"Blood Red Sky" an intense high-concept thriller that's never schlocky

 

Blood Red Sky (2021)

Netflix’s latest foreign horror entry, “Blood Red Sky,” has a killer logline: terrorists on a plane have their plans foiled by a vampire. Just imagine if John McClane was that vampire. Director Peter Thorwarth (who co-wrote the script with Stefan Holtz) surprises by hiding his hand for a while and then bringing unexpected doses of humanity when an alternate version of this script might have been SyFy-ready schlock called “Bloodsucker on a Plane.” As it stands, this mid-budget action-horror film out of Germany uses its high-concept premise to the fullest and plays it out as seriously as a punctured artery in the neck. It’s fun without being cheesy. 

Nadja (Peri Baumeister) and her 10-year-old son Elias (Carl Anton Koch) board a transatlantic flight from Germany to New York. She’s battling some kind of illness, having to wear sunglasses in the well-lit airport, and hoping to find treatment in the states by American doctors. Once the plane is over the Atlantic, the passengers are put into jeopardy when terrorists, led by Berg (Dominic Purcell), take control of the plane. The plane’s captain is killed, and the terrorists turn the plane around, leaving it on autopilot and crashing it over London. What these bad men don’t realize is that Nadja isn’t some ailing, delicate mortal, and they're about to unleash the beast.

Initially thought to be Noomi Rapace, Peri Baumeister makes us feel her lost humanity as Nadja, even when she is unrecognizable under Mark Coulier’s impressively grotesque prosthetics make-up. Before this point, Nadja has had to learn how to control her urges for blood, particularly around her son, but it’s fascinating to watch her fight the monster within and bring it out when her son's survival calls for it. Kais Setti brings warmth when the monster in Nadja takes over as Middle Eastern passenger Farid, who takes a liking to Elias at the airport gate and shuts down Muslim stereotypes. Though Dominic Purcell is a beefy presence and has the most familiar face out of the hijackers (many will know him from TV’s “Prison Break”), more effective is Alexander Scheer. He plays evil incarnate as Eightball, the most sadistic and drunk-with-power terrorist of the bunch who has been playing the part of a new flight attendant and might just make a perfect immortal creature.

At 121 minutes, “Blood Red Sky” could have stood to lose at least 20 minutes (preferably from its “the beginning is the end” wraparound). But without letting the present action get overly bogged down in past vampire mythology too much—how Nadja came to be cursed with this illness is efficiently shown in flashbacks—director Thorwarth keeps upping the ante and provides a thrilling level of intensity throughout. There is also a rather affecting mother-son story here that does not get hollowed out by blood and gore, all of which is amply delivered by vicious vamps that could be refugees from “30 Days of Night.” "Blood Red Sky" is worth taking a chance on before Hollywood sees it and tries remaking it.

Grade: B 

Netflix is releasing “Blood Red Sky” (121 min.) to stream on July 23, 2021.