Midlands Review of Blood Money
midlandsmovies • November 15, 2020
Blood Money
Directed by Liam Banks
2020
Superfreak Media
Blood Money is the latest short from Superfreak Media, the Nottingham-based powerhouse with a love for all that goes bump in the night.
Having just pulled off a daring and murderous bank robbery, Andi (Jessica Messenger) washes off her victims’ blood in a sleazy motel bathroom. After finding an ominous occult symbol under one of the wall tiles, along with the name Mammon, she’s attacked by a demonic presence and quickly discovers that there’s more than a grain of truth in the old adage ‘crime doesn’t pay’…
At just over 10 minutes, this film packs a punch. It gets in, makes with the scares and gets out, knowing not to overstay its welcome. Writer/Director Liam Banks makes the most of the limited setting, creating clever chills with the tub and mirrors and shower curtains to great effect so it never feels static. Once the demonic shit hits the fan, it’s a thrill-ride right to the bloody finish.
One thing that immediately struck me was the film’s visual aesthetic. Between the grimy yellow filter and the grainy footage, it felt like this film has leapt straight out of the late 70s or early 80s; it wouldn’t be at all out of place among the video nasties and grindhouse classics of those eras. The sudden jarring appearance of a smartphone, thoroughly cementing the setting as modern day, is disorienting but not enough to break immersion. If anything, it just adds to the Weirdness of it all.
Messenger doesn’t quite convince me as the type who’d rob a bank and kill the customers, but she does a damn fine job of being terrorised by the demon Mammon and really sells the terror that Andi feels as she reaps what she’s sown. Matthew Barker’s performance as Mammon was great, and the makeup effects by Monica Montalvo were mostly superb – Mammon is a very scary presence, and every minute he was on-screen (even if it’s just his slowly creeping hands) had me chilled.
Props also go to Jenn Day as a news reporter who bookends the film and provides it with its sinister final lines, and Cohen Day as an extremely creepy ghost child – a tiny role, but not one I’m likely to forget!
Blood Money is great fun. It’s a seedy, scuzzy little bucket of blood, lovingly served up for horror fans to guzzle down. If you’re still clinging to Halloween even as Christmas creeps ever closer, definitely check this one out!
Sam Kurd
Twitter @splend
John Williams is turning into a prolific director for the Midlands horror scene, having completed his third feature in the space of two years. His 2025 found-footage film Beyond the Witching Hour cranked up the horror, while this year’s Beast of Riverside Horror settled into a slightly sillier horror/comedy. A more sla
A new horror short film has been completed by a Leicestershire-based group of filmmakers and has been released online just in time for the spookiest time of the year.
Mockingbird Cinema is in the running for BIFA’s Cinema of the Year award after making the 15-venue UK longlist. Voters praised the Digbeth independent for its film programme, staff, events and support for filmmakers, with one calling it “the beating heart of Digbeth”.
The tricky world of power balances, unspoken signals and communication exchanges are the themes of new local comedy short Meet-Cute from Nadine O’Mahony.