Netflix: Review of BLOOD RED SKY: In-flight Infestation

July 25, 2021

Nadya (Peri Baumeister) and her child Elias (Carl Anton Koch) are boarding a plane bound to New York City, where she was scheduled to see a doctor for chemotherapy. Unfortunately, their airplane was held hostage by hijackers who wanted to demand a hefty ransom for their freedom. At one point during the flight, crazy hijacker Eightball (Alexander Scheerer) shot Nadya several times, and was presumed dead. When that act threw the plane into utter chaos, Nadya unleashed her true nature in order to save her son and herself.

With everyone harboring some amount of fear of flying in them, there had been so many thriller and horror films which had been set within the claustrophobic confines of an airplane. The most popular ones would be about airplane crashes ("Sully", "Final Destination") or hijackings ("Air Force One", "United 93"). Then there are those out-of-the-box ideas which may seem too bizarre on paper, but succeed onscreen, like "Snakes on a Plane." "Blood Red Sky" is one of those outliers -- just replace snakes with vampires.

Of course, vampire films have been a staple of the silver screen since the movies began, from the silent classic "Nosferatu" (1922) to the various incarnations of "Dracula," from "Interview with a Vampire" to "The Twilight Saga." Having a horde of vampire on a plane was such a good idea for a horror thriller, it is hard to believe that it was only now that someone like Peter Thorwarth thought about it for a movie. Aside from the classic vampire tropes of immortality and fear of the sun, this film adds medications that can keep their bloodthirstiness in check.

Peri Baumeister played the tortured mother Nadya with such palpable torment, torn between keeping her secret from her son or to just go full vampire mode to kill all the bad guys. Carl Anton Koch had good chemistry with Baumeister as mother and son.  Another main character is Kais Setti as a concerned friendly passenger Farid, who just happened to be a Muslim. Odd choice why Alexander Scheerer chose to play the sociopath Eightball as effeminate, but he was over-the-top violent and such a hateful character.

I watched this without knowing what it was going to be about. When the bad men made their intentions known, I thought it would just another plane hijack film. Nothing would have prepared me for what would happen next after Nadya had a revealed her terrifying secret in response to an emergency that put her and her son in life-threatening danger. This twist as one of the best, most unexpected surprises I had in a movie. The way director Peter Thorwarth revealed it was also so subtle at first, then it just hit you like a bolt of lightning. 8/10.