Bloodstone Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Bloodstone Blu-ray Movie Review

Where's Mitzi McCall when you really need her?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 28, 2020

In his commentary included on this disc as a supplement, Bryan Reesman mentions in the early going how Bloodstone was crafted, at least in part, to help fill the need of programming on then nascent cable television channels, as well as (perhaps more importantly) to fill the shelves of what in 1988 were a hot commodity: video rental stores. Those two facts may be all you need to know about this film, which seeks to recreate some of the excitement of outings like Romancing the Stone. Bloodstone would have seemed to have more than the average going for it, at least in terms of straight to video offerings (the film evidently did have an international theatrical exhibition), including some lush location photography in India and the first English language performance from Tamil superstar Rajinikanth. However, the fact that Rajinikanth’s named is misspelled as Rajnikanth in the credits may indicate that any number of things in this production somehow got “lost in translation” in one form or another. Bloodstone has some okay action elements, and its underlying plot premise of a priceless (mutant sized) ruby which is repeatedly stolen is similarly decent enough, but the elements here never completely congeal into a satisfying whole.

The film opens in centuries past in ancient India with scenes of a funeral procession that ultimately gives way to an actual pyre where the body of a beautiful young princess is cremated in traditional fashion. Officiants hold an immense ruby aloft and evidently adorn it with some of the princess’ blood, for ritualistic reasons which aren’t ever explained, with the result being a curse of sorts which gives the gem magical powers to help those with “good in their hearts”, and afflict those with an opposite sentiment. The film then segues to the present to find newly married American couple Sandy (Brett Stimely) and Stephanie McVey (Anne Nicholas) on a train in India, where they quickly meet another expat, a Brit named Jack Kehler (Paul Lorre). Jack is one of those chatty types, which perhaps only indicates he’s up to no good, and it turns out he has stolen the ruby seen in the opening sequence, and is aware that the authorities are closing in on him. Guess in whose luggage he decides to stash the jewel until he can figure out something else to do?

That would seem to give Bloodstone a nice foundational element, with an American married couple traveling in an exotic foreign land in involved in intrigue that they have no real information on, kind of like the similar predicament faced by the couple played by Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day in Alfred Hitchock's second version of The Man Who Knew Too Much. Alas, director Dwight H. Little, who went on to helm an almost hilarious array of films including Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, the Robert Englund version of The Phantom of the Opera, Marked for Death and (just for good measure) Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, never really adequately shapes the material. That said, Little was perhaps hobbled at least a, well, little by the relatively charisma and chemistry free performances of his two putative stars, Stimely and Nicholas.

Sandy and Stephanie are of course unaware that the bloodstone has been secreted away in their baggage, but even that plot element is soon enough convoluted even more when the stone falls out of Stephanie’s bag into the trunk of a taxi piloted by Shyam Sabu (Rajinikanth). This would seem to be getting things ready for an almost farcical approach of "who has the goods?" like that seen in What's Up, Doc?, but the attempts at comedy here are fitful at best. A subplot about Sandy being a policeman seems positively boneheaded if not irrelevant, given the fact that he's so completely clueless for so much of the film, but police in general aren't really candidates for Mensa membership in this tale, including the really odd casting of Charlie Brill as an Indian detective named Ramesh.

Bloodstone Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bloodstone is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following verbiage on the restoration:

Bloodstone has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 5.1 and stereo sound.

An original 35mm interpositive was scanned, graded and restored in 2K resolution at Silver Salt Restoration, London.

The 5.1 and stereo mixes were supplied by the filmmaker.

This is a somewhat variable looking presentation, as can be made out by carefully parsing the screenshots accompanying this review. When this transfer is firing on all cylinders, it can look very good indeed, with a nicely saturated palette, well resolved grain field and generally very commendable detail levels. There are, however, recurrent rough moments. Some of these, as in the opening sequence which has optically printed titles, are perhaps more understandable than some later moments where suddenly the grain field spikes pretty dramatically and detail levels concurrently ebb, sometimes for just a moment or two, at other times for whole sequences (for some examples, see screenshots 5 and 6, which are from the opening, as well as screenshots 18 and 19, which are from later in the film). On the whole, though, this is another nice example of Arrow curating a cult item that many fans probably never thought they'd see make it to high definition.

Bloodstone Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bloodstone features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks which sound great. The film has a somewhat anachronistic "arena rock" soundtrack at times, which expands noticeably in the surround version. The 5.1 track also opens up many of the outdoor scenes with good spatially accurate placement of ambient environmental sound effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly, though some of the accents are a bit thick, so that the optional English subtitles may be appreciated.

Bloodstone Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Dwight Little is hosted by Michael Felsher, who announces it was done in May 2020 in what he hopes is the end of the Coronavirus pandemic. No comment.


• Commentary by Bryan Reesman


• Keepin' It to Myself (1080p; 28:31) is another kind of wacky self-interview by Nico Mastorakis.


• From Bollywood to Bloodstone (1080p; 22:00) is an audio piece by Josh Hurtado about Rajinikanth, which plays to stills of the actor. Perhaps because of the "issue" mentioned above vis a vis Michael Felsher's comment, this sounds like it was literally phoned in, and the sonics aren't great. That said, there's some really good background information here, especially for those who may not be all that well acquainted with this Indian superstar.


• Trailers

  Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 3:15)

  
  

  2020 Re-Issue Trailer (1080p; 2:01)

• Image Gallery (1080p; 4:40)

Bloodstone Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bloodstone actually has more than the average "straight to video" amount going for it, but the pieces just never quite gel here. Some of the locations are really interesting, but the plot seems tired and ultimately way overconvoluted, and the attempts at breezy humor often fall flat. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplementary package very appealing, for those who are considering a purchase.