Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Baby Blood Blu-ray Movie Review

A blook-soaked horror with an exceptional presentation

A surreal horror film with an abundance of blood and guts, Baby Blood (also known under the title of The Evil Within in the US) is a dark horror produced by Joëlle Malberg, Irène Sohm (Igor), and Ariel Zeitoun (Bandidas, Miss Sloane). Featuring an abundance of over-the-top horror from start to finish, the film is both grim and highly entertaining. An outlandish B-movie which is sure to delight serious horror aficionados.

The sexy Yanka (Emmanuelle Escourrou) lives a substantially bleak life working at a circus run by an abusive owner who treats her badly at every turn in their relationship. When a leopard arrives as a new show-stopping addition to the circus lineup, a strange creature which is lurking inside of the leopard bursts out of its body and manages to slither its way into her room: a grotesque, snake-like parasite crawls into her bed and impregnates her while she is sleeping.

Becoming the transport for a demonic-like parasite ruling over her body, Yanka learns from the parasite (which talks to her through her belly) that mankind is soon to be replaced by a new species. The evil parasite informs her that it is her duty to help seek out fresh blood for it to survive until it can be released into the ocean waters. As the film unfolds, Yanka transforms from ordinary-woman to a ravaging, blood-thirsty hunter seeking her prey.

A Quiet Hell

One of the most impressive aspects of the film is the cinematography by Bernard Déchet (The Trip to India, Chacun pour toi). Much to my surprise, the cinematographer on Baby Blood appears to have started out their career by doing cinematography for adult films (such as 1977's Hard Penetration). It's a surprising tidbit given that the horror film has such impressive visuals throughout and never does appear to suggest the type of low-budget one might expect. There are many impressive sequences throughout the film which are greatly enhanced by the cinematography and the art-house style does manage to make a big impression: beautiful skylight blues, brooding darkness, and surrealism which permeates the experience.

Baby Blood features a music score composed by Carlos Acciari. Though the composer has no other film credits to their name, the film does have an effective score which gives a moodiness to the production that would not have been there without it. It's a good thing that both the visuals and music score add extra dimensionality to the production, as Baby Blood features an awful screenplay by Serge Cukier and Alain Robak (Wacko) that has no real characters to speak of, a terrible plot, and even worse dialogue. A cringe-worthy script.

Somehow the terrible screenplay didn't prevent director Alain Robak (Irena and the Shadows) from making an effective horror film as it manages to succeed as a brooding and gory experience with an interesting visual flair and a fitting lead performance by Emmanuelle Escourrou (who practically oozes with sex-appeal and bares it all in the film). On that note, Escourrou also gives a better performance than one would expect to find from a B-movie in the genre and she helps to elevate the material by bringing more to the film than just her undeniable beauty alone. Baby Blood is a blood-soaked nightmare which is worth a watch.

Please Note: The Kino Lorber Blu-ray release contains the original French version of the film in its completely uncut and uncensored original version at 87 minutes long. The R Rated US theatrical cut was edited with certain scenes missing some of the blood-soaked gore and the cut was not identical in shape or form.

Baby Blood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The restored 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition presentation is an impressive one that will please fans of the film. Although Kino has not noted the exact resolution for the new scan, the quality on this new restoration effort is superb. The naturally filmic scan is resoundingly beautiful with great detail and clarity throughout the entire transfer.

The scan does not have any issues with dirt, debris, scratches, burns, and other print deficiencies. Color reproduction on the scan is equally impressive and it appears to be true to the film source without over-saturation. Fine film grain is left intact on the image and there is no issue with DNR on the source. This is an impressive scan that was surprisingly textured with great detail throughout.

Baby Blood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes two audio options: the original French language version is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo with English subtitles while the English dubbed version is also included and features lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. Viewers should opt for the original language version as it has excellent clarity throughout the entire presentation. Dialogue comes across as crisp, clear, and entirely stable.

The score sounds robust and the instrumentation is remarkably well detailed with every note of the score feeling well integrated into the sound design of the film. There were no issues to be found with regards to hiss, cracks, thumps, pops, and other audio deficiencies. This is a superb lossless sound mix that rewards listeners with a great audio experience. The English subtitles are superb and were free from any glaring spelling or grammatical errors.

On the other side of the equation, in comparing the lossless French language track to the English dubbed version, the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 track (which is encoded at a meager 192 kbps) sounds rather mundane, flat, and uninspired. There is no comparison: the quality suffers dramatically when considered against the lossless French audio track. The dub itself is not the preferred presentation for the film and I advise against viewers experiencing the film in this way. The original French language version reigns supreme with its much more detailed presentation.

Baby Blood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Audio Commentary by Film Historian Lee Gambin and Film Critic Jarret Gahan

Baby Blood Theatrical Trailer (SD, 00:58)

The release also includes trailers for other releases from Kino Lorber: Nightmare Beach (SD, 2:42), Rawhead Rex (SD, 1:06), Night Angel (SD, 1:58), and Link (SD, 1:17).

Baby Blood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Baby Blood is no masterpiece. It's a sometimes shallow film with a horrible screenplay. However, the filmmaking is surprisingly effective nonetheless with a strong lead performance by the beautiful Emmanuelle Escourrou (who gives the film an abundance of sex-appeal). The gory and horrific filmmaking is disturbing but effective. The Blu-ray release features an excellent presentation and comes recommended.