Blood & Chocolate (2007)

Death by Silverware

I wanted to watch this movie, probably for the wrong reason - I recently watched the incredible 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, a Romanian movie. Blood and Chocolate was shot in Romania and I was curious.

It's the classical tale of 2 strangers, worlds apart, falling in love and overcoming adversity. This particular one is the story of American boy meets Romanian girl (talking about worlds apart) and she's not even fully human. And she keeps loving him more as he slowly but surely exterminates members of her immediate family, clan and species. He silver-poisons them, he stabs them dead, he shoots them, he burns them and she loves him more for that. In the end, she returns the favor and she shoots one of her own herself.

The thrills are rather sedated. The monsters turn into what looks like malnourished and not so scary wolves by jumping up in the air and you know it's about to happen when the vampire's eye color changes. The fight scenes are as exciting as the hero holding a silver knife and the wolf throwing itself into the knife so that it can be stabbed and killed.

Why is this a movie worth watching? I'm not so sure. The terror or horror aren't exactly blood-curling - the scariest it gets when 'the boy' slaughters a couple of loups garou (vampires really) with a salad knife. Or, was it a fork? Then, it's the Romanian landscape - decaying buildings, run down industrial facilities, rusty cars... scary too. Oh, how about... vampires with guns? That's original, no? And the girl is pretty.

This is just about all I have to say. I am awarding 2 stars for trying and for mediocrity. November 19, 2008

Love this movie but book better!

If you haven't read the book I HIGHLY recommend it. So much better then the movie (always is) but I still like this movie and would recommend it if you're into werewolves and such.

On a side note what the heck is up with Amazon and always lowering their prices after buying an item?! I went through an outside company because Amazon wanted $30+ now down to $21? I would have paid that price and not the $30+ just because I have prime and don't have to worry about sellers NOT shipping the items to me. November 14, 2008

filmed like eyecandy, but not the book

having read and loved the book this was a complete and utter disappointment. The book being about a 16 year old girl coming of age and learning her feminine prowess, a process all girls go through if they are human or werewolf. This movie became the typical Hollywood girl meets boy story. finding myself so dismayed in the typical boring movie I have actually put it up for sale at amazon. I can say it was filmed with visual integrity, and my husband having not read the book was midily entertained. October 30, 2008

Doesn't compare

Some people say that you shouldn't compare books to movies, generally the people who haven't read the books, but when a movie is based off of a book of course you should compare it and judge it on whether it kept the integrity of the author's story, and this movie did not. The book was all about growing up as an american teenage girl and having this whole secret life of being a werewolf, of wanting to fit in, and be understood, but always being set apart. When making the movie they increased her age moved the movie across to a whole different continent, and basically turneed it upside down. All they really kept the same from the book to the movie was the names. Our main character doesn't even end up with the man she's supposed to. Not to mention they turned the good guys into bad guys and the villains into good guys. Even when not compared to the books, the effects were awful and the plot or point of the story was almost non-existent. This movie was awful and was not worth the money I spent to buy my ticket. October 8, 2008

I like a little Blood with my Chocolate

I've never read the book, and honestly thought this would be one of the regular hokey horror flicks... you know where the werewolves look more like big growly people in ape costumes?

This film was a breath of fresh air, though if you are after the usual slasher horror flick skip it, but if like me, you appreciate the romantic old-world side of the supernatural that is often only found in really dated literature, this movie is well worth your time. I've added the book the movie is based on to my reading list.

The special effects though few and far in-between, were beautifully done. Also a plus to the crew for using real wolves.
September 21, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...