ultimately realizes he is no longer needed and disappears. Alia and Rex discuss recovering Olaf from the hospital and are later shown as a couple back in the United States with Rex explaining to his friends at a party how they met. Alia turns out to be potentially psychotic when a woman at the party puts her hand on Rex's arm and Alia imagines herself killing the woman with a meat cleaver. Olaf is later shown with a picture of his former family explaining it may be time for an "American banquet". If one looks closely at the family portrait, though, the twins may just well be a set of triplets.

Cast[]

• as Rex Coen
• Caroline Craig as Mother
• Matthew Sunderland as Father
• as Gael / Gideon
• Jack Finsterer as Uncle
• as Alia
• as Olli
• as Pete
• as Maddy
• as Olivia
• as Robert Bell

Release[]

Bloody Hell was selected at the 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) in South Korea, held in July 2021. It was showcased in the World Fantastic Red section of the festival.^[6]

Accolades[]

Brad Shield was nomined on his work for best cinematography at the 10th AACTA Awards.^[7]

References[]

External links[]

• Bloody Hell at IMDb
• Bloody Hell at AllMovie