Blood Red Sky Parent Guide

Nadja (Peri Baumeister) has a rare and dangerous medical problem, but she might have a solution: An experimental treatment, only one tense trans-Atlantic flight away in New York City. But when Nadja and her son Elias (Carl Anton Koch) board the plane, they can’t imagine the perils in store.

Part way across the Atlantic, the aircraft is hijacked by extremely well-coordinated terrorists, and seems to be turning back for an attack somewhere in Europe. At this point, Nadja’s condition becomes critically important. She’s a vampire and the terrorists are about to learn exactly how dangerous that is…the hard way.

If that sounds faintly insane to you, it is. There’s really no way to take this plot seriously, which is unfortunate, because the filmmakers are fully committed to the premise. Amazingly, they almost succeed, largely due to heartfelt performances from Peri Baumeister and Carl Anton Koch. I think that’s actually a detriment – the tonal dissonance between the emotional drama and the ludicrous plot could have been considerably lessened if the producers had decided to consistently lean into the insanity, instead of just occasionally going nuts. Take, for example, the character “Eightball”, played by Alexander Scheer. Eightball is literally too deranged for this movie, and that’s saying a lot. He makes Stephen King villains look understated.

As you’ve probably guessed, Blood Red Sky is not a great choice for squeamish viewers – vampire movies are, surprise surprise, typically blood-soaked affairs. Passengers, dogs, terrorists…they all turn into a meal at some point or other in this flick. Add to that 88 f-bombs, and you can see why this would make a poor choice for family viewing. On the plus side, there’s no sex, nudity, or drug use, so if that’s all you were worried about, then this should work out just fine for you.

When it comes to judging this film, I’m torn. On one hand, vampires on a plane. On the other hand, family tragedy. The two don’t play well with one another, like toothpaste and orange juice. That said, this is still a reasonably fun movie, provided you have a strong stomach for watching someone chug blood in a cargo hold. I just wouldn’t watch this on a plane – security tends to get nervous if you mention “hijacking” within four miles of an airport. I’m probably on some sort of watchlist just for saying it in this review.