ladymidath I had not heard of Bleeders, or it's other title Hemoglobin before but when I saw that it had Rutger Hauer in it I had to watch it as he has always been a favourite actor of mine. Bleeders is actually based on Lovecraft's 'The Lurking Fear' and there are traces of Lovecraftian horror in this film. It begin with a voice over explaining how the King of Holland forbade any interbreeding in aristocratic marriages so Eva Van Dam who was in an incestuous relationship with her twin brother fled with her family to a remote island. Centuries later, John and Kathleen Strauss arrive looking for a cure for John's blood disease. There secrets are uncovered and the full horror of John's condition is revealed. There are some nice Gothic moments and some genuinely creepy atmosphere which help but the only problem is that the creatures are really not that scary. They are completely deformed but really not that frightening. The film might have been a little more effective if the Van Dam creatures had only only glimpsed occasionally as scuttling shadows. It might have added to the eeriness of the movie rather than seeing them fully. The acting was good with Hauer putting in a good solid performance as did both Roy Dupuis as John and Kristin Lehman as Kathleen. It was still a lot better than what I had expected for a DVD that I picked up in a discount shop for $2.00 though.

p-stepien John Strauss (Roy Dupuis) and his wife Kathleen (Kristin Lehman) journey to a secluded island in search of a long lost heirloom. Sent away to Europe as a baby John had a trust fund which helped raise him, but was never able to discover the origin of the money or his own past for that matter. Finally he and his wife manage to connect the dots to the island, but no one on it recognises the name Strauss. Inflicted with a deadly affliction John is dying and his only hope is to discover the secrets of his past. One of the few on the island who is willing to help him is Dr. Marlowe (played by Rutger Hauer).This hauntingly bad piece of filmmaking derides it's origin from some Lovecraftian lore, which truthfully has not had a good history of proper on-screen treatment. "Bleeders" is no exception and although Dupuis and especially Rutger Hauer give the script a half-hearted attempt the overall direction of the movie is tragic. The film lacks pacing, basic storytelling abilities, logic and worst of all - horror. Even the farcical dialogue and jumpy script can be forgiven to some point, if the gore is in the right place and the creepy crawlies manage to inflict some fright. Given the monsters look like half-melted outcasts from "The Muppet Show" there isn't even any tongue and cheek ha-has to let you distance yourself from the sheer badness.In this movie everything seems to be way off and severely amateurish. Were it not for the nudity (including one extremely long sex scene, which is arguably the only watchable sequence in the movie) it could easily pass for a bad TV movie.Rutger Hauer tumbles down into the acting ghetto with this outing. Almost as if he really did die in "The Hitcher" and since than it is only his decomposing corpse is being employed to boost video sales of zombified E-class garbage. Hopefully 2011 will announce his big comeback, when "Hobo with a Shotgun" and than South African directed "Spoon" hit the screens to offer a much deserved homage to the downtrodden Dutch actor.It must be noted however, that a couple of extremely interesting ideas pop out during the wanting experience, that do prove the pointless point that the basic plot actually reeked of promise.

Boba_Fett1138 Before you even start watching this movie you just know that this is not going to be a very good or tense genre movie, so expectations shouldn't be to high before watching this movie. If they aren't, you'll probably be surprised by the fact that this movie is not totally unwatchable.The story, the monsters, the effects, it's visual look, the locations...all really aren't that bad but yet the movie does not work out. It's not a real bad movie to watch but it's just that basically nothing really interesting or tense occurs in the movie. The movie is like one big build up to nothing and in the end it falls flat as an horror movie. The movie has the look but not the feeling of a good horror movie. A wasted opportunity, since this movie had definitely more potential in it.The concept of the movie doesn't sound like anything solid but it's well written and the story is well brought to the screen by Peter Svatek, who does it with style, unlike some of his other less talented business colleagues operating in the same genre. The story and monsters of the movie are all quite enjoyable. And all this due to Dutch incest! Crazy! Somehow I have the feeling that this little story element was Rutger Hauer's input.The movie is really not that bad, at least not halve as bad as the current rating here would suggest. The rating here suggest that this movie is an horrible fake looking Z-movie, like they used to make in the '50's. I mean I've seen worser genre movies than this, also with a significantly higher budget. This movie still has some entertainment value and is not completely unwatchable and even recommendable to the fans of B-horror movies and Rutger Hauer.It is the uncrowned king of the B-movies, Rutger Hauer, that puts down the most interesting character and his acting is like 5 times better than any of the other actors in the movie. The story of his life. But once you really start thinking about it, is his role really necessary? He seems to be only in the movie because well, he is Rutger Hauer! The role seems to be specifically written purely for him. But who is complaining about it really.Obviously just watchable for genre fans only.4/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Seth Nelson How many movies out there scream "Cheesy," huh? Just looking at those reviews about how fake and how bad this whole movie is makes me want to see this for myself! "Bleeders" is such a notable example of a really bad, really horrible, yet good in the terms of "entertaining, because everything reminds me of 'Manos: The Hands of Fate' and 'Future War'" kind of thing! I also love how, despite the age of this movie, it went straight underground to the point that this movie is long forgotten! If "Mystery Science Theater 3000" were ever to come back, then this is a great film to show on that show! Until then, this is a true 10 star movie and very much so! "Bleeders" - it'll make you "not" go to bed for the rest of your life! Spooky!