Since several decades now, especially since the beginning of the twenties, there were batches of zombie features, and I don't even speak of the series which I will not present; I am not a viewer's intelligence offender. Zombies everywhere, anywhere in the horror genre. And among those batches, there were so many craps, so many. This one belongs to the are exceptions thanks to the directing, and character's study, so rare in a B movie. Involving the native Americans brought this topic in the ethnology field, as if Tony Hillerman would meet George Romero. I highly recommend it.
Blood Quantum
2019
Action / Drama / Horror
Blood Quantum
2019
Action / Drama / Horror
Plot summary
The term "blood quantum" refers to a colonial blood measurement system that is used to determine an individual's Indigenous status, and is criticized as a tool of control and erasure of Indigenous peoples. The words take on even more provocative implications as the title of Jeff Barnaby's sophomore feature, which grimly depicts an apocalyptic scenario where in an isolated "Mi'gmaq" community discover they are the only humans immune to a zombie plague. As the citizens of surrounding cities flee to the "Mi'gmaq" reserve in search of refuge from the outbreak, the community must reckon with whether to let the outsiders in - and thus risk not just the extinction of their tribe but of humanity, period. The severe and scathing portrait of post-colonial Indigenous life and culture that Barnaby previously captured in the acclaimed Rhymes for Young Ghouls here deftly collides with the iconography and violent hyperbole typical of the zombie genre. The Undead are spectacularly and gruesomely dispatched via samurai swords, chainsaws, shotguns, and makeshift axes, while the living - a terrific ensemble cast led by Michael Greyeyes (Woman Walks Ahead and Fear the Walking Dead) - endure the paranoid pressures that such dire straits foment. In this iteration, however, Barnaby takes full advantage of the canvas zombie films regularly afford for cultural critique, exploring racism, colonialism, and the very real threat of extinction that Indigenous communities have experienced for generations. Further accentuated by arresting animated chapter breaks that instill a cool comic-book aesthetic to its horrific proceedings, Blood Quantum is as powerful an entry into the annals of zombie cinema as the devastating conclusion to George Romero's 1968 original Night of the Living Dead, and a meaningful demonstration of how marginalized voices - when given the opportunity - can resurrect a tired genre with incendiary new life.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 900.55 MB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
Tony Hillerman meets George Romero
Reviewed by
Getting a lot of bites lately
A group of Red Crow Native Americans attempts to survive a zombie outbreak that infects everybody but them. The first 30 minutes introduces the characters and goes with a slow build-up. There is shared animosity with the white people in town. We first see the effect with fish from the river as well as seeing factories on the river. Then all of a sudden it is 6 months later and it looks like it has been decades. Hordes of zombies are outside their sealand perimeter.
I wasn't quite into the characters, other than Traylor (Michael Greyeyes). They needed to give these folks a sense of humor. Maybe a fish joke or something.
Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.
Reviewed by
Not really worth the time or effort...
The 2019 movie "Blood Quantum" from writer and director Jeff Barnaby had completely managed to elude my radar. Odd, since this is a zombie movie. So when I happened to come across the movie and seeing what it was, of course I had to sit down and watch it.
I will say that the movie definitely starts out tremendously, and I was very thrilled to see such a strong cast of native Americans in the roles of the movie. That was something unfamiliar, and especially for a zombie movie.
However, the excitement for this movie was short-lived, and in fact it died as the movie time-lapsed six months into the future, after having taken the audience through such a magnificent tour-de-force of an introduction. And the movie was off to such a great start. Then fast forward six months in the storyline and the movie just became low-budget rubbish. I can't even explain it, as it was a strange mixture of "Mad Max" meets "The Walking Dead", but without the selling points of either.
I gave up on the movie with just 20 minutes left of the play time. I simply didn't care an ounce about the characters or the storyline at that point. And I have zero intention of returning to watch the rest of the movie and see how it ends. It just simply doesn't matter to me.
I must, however, commend the cast ensemble, because it was definitely refreshing to see a movie with such actors and actresses. And that most surely counted for a great deal, just a shame that the movie was rubbish.
The zombies in the movie were okay. I mean, they were low budget, for sure, but I have seen worse attempts at zombies in movies. You just shouldn't go about expecting to see effects up to par with "The Walking Dead" here.
For a zombie movie, "Blood Quantum" was a massive swing and a miss from writer and director Jeff Barnaby. As such, I am rating "Blood Quantum" a mere three out of ten stars.