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Amos Lassen wrote on 02/18/2011:

“In the Blood”
Fate and Family
Amos Lassen
If you like thrillers Lou Peterson’s “In the Blood” is the movie for you. Filmed in the style of the movies of the 1970’s with vivid characters and melodrama, “In the Blood” deals with sexual confusion, fate and family. Cassidy Clark is a closeted athlete who has been ambivalent about his sexuality and this has prevented him from dealing with a hidden talent that he has inherited. He has no family except a sister; he is forced to face himself.
When Cassidy began his senior year of college two female students were murdered. His younger sister, Jessica, is a freshman on the campus where he goes to school and her resemblance to the two murdered co-eds worries her a great deal. Cassidy tries to comfort her and promises that he will let nothing happen to her. However, Cassidy has reasons to worry. He suffers from nosebleeds which are accompanied by flashes of images in his own mind. Of late the visions have become more real and include his sister covered in blood. What makes this even stranger is that these visions come to Cassidy when he is physically close to good-looking men. He begins to understand that there is something here that he has not come to terms with. When he has an unsuccessful tryst with a young hustler, he sees his most shocking image and the very next day another girl is murdered.
Jessica begins to date Michael, a friend of Cassidy’s even though her brother does not approve of him. When Cassidy awakens one evening from a dream, he realizes that there is someone else in the room with him. It is his aunt and she tells him that it is possible that he has inherited the family gift of being able to see the future but only when having passionate sex. This causes Cassidy to embark on a journey of sexual discovery.
Writer-director Lou Peterson says “I wanted to tell a horror story grounded in the anxiety of the early gay experience” and that is just what he did. But this is not really a coming-out story as this is not where Cassidy is. He is not ready to come out as he has not yet accepted himself.
Driven by characters, the actors are large and strong. Their parts demand a lot and they manage to fulfill them admirably. As Peterson explorer both the fears and anxieties of coming out in a very atypical kind of movie, he realized
that emotional intensity on the screen had to be portrayed so he decided to highlight the psychological turmoil of a young man facing his sexuality. The themes of identity and discovery are the important elements in this first class film.

BELLYBEAR66 wrote on 01/27/2009:

THIS MOVIE WAS SO STUPID - I PUT IT IN THE TRASH AFTER I WATCHED IT - I WAS SO MAD AT THE ENDING - I SAT THROUGH THE BAD ACTING AT LEAST EXPECTING A GOOD ENDING - BUT WHEN THE MAIN LEAD GETS KILLED I TOOK OUT THE DVD AND PUT IT IN THE TRASH WHERE IT BELONGED!!!

Green Giant wrote on 07/28/2008:

Don't buy this dvd. it is an insult to both gay themed cinema and
horror films.The guys aren't all that attractive anyway. Don't even
rent this.

PaulAnthony wrote on 06/17/2008:

Poor plot Poor acting not worth the time it took to watch. If it wasn't for Victor, eye candy, this movie would have gotten not even a mention by me.
Keep trying though you will soon get the coming out story right. you have great concepts just no follow through

Charlie B wrote on 06/15/2008:

The central conceit of this movie (sex as a vehicle for psychic powers) only works in porn -- and there's really no nudity to speak of in the film. But that's not even the worst part about it. Since the movie was released by TLA, I'll kindly assume that the horrifyingly anti-gay message that concludes the fim was the product of gross ineptitude on the part of the producers, rather than any deliberate homophobia or internalized self-loathing. Yes, I do wish that movies could be meaningless, messageless entertainment, and some are. But In The Blood spends far too much time dealing with themes of self-awareness and coming out -- themes that resonate strongly with the movie's supposed target audience -- to spend its last few minutes hammering home the message that gay sex = death.