Blood Red Sky is the chaotic Netflix film about a hijacked plane and… vampires

There’s a new film on Netflix that’s sky rocketed its way to the second most watched thing in the top 10, and it comes in the form of German action-horror film Blood Red Sky. If you’ve ever watched the likes of Snakes on a Place or Liam Neeson in Non Stop and thought “you know what would make this film even better? Vampires!” then Blood Red Sky is the film for you! Because in the middle of a group of terrorists hijacking a plane, it’s revealed that one of the passengers on board with her son is actually a vampire. No, that’s not a joke. That is the actual premise of the film.

Chaotic doesn’t quite cover the carnage that goes down as Blood Red Sky’s manic premise unfolds, but I watched the whole thing for myself over the weekend and so here’s a rough summary for what you’re in for if you remember your boarding pass.

Terrorists VS vampires at 30,000 feet

Blood Red Sky is about a sick woman named Nadja, who is trying to fly to New York from Germany with her son Elias for treatment. Once in the sky, a group of terrorists (that include the co-pilot) take control of the plane, kill the air marshals and demand a ransom. The group gets increasingly violent, and Nadja gets shot when trying to hurry Elias to safety. This forces her to reveal her true nature – a reluctant vampire.

What goes down from here is a power struggle between the terrorists and Nadja, who’s trying to keep a lid on her vampiric urges to protect her son from the attackers and from her own bloodlust. Naturally – it doesn’t go according to plan and there’s sheer bloody carnage across its two hour runtime.

Is it any good?

Blood Red Sky has emerged on Rotten Tomatoes with a healthy 72 per cent, which by the recent standard of Netflix originals (Woman In The Window I am glaring at you) is good going. My take? It’s actually better than it has any right to be, but nowhere near as good or as fun as it should be. You’d think that doesn’t make sense, but it DOES. Basically, it’s a better made film than the premise would lead you to believe – emotional family moments and some good acting performances across the board. But it misses its own potential by never really letting loose with its own silliness in the way that it should.

For a film about vampires AND terrorists hijacking a plane, it takes itself far too seriously. There’s violence and mayhem, sure. But this isn’t Snakes On A Plane. There’s not iconic dialogue delivery along the lines of “I’ve had it with these motherfucking vampires on this motherfucking plane”. There’s a lot of angst, scowling and Nosferatu-esque vampire makeup. One of its biggest weak points is Blood Red Sky is formatted like a flashback – we already know from the opening scene that the plane lands and a main character gets off safe, which removes so much tension instantly for no good reason.

If you make a film like this, one in a confined space where horrors are being unleashed, you can’t let us leave that space if you want it to work successfully. We have to feel as claustrophobic as the characters or it loses momentum. Too much of Blood Red Sky felt like Netflix padding out the runtime; we don’t need endless flashbacks of how Nadja became a vampire. Just tell us the story, show us the carnage and let us walk through customs and the duty free to get on with our lives!

Blood Red Sky is streaming now on Netflix. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

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