Bleeders (also known as Hemoglobin) is a 1997 Canadian horror film directed by Peter Svatek and based upon H. P. Lovecraft's story "The Lurking Fear". It premiered at the Fantastisk Film Festival Lund in Sweden on September 14, 1997, and was released direct to video the following year. It is the last original script written by Dan O'Bannon produced during his lifetime.

REAR COVER

In the grand tradition of such science fiction classics, The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Time Machine, the creator of the modern sai-fi blockbusters Alien, Aliens and Total Recall have crafted a new science fiction classic HEMOGLOBIN.

Starring Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Ladyhawke) and Roy Dupuis (Screamers) this chilling tale of human evolution gone horribly awry begins over three centuries ago, in the age of Vermeer, where we are introduced to Eva Van Daam, a consumptive. hedonistic beauty, who in the thrall of an overwhelming narcissism, has taken her own twin brother as her lover.

Ostracized from Holland, the Van Daams flee to a remote, craggy island off the coast of Maine, to which we are introduced in present day through the beautiful Kathleen (Kristen Lheman) and her husband John (Roy Dupuis).

They have journeyed to the istand of John's birth in a desperate attempt to

find a cure of the blood disease killing him. When John has a seizure, Kathleen rushes him to Dr. Marlow (Rutger Hauer), the only medical doctor on the island. Dr. Marlow is a recent exile from his South African homeland where his license to practice medicine was revoked. Reluctantly he is embroiled in John's case and the enigma of the istand.

After learning that John may be related to the infamous Van Daam clan, Kathleen and John visit the burnt-out remains of the Van Daam mansion as hurricane warnings set an ominous tone.

There they encounter the ancient sentry LEXIE Krongold who identifies John as the Van Daam heir she rescued from the fire that destroyed the mansion decades ago.

Meanwhile, Dr. Marlow has solved the mystery of the island and gathered the inhabitants in the sanctuary of the Lighthouse. As the hurricane crashes on the island, the Van Daams emerge from their catacombs under the Lighthouse.

In the riveting climax, after battling the Van Daams in the tunnels beneath the island, John must make the ultimate choice; return home with his wife and unbor child or remain on the island with his new found "family".

RECEPTION

HorrorNews.net panned the film overall, criticizing it for its "abundance of clichés" and commenting that they would "be damned if there was anything in this picture worth seeing again". Moria gave the film two stars and stated that "one can see that a number of sequences have been designed on paper in a way that could have had some shock impact had they been directed by someone with half an ounce of talent."

PLOT

John and Kathleen Strauss are a French-Canadian couple attempting to uncover the secret to John's rare blood disease. They encounter Dr. Marlowe, who is intrigued by the case. They are unaware that the Grand Manan Island in Canada's New Brunswick which they are about to set foot upon is home to the Van Dam family, mutant-like creatures who have become deformed and bloodthirsty from centuries of inbreeding. Their mutation began with their relative Eva Van Dam, who had an incestuous relationship with her twin brother. Also, they are fully functioning hermaphrodites, capable of reproducing with themselves. They need to survive on (dead or alive) human flesh.

John discovers that he is a Van Dam, born normal looking and taking part in normal society, but his rare blood disease can only be suppressed with human flesh and sex with his siblings.

REVIEWS

01 - Family blood lines taken to the dark realms...

This film first appeared to me via the television and yes, I watched it. Even found a copy of the DVD too. I think one of the reasons was that it really creep ed me out. I mean...REALLY. And it is not like me to be creep ed out but I was eating a sandwich about half-way through the film. That sandwich did not get finished LOL.

The plot and idea is a shocker (not unheard of) but if it had been taken to even more nasty levels my god, it would have been one hell of a...*shivers*. But it does have its good points and its bad points, as any film.

02 - Pretty good HP Lovecraft movie

I had to leave a comment on this one because so many people seem to hate it and its a personal favorite of mine. It's based on the Lurking Fear and personally i thought it was one of the best HP Lovecraft based films that I've seen and stays pretty close to the original story. Of course having said that I'm a big fan of both Unnameable films which seem to have been similarly slaughtered and Reanimator (only the first one!) so perhaps I'm more predisposed to these movies than the average guy. I thought Roy Dupuis and Rutger Hauer did a really good job. Maybe the US release title of 'Bleeders', which is pretty awful gives a negative impression to begin with, in the UK this was released a Hemoglobin, not nearly as painful. If you love Lovecraft then you'll probably enjoy this.