Movie Review by EDF
Starring: Rebecca Palmer, Ben Price, Tom Frederic, JJ Straub, Kurt Rauscher
Director: Robert Krause
The number of great movies where someone is being chased, stalked or hunted by a madman is very few indeed. Sometimes there is no real motive to what is happening on the screen. We can all build up some sympathy for the distressed victim as they try to fathom why they are the unluckiest person on the face of the planet. If you end up watching the wrong movie, you will be the unluckiest person for at least 90 minutes. This leads us to BLOOD TRAILS.
Anne (Rebecca Palmer) is a bicycle messenger who one day is stopped by a bicycle cop Chris (Ben Price) who she reckons will caution her for cycling recklessly. She is wrong, instead he writes his number on her arm. The next day, sensing that something is on Anne’s mind, her boyfriend Michael (Tom Frederic) convinces her to go to a cabin in the woods and engage in some mountain biking. When they arrive there, they head off to the cycle routes and find that a section of road is closed off. Anne is determined to complete the route and continues on, thinking that Michael will follow her.
Unaware that she has missed a turn, the trail gets harder for Anne to cycle through. Stopping at a stream for water, Anne senses that someone is watching her. She eventually finds Michael again. As they both head back to the cabin, Chris, the bicycle cop cycles past both of them. Anne seemingly suffers a mild panic attack and she reveals to Michael that she has slept with another man.
As Michael is deciding what to do about this, the cop attacks and kills Michael. Chris declares to a dying Michael “she belongs to me”. Cycling away as fast as she can, a bloody Anne is nearly run over by a Ranger (JJ Straub). She takes him to where she has left Michael, but there is no body to be found. As they head back to base, they come across Chris at a gate. He kills the Ranger and opens the gate for Anne to cycle through to continue the chase. When Anne finally gets a signal on her mobile, she calls for help. The voice on the other end tells her that they will be able to track her mobile but will Chris find her first?
Even though the cycling scenes are well shot, the story is not convincing and the actors do what they can to poorly written and laid out characters. Speaking of laid out, why does Anne even sleep with Chris in the first place? Oh well, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it but you do lose about 90 minutes watching this excuse of a thriller. Its one of those movies where you hope that the madman gets the victim long before the end titles are supposed to roll.
