Blood for Flesh (2019)

Written and directed by Alex Hernandez, Blood For Flesh, or in its original language title, Sangre Para La Carne, is a Mexican film that came at me out of nowhere. The team at TetroVideo, the film’s distributors, were nice enough to send me a screener for review, yet I have to admit, I have never heard of this film nor could I find much about it online. This short feature, which clocks in at about 56 minutes, is a very dark piece, in all senses of the word.

It touches on extremely dark and twisted themes and additionally is also quite dark, in a visual sense, in some spots, where it is difficult to understand what we are looking at. To be fair, even with the well lit scenes it was sometimes tough to understand what I was watching, or why. Be that as it may, I persevered with the film and lo and behold, there was a huge payoff at the end. Once my attention shifted and adjusted to the film’s style, I settled in for the ride. And what a ride it was! This film is artistic and deep, just as it is disgustingly gory and disturbing.

The story centers around a small family, a father (Juan Manuel Martinez), daughter (Erika Lopez) and son (Luis Navarro), who have a very strange and loaded relationship between them. This strange family relationship is horrifically violated when a group of cannibals attack and perform all kinds of hideous acts upon the daughter and son. The daughter takes the brunt of the punishment and from that point violent thoughts turn into actions leading the three on a bloody path to destruction.

The film is divided into seven short segments, each signified with a title and bears a change of theme. Hernandez uses a desaturated colour scheme for the film going between segments (and sometimes within them) to demonstrate shifts in time and atmosphere, accentuated in parts by red, blue, and sometimes close to a black and white look. As previously mentioned, some scenes were too dark for my liking. A little light to clarify what I was seeing may have helped, but it didn’t hurt the overall experience much.

The work on the music by Esteban Ibarra Rivero should be commended. The soundtrack, while playing in the background, almost unnoticeable, is a huge ingredient, enhancing the atmosphere of the film greatly. Almost used as a form of hypnosis, it draws us into the beautifully grotesque world of the film. There are two pieces, one towards the end and one during the end credits that are absolutely gorgeous pieces of music. Worth checking out.

The film freely displays severe savagery. At times it only suggests at, and in others outwardly displays, an abundance of violence, mutilation, rape, nudity, incest, and plenty of gore, yet it is ultimately about love and betrayal, crime and punishment, if you will, and the disintegration of a family unit as a result of those. This is one of those films you’ll be mulling over long after you’re done viewing, so be ready for it stick in your noggin for a while.

Hernandez displays a cinematic understanding and vision well beyond his years in this beautiful piece and I personally look forward to seeing what he will take on next. 

A raw and haunting experience well worth the ride. 8/10.