Good movie but grossly overrated

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I felt the need to add my say in City of Blood after reading nothing but bad reviews here on IMDb. And everywhere else.There's a political message, and it is pretty much drama for a good part of the middle hour, and as a slasher fan I was worried about finally watching this. However, with a strong "2000 years ago" opening and some modern day killings with a unique slasher disguise & weaponry choices, I was satisfied with what it offered me in the sub-genre. Perhaps this is because I have seen most (and I do mean MOST) of the slasher films from the 70s and 80s, and after seeing some of the absolute worst those decades had to offer (oddly enough, not as bad as the new millennium stuff) I've been ready for City of Blood for a long time. The story is strong and if you care about more than just deaths in these types of films, you could be pleasantly surprised.Think of this as a political cop-thriller with slasher elements rather than a slasher with a theme. I welcome it to the family, but just make sure not to expect something you're not ready for. A party film... this is not.

Civil rights advocate is killed, beaten to death by police during an interrogation, and Medical Examiner is being pressured into signing off on a bogus autopsy report declaring the death to be a suicide to prevent a potential race riot. The ME is dealing with his own drama, hallucinating and having flashbacks to a lost love while investigating a series of brutal murders of prostitutes on the streets of London. The murder weapon of choice appears to be some sort of spiked club thingie used in Africa more than 2000 years ago.That minor subplot is played up big time on the original video box (Where the front cover depicts a Faces Of Death-type of skeleton clutching a cityscape and looking ominously toward the sky, while the back cover actually shows a (reversed) still from the film revealing a major character's death!) The video box might have promised a blood curdling horror, but what it delivers is a rather dull anti-apartheid "message" movie with an interesting subplot never fully realised. This rarely seen, South Africa-lensed flick is technically well made and certainly watchable, it's competently photographed, edited, and staged, and the acting was better than can be expected, so there's nothing wrong with it from a technical viewpoint, but it never gives us a character or situation to care about one way or the other: if the M.E. doesn't sign off on the bogus autopsy, they'd have a race war and rioting. If he does, so what? And how are the prostitutes' murders and the African spiked club connected with any of this? If the focus of this had been changed, and that subplot expanded to full length, a much better horror movie could have resulted.

City of Blood starts in 'Africa 2,000 Years Ago' where two native tribesman are killed, one by a decapitated head on a swinging rope(!) & the other by having his head bashed in... Jump forward to the 80' & Johannesburg, South Africa where chief medical examiner Joe Hendersen (Joe Stewardson) has been called out by his best friend detective Max Wharton (Ian Yule) to yet another brutal murder of a prostitute, both Joe & Max are working as hard as they can to discover the identity of the murderer but have little to go on. That night Joe speaks to a prostitute who turns up dead the next day, now Joe can't leave it alone until he finds the killer but that's not the only problem he has as special agents Stoltz (Gys De Villiers) & Phillips (Greg Latter) put pressure on him to fraudulently sign a death certificate for an equal rights activist who was beaten to death by his interrogator's & therefore help stop a potential revolution against a government he despises. Will Joe do the moral thing or will he crumble under the pressure of a corrupt government & it's official's? Will Joe be able to find a breakthrough in the murders & bring the killer to justice? Who knows, who cares...This South African production was co-written & directed by Darrell Roodt & frankly is about as exciting as watching paint dry. The script by Roodt & Mary-Ann Lindenstadt is as much political drama as horror, in fact I would say that it's far more of a political drama than a horror which means that were're off to a bad start already. City of Blood is incredibly slow going, the story is dull & just didn't interest or engage me at all. Then there's the heavy handed political statements & the moral stance it takes, obviously shot during the 80's when apartheid was in full flow City of Blood tries to raise the issue & paints the stereotypical picture of all whites are evil & all blacks are freedom fighting outstanding members of the community, now don't get me wrong as I don't know the first thing about South African politics either then or now so I really couldn't say if it's portrayal is accurate or not. There was also the minor fact that I couldn't care less about South African politics, I know that sounds a bit of a harsh thing to say but I've got enough to worry about in my own country, it's as simple & straight forward as that so I found most of City of Blood tedious, dull, boring & irrelevant to the extreme. The serial killer issue is barely touched upon & it felt more like a sub plot just to try & keep the audience awake & give them something to grab onto in the hope that it might get better, unfortunately it never does. The story is all over the place & never really settles down while the climax just frustrates & annoys.Director Roodt likes to have long tedious random sequences of Johannesburg & the South African countryside which are far from impressive looking. There's no scares, atmosphere, tension, intrigue, excitement or drama in this damp squib of a film that never really gets off the ground. Forget about any gore apart from a decapitated head on a rope & someone with some spears stuck in their chest, there is a touch of nudity but not much.Technically City of Blood is OK at best, it's competent but at the same time it's just so bland & forgettable. The acting was alright but since the film as a whole is so lousy who cares?City of Blood is probably marketed as a horror film with talk of serial killers & such, don't be fooled there is very little horror & a whole load of boring melodramatics that bored me to tears. Maybe there is an audience for this type of slow moving crap but it's not for me at all I'm afraid. One to avoid if your hoping for horror like me...

This film is very boring. What started out as a good, chilling horror soon turned into a boring bloodless picture. The acting, writing, directing, editing, producing, and just about everything are Grade Z. Avoid this low-budget film at all costs because I do not want to hear-"I told you so!"