Bloodknot Reviews

Engrossing trash, BLOODKNOT never underestimates the depths to which human nature can descend and never makes the miscalculation of peppering its escapism with either too much lovemaking or too much homicide. Picking up lesbian soldier Connie (Nancy Cser) and murdering her is the first step in the payback plan of Kay Everett (Kate Vernon). Posing as the dead Connie, Kay next ingratiates herself into the Reeves family, which is mourning the loss in the Gulf War of Corporal Martin Reeves. Palming herself off as Martin's secret fiancee, Kay easily hoodwinks Martin's dad, Arthur (Allan Royal); his Mom, Evelyn (Margot Kidder); his jealous younger brother, Tom (Patrick Dempsey); and precocious younger sister, Gail (Ashley Ann Wood). However, she gains the enmity of family friend, Julie (Krista Bridges), whose estrangement from Tom is exacerbated by the flirtatious Kay. Bonding with Evelyn after rescuing Gail from a swimming mishap, Kay restores the family's will to thrive, them closes in for the kill. She beds the gullible Tom and tries to eliminate Gail after a fire on a boat sends the child into a coma. Having been abandoned by Evelyn, daughter Kay has spent her formative years planning how to systematically destroy Evelyn's perfect new family. Wounding Tom with a knife, Kay fights off a vigilant Julie; yet, Evelyn can't deny a mother's feelings. The emotionally crippled Kay is carted off to a hospital for the criminally insane, so that her absentee mother, Evelyn, can save her from Julie's vengeance. Usually, these psycho-slasher films don't offer much excuse for their loonies to run amok. Not only does BLOODKNOT provide its raving murderess with a believable motive, but it reinforces its standard revenge plot by concentrating on the killer's methodical ways. Polishing its bloodlust for viewers, BLOODKNOT shows how insanity can be corralled into a purpose; one marvels at Kay Everett's bottomless bag of dirty tricks. Parodying all those "Unsolved Mystery" segments in which adopted children are blissfully reunited with their birth mothers, BLOODKNOT builds up its arsenal of goosebumps by springing its "I'm home, Mommy" motive just before the climax. Fueled by a cast not content to walk through these variations on a homicidal theme, BLOODKNOT simmers with psychological embellishments without denying the audience its clamor for carve-ups. Perhaps, the film inevitably disintegrates because the Reeves are easy pickings for Kay. Skewering smug platitudes about the indomitabile family unit, BLOODKNOT covers no new ground but manages to spook its audience. (Graphic violence, extreme profanity, extensive nudity, sexual situations, substance abuse.)