TOWN CREEK (BLOOD CREEK)

US, 2009, 90 minutes, Colour.
Henry Cavill, Dominic Purcell, Emma Booth, Michael Fassbender, Shea Whigham.
Directed by Joel Schumacher.

Town Creek is a horror film, reminiscent of the old houses in such films as Texas Chainsaw Massacre. However, it is very different.

Like Hell Boy and some of the Norwegian horror films, it takes up themes from Nazi Germany and brings them into the present. It opens with a ten-minute black and white prologue where Richard Wirth, a delegate from Hitler, comes to the United States to seek four runes, which allegedly will give supernatural power to the Third Reich. He is one of several delegates who came to the United States.

The film then moves to the present where we have Evan Marshall (Henry Cavill) who is a first aid ambulance and medical worker, clashing with his father because he did not go to Iraq. His brother, Victor (Dominic Purcell) disappeared before he could go to Iraq. Suddenly Victor appears, persuades his brother to go with him to the farm – to confront the monster who has been imprisoned by the German family (who have not aged since their visitor came). What follows is more familiar horror material as Victor pursues Richard Wirth who has become monstrous, surviving on blood, supplied by victims trapped by the family. In the final confrontation, Evan sacrifices himself, his cut on his back, as the other victims were cut. However, Victor has been able to take the bones that Wirth had preserved and blend some powder in the wounds, thus poisoning the monster.

The film was directed by Joel Schumacher, previously a writer, who made quite a number of genre films – with flamboyant style. They include Flatliners, Falling Down, two John Grisham adaptations, The Client and A Time to Kill as well as two Batman films, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. This is a departure from his usual style.

1. An exercise in horror and terror conventions?

2. Isolated houses, violence, the siege, deaths? Variation on the theme?

3. The Nazi background and connections? The superstitions of the Third Reich? The runes in America, supernatural power? Plausible or not?

4. The location photography, the American Midwest, the old farm in the 30s, in the 21st century? The countryside? A sense of realism? The musical score?

5. The prologue, the black and white photography of the farm and the characters, the family, their German background, speaking German? Hitler and his choosing the family?

6. Richard Wirth, the letter, the promise of money, the mother and her hesitation about his coming, his sinister arrival, a sinister character, control? Seeking for the runes? Finding them in the barn, communing with their power?

7. Evan and his family, his clashes with his father, his father’s anger with him, the issue of Iraq? Victor and his going to Iraq, Evan not being able to please his father? Evan’s work, accidents, first aid?

8. The issue of Iraq, Victor and his going, disappearing before his departure? His father blaming Evan? Victor’s family, his wife and children?

9. Victor’s sudden reappearance, haggard, his message, cutting his hair and shaving, his injured back? Asking Evan for trust?

10. The drive and the voyage by the canoe? The isolated farm, stalking in the farm, the dangers, the dog biting Evan? The horses – and their later being possessed by Wirth? The dog? Wirth’s power of reviving the dead? The visuals of the possessed horses and their violence? The violence to the horses?

11. The house, the son and his confrontation, death? The girl at the window? The mother in the chair? Ageless? The father at the market, the comment on his old car? The curse? The supernatural powers? The family and their imprisoning Wirth? Barring the windows, the red bars?

12. Luke, victim, tortured, his escape, trying to make contact, his dying, being resuscitated? His being possessed?

13. Wirth’s healing power, Liese and her bird when she was young, the dog, the horse, Luke? Wirth and his power of possessing other creatures?

14. Wirth as a monster, his appearance, his story, the war, the family imprisoning him, his need for blood, their luring the victims, trapping them, cutting them, Wirth taking their blood, the bell for the meal, his being held in the cellar?

15. The eclipse, the possibility for Wirth to gain strength, crossing over? The blood, tearing off his face?

16. Victor and the chase, the violence, Victor eluding the monster, the decoy, getting the bones? Evan and his putting on the bones, the cuts, the poisoned blood?

17. Evan and Liese and their plan, setting Evan up, the monster coming, the bell, biting, realising that he had been poisoned, his death?

18. Liese, becoming old, resigned to dying?

19. Victor going home, the reconciliation? Evan and the map of the agents from the Third Reich – his mission to be a monster hunter?