Michael J. Murphy’s Bloodstream (1985) is a gory fever dream of violence on Super 8. The film follows a struggling filmmaker who gets screwed over by a producer and goes on a vengeful killing spree. The film is inflected with semi-autobiographical elements that Murphy turns towards catharsis. Murphy takes shots at Britain’s direct-to-video market and the “video nasty” craze in a film that could be compared to Fade To Black (1980) and Peeping Tom (1960).
Bloodstream is a tapestry of intertextuality as movies within the movie intersect and inform the narrative proper. Images of mummies, werewolves, biker gangs, and witches bleed seamlessly into the killer’s life. The violence on tape becomes the violence of Alistair’s (Patrick Oliver) reality. The act of recording onto film becomes equated with death as Alistair films his victims. His reality becomes a snuff film inspired by the films he watches endlessly and compulsively.
The killer as compulsive spectator lambasts the arguments of the “video nasties” epidemic. Murphy sticks up for films with gore, gratuitous nudity and inspired torture. Bloodstream is Murphy’s argument on behalf of micro-budget smut. Art imitates life that imitates art as Alistair goes on his bloody rampage. Media violence is both the catalyst for mayhem and the result of that mayhem.
In turns satirical and reflexive, Bloodstream is one of Murphy’s finest pictures. Like The Last Night, Murphy pays homage to his medium of choice, celebrating its most popular spectacle: that of the horror film. Bloodstream condemns the production methods of direct-to-video films but celebrates its ingenuity and artistry. Bloodstream finds a certain poetry to its images of death and mutilation.
Bloodstream is a veritable love letter to resourcefulness and commitment in the horror genre. Murphy made a number of direct-to-video horror films in the eighties and Bloodstream is his finest and most personal. Bloodstream is guerilla filmmaking at its most rebellious and humorous. There’s a devilish glee to the proceedings that make Bloodstream endlessly watchable.
