THE 31 MOVIES OF HORROR-WEEN: MOVIE #2: CITY OF BLOOD (1987) **

(Streamed via B-Movie TV)

I have fond memories of seeing the video box for City of Blood at our local mom and pop video store back in the ‘80s.  Despite the memorable image of the screaming skull superimposed over the skyline of the city, I somehow never wound up renting it.  That might be for the best because if I watched it as a ten-year-old, I may have written it off as “boring”.  As an adult, I still think it’s pretty dull, but I can at the very least appreciate the fact that it was trying to do something a little different.

A medical examiner (Joe Stewardson) is investigating a rash of grisly prostitute murders in South Africa.  The culprit seems to be the ghost of a two-thousand-year-old witch doctor who is using the ladies of the night as human sacrifices.  Another decidedly less supernatural possibility:  Corrupt officials are using the killings to cover up murders committed by the local dirty cops.

Say what you will about City of Blood, but it has more on its mind than just your average slasher.  There’s a layer of local subtext here that I’m sure went over American audiences’ heads.  The fact the hero is an old guilt-ridden white man is supposed to be symbolic of the South African people’s changing feelings of apartheid.  Although that aspect might not quite seem apparent to some Yanks, at least it gives it a unique identity that helps separate it from the glut of late ‘80s slashers that populated video store shelves.  

Director Darrell Roodt gives the film an odd atmosphere that keeps things interesting from a visual standpoint, even when the pacing drags.  The occasional moody moment works as standalone set pieces.  One such scene finds our hero waking up screaming from a nightmare.  He then recounts his dream to his wife, and when the camera later pulls back, we see she was just a figment of his imagination.  

Unfortunately, the movie bogs down when the plot veers away from the hooker murders and begins focusing on politics.  Because of that, it feels like a bit of a bait and switch.  Those expecting a horror movie will probably be let down, but then again, the scene where the old fogey Stewardson goes to bed with a hooker a third his age is pretty terrifying.  

Roodt went on to have a wildly varied career directing a little bit of everything including Hollywood fare (Father Hood), politically minded movies (Cry the Beloved Country), DTV action (Witness to a Kill), and eventually SYFY sequels (Lake Placid:  Legacy).