User Reviews

George Sluizer's salvaged 1993 desert thriller Dark Blood is an uneasy but captivating watch. More than anything its a tantalising final glimpse into the talent of star River Phoenix, surly one of the most promising actors the world has ever seen.

Rivers tragic and sudden death in the winter of 93 halted production and left the film missing many of its most crucial and inmate scenes. To overcome this director Sluizer can be heard reading the script amongst a mixture of stills and short clips. This method, whilst effective, is quite jarring and ultimately strange mainly due to Sluizers heavily accented, matter of fact voice which clash with the very intimate words and actions he is trying to get across.

However we do get long periods where the film plays uninterrupted, its in these moments we get a sense of what a great movie this may have been. At times a classic Hollywood thriller and others a disturbing art house flick.

Pryce and Judy Davis are pretty much note perfect as the bickering Hollywood couple. Pryce plays his character so well I would not be surprised if the role was written with him in mind.

Its no secret that Judy Davis was a very difficult actress to work with not only for the director but also the actors. River in particular was targeted with many friends reporting he would call them in tears due to her hostile treatment towards him. Such was his misery that he personally asked Sluizer to delay the most intimate scenes between them till the last days of shooting (they were never completed). It is to both actors immense credit that this difficult working relationship never comes across on screen, the scenes between them burn with desire and feeling.

Its impossible to talk about this film without really talking about River, even as you are watching the film, the tragedy that was to come is always there, playing on your mind. At only 23 River Phoenix was an Oscar nominated actor of incredible talent, grace and beauty. With the character of "Boy" he was able to display a side of him we had never seen before. He is terrifying, disturbing and dangerous but even in the throes of this madness that trademark sensitivity of Rivers shines through. He was a very special and incredibly gifted actor, and this film like all his prior performances have done before it, bear tribute to that.

... still very compelling. And a showcase of why River Phoenix was considered one the best amongst his peers. I hadn't read or heard too much about the troubled production of the movie. But I did talk to a few people and the magazine of the Berlin International Festival did have a few things to say about it too. But at the beginning of the movie you will get an introduction from the director explaining the situation and telling you, what you are about to see. And the fact, that there will be quite some amount of voice over.

While the voice over (telling us what would happen if the scenes were shot) is good, it never can fully compensate the impact moving pictures would have had. And it still is compelling, which all boils down to the performances of the actors involved. It's great they actually finished the movie and showed it. While not a masterpiece (couldn't be expected), it is there for people to see and enjoy.

"Dark Blood" known notoriously as River Phoenix's last film, as he died tragically and suddenly during filming, is what folks in the industry call a compromised film. With 80-85% of the scenes shot and after years upon years of dealing with legalities and George Sluizer himself trying to get his work back in his hands, "Dark Blood" is a film we can now watch and witness River Phoenix's last performance. Certainly, a bucket list item for many fans as this film had been "lost" my entire lifetime. A message to any who have waited--it is worth it. Based on some other reviews I have read, I have a differing opinion then most regarding the film as whole as I will try to explain the best I can.

At this point in time I have only seen one other film directed by Sluizer which is 1996's "Crimetime" so I do not have much to judge his talents from. All I can say is what really is the main attraction to the film, other than the fascination of Phoenix's last role, is the surprisingly fantastic directing and editing Sluizer managed to get done prior to his own death in 2014. This is potentially his best work even though scenes are missing. Sluizer makes a brave choice (and one he was definitely limited in making) by deciding to narrate the missing scenes over still shots or extra film that was taken during the shoot, and it works magnificently.

This works so well because the film already has a very spiritual and existential vibe to it. The major coincidence that nearly all of the intimate scenes are missing you would think the film would be worse off for it, but instead the poetic and specific details of the narration (from the script?) fits the footage Sluizer chose to overlay it with. The end result is haunting.

The three leads are all very strong. I think Phoenix is a bit overhyped, but part of that is probably because of his legacy and the overall fascination people can have with what could have been and that's ok. Jonathan Pryce and Judy Davis are really get compliments to the younger boy that River plays. I could feel some issues with the dynamics between the characters and I assume that is due to the immense strain and complications that infamously arose during production, but those mishaps are never large enough to disrupt the beautiful and arid desert aesthetic.

"Dark Blood" is far from flawless and that in itself is nearly the perfect compliment for a film that brings up the mixing of Native American and European races. As River's Boy mentions, "[There's] Dark blood in my veins" after he explains to Buffy what his heritage is. Maybe the film with all its imperfections is perfect in its own way.

I never really took much notice of River movies at the time he were alive but this film had me feeling a good connection to the character and story. The pace of the movie felt similar to No Country For Old Men. The missing scenes did not seem to subtract from the movie as the main story is there and as stated the director gives us a voice over. Certainly a film to watch again.

Judy Davis was horrible to River and made his life hell on set. He took the drugs that night to try to forget how awful he felt after enduring her abhorrent behaviour. Even the director couldn't stand her and how she was treating River. If she has a conscience (which I highly doubt) then she shouldn't be able to live with herself. Here she is continuing to work, meanwhile, an incredible actor and person is long dead. It's just not right.

Scenes are well made, the desert looks great, characters peer at the horizon well in the tradition of westerns, there are set designer extravaganzas. The story doesn't suffer from missing scenes; that speeds it up. What the story does suffer from is a disconnect of its elements. Buffy and Harry are a splendidly unlikeable squabbling city couple, actors to boot, stranded in the desert, which sets them up for a story in which they are humbled in the presence of some grounding element (the way Katharine Hepburn succumbs to Humphrey Bogart). That should be the solitary personage designated simply, condescendingly "Boy." But the couple doesn't let go into Boy's world. They fail to see that Boy's life and his environment have been damaged irreparably by nuclear testing; they fail to be grateful for Boy's kindness. In other words, they fail to see what a complex and powerful character River Phoenix is playing. If the viewer does, Buffy and Harry should, or they are hopelessly, tragically disconnected. Boy, look out for the culture these people come from, who aren't being shown much of your culture.

You get the feeling the best scenes, presumably the interior shots of the boy's hut, were yet to be filmed. The director's intermittent narration that covers the missing scenes, seems to have the best dialogue. What is captured is largely unremarkable.. yet still highly watchable, because it's River Phoenix, right before he died.

The well documented "troubles" on set, with Judy Davis being "difficult" with River, allegedly expressing her distaste with his casting over Johnny Depp is ironic, because she herself seems miscast, along with Jonathan Pryce, an out of work film actor married to a former Playboy Bunny Davis.. Insert Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger during their honeymoon phase and we might have had a true screen gem.. if it were finished.. and had a higher budget.

All in all worth a watch, but regrettably River's performance is somewhat pedestrian and perhaps more a telling snapshot of his slide toward oblivion. This is the River with short black hair that sadly met his fate.

This is the last film with River Phoenix. Meaning: as Phoenix died in 1993 and Dark Blood was only 80% shot, it took almost 19 years to get the material edited into the final cut. All scenes that haven't been shot are read as a voice-over by director George Sluizer over paused images. While that creates a distinct kind of movie experience, it doesn't seem to be something I'm very fond of. Of course, Dark Blood is a film that's all about Phoenix. Just like James Dean in 1955, Phoenix generated a cult following because of his untimely death. Mostly remembered for his roles in Stand by Me, Running on Empty, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and My Own Private Idaho, Phoenix never really had the chance to become the actor he could've been. That doesn't mean everything he did was pure genius though... In Dark Blood I'm just not feeling the Phoenix-vibe. Above all, it's quite a dull movie. Only recommended for those who want to see Phoenix shine one last time.

I was really excited when in late 2011 George Sluizer announced that he was going to try to finish 'Dark Blood', some years after Sluizer had an aneurysm and learned that his remaining time was limited. I've heard of the difficulties surrounding the film, the legal complications and so on. So when it was announced that Mr Sluizer was going to raise money in order to be able to pay for the finishing of the film (the post-production: sound editing, editing, musical score, etc.) through Crowdfunding, I almost instantly donated some money through the CineCrowd website. In gratitude I received a very rare limited edition DVD, and some positive lit negatives inside the DVD-box. I was a bit surprised by the high quality of the footage, since it has not been used for 19 years or so. I know about the difficulties off set between River Phoenix and Judy Davis, and between Davis and the director. But it definitely doesn't show in the actual film. The acting is quite natural, and in my opinion the performances by River, Judy and Jonathan Pryce are pretty good. As I said before, the images are very clear, and the added sound effects and musical score are also in place here. The music at some points reminded me a bit of Pieter Bourke ans Lisa Gerrard's score for 'The Insider'. I'm not going to spoil anything or tell how it ends, but for me it was a rare chance to finally see this interesting project, and also River Phoenix' last film.

George Sluizer's Dark Blood is one of the many oddities in the film world. Shot about eighty percent of the way in 1993, but put in an abandonment because of the death of its lead actor River Phoenix at age twenty-three, Dark Blood managed to be edited, reworked, and released at several film festivals in 2012, marking an end in the saga to one of the curious wonders of cinema. In 1999, the film was almost burned by the insurance company, who was sick of storing it in a vault without a plan for years on end, and would've been gone for good had Sluizer not taken action and stolen the film back in a period of forty-eight hours.

River Phoenix died as a result of mixed drugs entering his system at Johnny Depp's club The Viper Room in 1993, closing the book on a young, ambitious life so early and abruptly after doing a handful of acclaimed picture. Watching Dark Blood in 2014, when Phoenix has sadly escaped the minds of many, one could see that the talent he possessed and the emotions he managed to convey were natural and believable. It's too bad that even with Dark Blood managing to get some sort of release, it will still be desperately short of attracting an audience it deserves.

The film focuses on an older couple named Harry (Jonathan Pryce) and Buffy (Judy Davis), who are traveling through the desert on a second honeymoon, hoping to pick up the pieces to their crumbling marriage. When their car breaks down in the middle of the desert, they meet a young widower who calls himself "Boy" (River Phoenix), who lives on his own, with his loyal mutt, following his wife's death from radiation. The radiation was caused by nuclear tests conducted close in proximity to Boy's ramshackle home in the middle of the desert. Now, the only thing he anticipates is the apocalypse (and the occasional passersby).

Initially, Boy seems gentle and grateful for the company, but Harry discovers long before Buffy does that he wants some sort of a romantic relationship with his wife. Boy longs for female companionship due to the loneliness and isolation that exists in the desert, and throughout the film, we see Boy's anger and hostility escalate, which eventually leads to him kidnapping Harry and Buffy and keeping them in his confines.

Being that only about four-fifths of the film is complete, director George Sluizer tacks on narration during the scenes that were never completed (some of which being very significant chunks of the film), describing the scene and reciting the dialog. Even before the film is a minute-long narration about how after Phoenix died, it left everyone shell-shocked to the point where no one really wanted to complete the film without his participation. Sluizer states that upon become very ill he wanted to edit and compile the clips of the film into something before it was too late.

Being that Sluizer managed to complete a project that many felt would never see the light of day, and that he has done such a great job on many different aspects, it seems harsh to critique it any way. Saying the film is fragmentary, and sometimes a bit choppy, is a pretty demeaning and stupid point of criticism seeing there was little Sluizer could do to prevent that in post-production. Rather than nitpicking elements that probably unsatisfied Sluizer in addition, let's focus on what the film really excels at, which is giving its lead actor a sendoff and bearing some great scenes of tension and excitement.

Consider the scene where Harry manages to momentarily break free from Boy's clutches, or when both head for the hills in their pickup truck. Scenes like this are given unexpected leverage thanks not only do the performances, but Sluizer's editing work, which still works to give old footage fresh vibes of suspense. Had Sluizer not taken the film seriously in terms of continuity and story, all seriousness and respect for the project would've dwindled to nothing, but thanks to the competent work orchestrated, Dark Blood manages to easily win more than just cinephiles over.

Starring: River Phoenix, Jonathan Pryce, and Judy Davis. Directed by: George Sluizer.

I've been crazy about movies ever since i was eleven (this was in 1985) and at the time of his death really liked Phoenix as an actor in The Mosquito Coast, Running on Empty and (especially) Stand by me. I remember thinking it such a loss when i heard he had died and being really curious about this film. Not only his last film but also made by a fellow Dutchman. A director responsible for making one of the only classics in Dutch cinema (Spoorloos a.k.a The vanishing). So, cut to the present, i was extremely curious to see this unfinished film and very happy to get the chance to attend the premiere. The fact that there were (crucial) scene's missing didn't bother me. I can still love a film for it's great parts (like a lot of Brian DePalma's movies). So i was hoping for a few memorable moments either in acting, writing, plot or in the use of visuals. But, unfortunately, those moments never came! I was bored from the first frame to the last. It never is a badly made film but it also never becomes anything special or interesting. If this film had been finished to completion before River's death, it would (i my estimation) have been forgotten about by now. I never cared about River's last films ("even cowgirls get the blues, the thing called love, silent tongue") and this film, sadly, doesn't change that...

Simplistic to say, but when an entertainer dies young they tend to get lionized and the posthumous image in the eyes of their hardcore fan base transcends to the point where everything they did is wonderfully flawless.

With River Phoenix, what I will say nearly three decades after he died is that he was certainly on the way to becoming a very fine actor vs. Being a precociously talented actor. In fairness, it should certainly be noted that Phoenix undertook a wide variety of roles in films displaying a lot of stylistic divergence from one another. Some of those roles worked well, some (to be frank) didn't. As to what Phoenix would have went onto re: acting had he not died when he did, obviously we'll never know. Riverphiles will insist that he would have inevitably reached the box-office heights and popularity of Leonardo DiCaprio or, say, Brad Pitt. Perhaps, yet perhaps not would be another simplistic albeit fair thing to say.

With all of that out of the way, onto Dark Blood. Since Phoenix died before it was completed, for both Riverphiles and for those who simply appreciated his work Dark Blood became something sort of akin to the Lost Ark or (at the very least) a lost curio. Nearly twenty years after Dark Work was shelved after being disbanded roughly 80% of the way into production, director Sluizer managed as best he could to put together a relatively complete vision of what he had in mind or could have realized were it not for Phoenix's passing.

The result? To my way of thinking, even if Dark Blood had been completed it wasn't necessarily going to be a great movie. Or, to put it another way, Dark Blood certainly wasn't some abandoned box-office blockbuster. Nor was it really meant to be, truth be told. What Dark Blood was (and is) is a quirky tale in an unconventional setting, well-shot and capably acted yet without any greater point or purpose beyond any of that. Phoenix delivers a compelling performance which is unlike others he had previously given, which as I mentioned earlier was a characteristic of his re: the roles he chose and types of movies he was in.

In the spirit of fairness and honesty though, had Dark Blood been completed and released into theaters in 1994, I tend to think it wouldn't have made much of a splash at the box office. I would have ended up seeing it either via a video store vhs rental or scheduled later at night on Showtime or Cinemax, watched it once, remarked to myself that the desert settings were well-filmed, the acting was capable, the story it told was a bit weird and by and large would go on to forget about it. In other words, roughly the exact same reaction I had to it in 2012 minus the 'Last Lost Film Of The Late Great River Phoenix' hooplah surrounding it's eventual release.

What a movie I just saw!! Seriously, it's just an amazing and hypnotic experience! This movie was shot in 1993, mind you! All you see on screen was shot in that year. You can notice that Jonathan Pryce's hair is less gray than it really is today. Also, you got in the movie the strong and mesmerizing presence of the late River Phoenix, coming in a time capsule directly to the future to give us his mesmerizing swan song. Wow... freakin' wow!

Great acting, a script that shines and beautiful backgrounds are the main attractions here. The story is told in the form of a road movie and the characters all goes through changes in their lives. The most powerful thing in the movie is its heart and soul. This is the engine that moves the narrative. As for it's body, it's unfortunately broken, for the lack of a better comparison. As the director George Sluizer states before the movie starts, this movie will always be like a three feet chair. It's slightly unbalanced, it misses something but with care, still stands on it's feet.

With River Phoenix's death before the shooting process finishes, the director summarizes the missing fragments of the movie to us in order to complete the narrative. It works fine that way. In spirit, in heart and soul, this movie deserves a straight 10/10. With its broken, unfinished body, it takes a 8/10. If only they could finish it in time... but that from now on, until the end of times will only belong to our imagination, trying to figure out what it could have been.

For what it is, it perfectly stands on it's feet. Must watch! Once again, thanks to the "37º Festival International de Cinema de São Paulo" in my city by the SESC institution of culture and development, I could enjoy another amazing flick!

A tragic ending to a brilliant career: That's the first thing you probably heard when you hear the name River Phoenix. Dark Blood is a film as most of you know, and have heard by now, the last film River Phoenix was filming at the time of his death.

Dark Blood is a rare gem, you will not see too many films made like this in this day and age. The great George Sluizer has done a fabulous job in finishing a film that to most people never looked like it was going to get finished, Utah was a great place to shoot this film the scenery is one of a kind, thanks very much to the wonderful Edward Lachman who has captured the essence of the Utah desert. It's a bit hard to give the film Dark Blood a specific genre, because of the rewrites and the re-editing of the story. It has slightly made it a different film because of those touch ups.

If you did not know much about the circumstances behind Dark Blood and you saw the film for the first time you could very well think it was a complete picture. The only scenes missing are about half a dozen interior scenes, after watching the film back and paying close attention to the directors narration of the missing scenes, besides 1 or 2 of the interior scenes that are missing that really have some real importance to the film more so than the other interior scenes the film seems to flow by quite fine. All the major scenes looked to have being filmed here, but like i mentioned maybe 1 or 2 of the interior scenes that play a real importance to the films story line are incomplete or missing. But the great George Sluizer really makes sure you have a very clear understanding of the films missing scenes, which are might i add, are scattered throughout the film.

Is this River Phoenix's best role? probably not, but it is definitely in River's top 5 films, there are glimpses in this film of greatness and what could have being, and what the film community is surely going to miss out on. River has such unique charisma and a lot of maturity for a young 23 year old in a role that could have being played different in so many ways. Jonathan Pryce (Harry) and Judy Davis (Buffy) both fantastic actors in their own right, just show how good they are and both bring plenty of experience and great energy to their roles.

I give the film Dark Blood 8/10. The film has a running time of 86 minutes. Which is pretty much the length of a normal movie these days. Also Karen Black plays a great little cameo at the start of the film which needs to be applauded also.

On a final note if your a fan of River Phoenix or the director George Suizer or a fan of any of the cast and crew of the film Dark Blood, i strongly recommend you look out for festival appearances that Dark Blood maybe showing at, it has played at 3 major film festivals so far and with many more to come.

Thankyou for Reading my Review, i hoped you enjoyed it and i look forward to reading some feedback.

THOMAS PURCELL

This movie was the last one River Phoenix did. It is unfinished, yet hauntingly beautiful.

Phoenix did a great job playing Boy, a young widower living in the desert on a nuclear testing site. The guy rescues a Hollywood couple whose car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Little did the couple knew that Boy wasn't as willing to help them as he sounded. The movie set was so beautiful and surreal, it was the perfect background for the conflict between the characters.

I also found that the desert scenes painted the inner landscape of Boy's whose traumas were still eating at him.

His inner world was reflected in the outside environment he built for himself, in his actions and his awkward thinking. I cried in the end because everything felt so real and believable.

This movie can be watched by anyone who appreciates art and all the hard work that is put into bringing it on the screen.

The Making: This movie was shot during three years of production. Only at most 13 days left for the last film takes, but then River Phoenix died sadly due to a mix of drugs at an age of just 23. Then the legal tug of war started for almost 20 years. In the mean time the Dutch director George Sluizer became after those twenty years, almost eighty years and now suffering from his illness.

The legal war was about to end in an apocalypse of destruction. Where the insurance company ordered to destroy the raw film material that was laying for almost 20 years in a safe. All the creative work and acting would be gone forever, but.. When the ill director heard on a Tuesday afternoon, that they would destroy the material on the very next Friday, he ordered to save and rescue the material for mankind. Knowing that all the legal path ways were gone, he ordered with the sense of urgency, a burglar to get the material from the save! And that was the start of the editing of this wonderful road movie, that otherwise was burned and therefore stolen from mankind. Isn't this true story worth to make a movie about? That the 13 days of shooting where missing, didn't affect the end result. As a matter of fact, it adds value to this one of a kind movie.

The end result - The Movie It was a real pleasure to see the calm, but intense images. You could feel the heat in more then one way. The colors of the material, the acting, the desolate Monument Valley atmosphere, the inescapable situation, the desire of River Phoenix as Boy, all contributed to the thrilling heat.

The epilogue of the making My question to the director was, if the legal dossier could be closed now. In other words; Can we all enjoy now this movie? Unfortunately, NO. Not at this moment, because there is still an issue about who owns the rights on the negatives.. Can you imagine?

I hope, as soon as possible, you all can enjoy this inescapable road movie.. in more then one way.

• Screen Maven -

Within the film, in his acting role as "Boy", River reminded me of his considerable ability to capture the moment and simultaneously get the audience to see the film in his character's eyes without intruding on the director's vision through quality of worthiness that withstands the test of time. River's role as "Boy" is a conflicted one where the character is caught between the right and wrong aspects of actions taken when in a crisis situation. His role evolves throughout the film, starting with a curious and concerned citizen turning into a one sided and obsessed futuristic reformed resident. There is a mystical element to this character in the fact that he does believe in the things unseen and has courage in the face of hardship. In his portrayal of the character, he exudes a guided hand approach where he never ventures into instilling too much fear towards others, but rather a controlled sense of command, almost foolish in some ways, yet wise in other ways.