I recall when I was obsessed with zombie media during my youth. From films to TV to video games to books, I loved anything relating to zombies. However, as I grew up, I started to find the medium stale and anything zombie-related all began to feel repetitive and cliche. I still love some of those great zombie films from Romero and even an underrated flick such as "Dead Alive" or "Maggie", but I haven't really been fond of the material as of late. "Blood Quantum" is an example of a zombie film that, while good on its own merit, appears to fall behind due to some poor writing choices and contrived plot beats. Let's first talk about the story itself. In 1981, the Red Crow Indian Reservation begins to encounter the zombie apocalypse. As months past, the reservation proves to be one of the safe havens in the new world as the First Nations residents prove to be immune to the zombie virus, allowing them to survive otherwise deadly bites. However, tensions between the local sheriff's sons, Lysol and Joseph, are at an all-time high as the former is tired of allowing non-indigenous survivors into the compound due to their potential to infect the area. Joseph defends his choice as he has a white girlfriend who is pregnant. Lysol, through rushed character development, decides to destroy the compound by letting a zombie loose, causing chaos and the characters to try to make their way out of the reservation. The best part of the film is the first act, where the zombies are being discovered and the characters are all sharing this paranoia. Main characters are getting bit and they don't know if they are about to die or not and the tone and atmosphere is great in capturing this anxiety. However, after the time gap, the story starts to allow multiple plot conveniences such as allowing the girl who was infected inside the compound without a full body search, having Lysol's character arc and development flip-flop back and forth, the compound itself being overrun, and a meaningless sacrifice scene. All of these awful plot points feel forced in as typical zombie media demands a level of stupidity in the characters or story in some form. This messy writing also causes backlash to the film's themes of how the indigenous population is immune while the white people are at a disadvantage and treated like refugees. You'd think the conflict would be about a group of white survivors trying to get inside the compound while the indigenous group are afraid of them contaminating the community. But no, instead, Lysol decides to let the entire compound get overrun because the zombie he let loose bit his manhood off. I know that in the majority of zombie media, the humans are more barbaric than the zombies, but here, the human antagonist just doesn't make sense. The tone at the very least sticks to being serious for the most part. Any moment of absurd humour is mainly when the brothers, Lysol and Joseph, are talking to each other during a drunk or drugged state, which is only in a few moments in the film. It's more trying to create a realistic atmosphere and world-building, even though the story itself contradicts certain aspects of it.
The characters are above average for your typical zombie or horror flick, but they are still a mixed bag overall. Starting with the good characters, we got Traylor, played by Micheal Greyeyes. Traylor is the local sheriff of Red Crow and father to Lysol and Joseph, who is also the leader of the reservation once the zombies begin to take over their environment. Greyeyes takes what is a typically generic role and manages to breath some life and charisma as he has a sense of wit and cares for his family above all. Forrest Goodluck as Joseph is the troubled son of Traylor who manages to self-improve himself after the zombie apocalypse and attempts to help out his pregnant girlfriend in saving survivors and argue against his half-brother, Lysol. Joseph is by far the most developed character in the film and is really the protagonist next to Traylor as he actually changes as the film progresses and manages to have the most hardships in the story. Gisigu, Traylor's father, is perhaps the most enjoyable character of the film though due to how badass he is with the katana despite his age and is one of the smartest characters in the film due to his discovery of the virus and his choice to sacrifice himself so that the others can get away by boat. While the sacrifice scene itself is done fine, I just find it silly that he has to stay behind when a dying side character is taken to the boat anyways. Those are the only good characters as the others are pretty underdeveloped, useless or bland. Lysol, played by Kiowa Gordon, fits right here as the antagonist. Although you can understand his views on taking survivors in and how his penis being bit off can make him not fully there, the fact that he decides to let the compound overrun to begin with is very uncalled for and also undermines any development between him and Joseph. Joss, played by Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, is the ex-wife of Traylor and mother of Joseph who works as a nurse in the compound. The problem with her character is that not only is she barely important in the story, but her relationship with Lysol is barely developed, which, given the latter's lack of a mother figure in his life, could have been an interesting story to explore. Charlie, Joseph's pregnant girlfriend, is just not that engaging at all. They were already a couple prior to the film's events and, outside of her brief frustration of being a white girl and treated differently by the residents, she barely has a character outside of being a partial cause of the conflict and being pregnant to Joseph's child. As for the side characters, it's all over the place. They all might have a notable scene for themselves whether it's a memorable line or kill, but they all might as well not be in the film. You have characters such as Bumper, Moon, and Doris, who basically just serve as casualties, while characters such as Shooker, James, Shamu and Lilith practically disappear in the narrative after serving a shallow purpose. There's even a character named Rob Muppet, whose base proves to be indirectly important in the narrative, but we never even see this guy, alive, dead or zombified. As for the acting for all of these characters, it's honestly pretty good, considering some of these actors having limited acting jobs prior to this. It does feel a tad awkward here and there, but considering their background and the writing of the characters, it could have been much worse.
Jeff Barnaby is an indigenous filmmaker whose works all consist of relating to the treatment and role of First Nations people. His previous film, "Rhymes For Young Ghouls", was a great theatrical debut and his second outing shows signs of Barnaby's untapped talent in filmmaking. The first thing that hooks you in is the wonderful cinematography by Michel St-Martin. There are so many imaginative shots in the film that it's Hollywood quality. Whether it's the birds-eye view shots of the reservation as zombies run or linger, or just unique shots of tracking Traylor's police car, close-ups of making tea, or the bridge that connects the town and the reservation with shots that go upside down and around, the cinematography is perfectly executed to have a cinematic flair. Barnaby also knows how to make a grey, gritty, unfiltered world that has been overrun by zombies. The compound is realistically designed and the abundance of fog is well established, given the nearby river. I also like the world-building that the river, fish and dogs are tainted by the zombie virus, but mountain water, moose and deer are clean and safe as a backdrop of how First Nations culture and the untouched Canadian land is pure from the commercialized landscape that brought this disease. The music by Barnaby himself is also really good. While there are some nice use of songs appropriate to the time period, it's the synthesizer music that really trumps over the audio. Not only is the music itself great to listen to and fits with the serious tone, but the use of a synthesizer is both an homage to 80's filmmaking and the zombie genre with Romero's films having iconic synthesizer scores. Barnaby also uses some instances of some stylized animation, which not only matches the aesthetic of First Nations illustrations and art, but tells a hidden story that make it appear more like a legend, whether it's how the river is tainted from the zombie epidemic, Lysol's turn to darkness, and Gisigu's stand against the zombies. Speaking of which, the make-up effects of the zombies and gore are great. Although the zombies themselves are more on the standard side, the use of blood and gore are really effective with very little use of CGI and having some very grotesque deaths and imagery. The film might be one of the more goriest films in the genre as it not only includes some gory scenes of guts and intestines, but having a women eating a dead baby and Lysol's dick being eaten by the zombified Lilith is pretty jarring. While all of the filmmaking aspects are relatively unmatched, the editing is not on the same scale. The editing by Barnaby isn't bad overall and flows fine for the most part, but the film is cut in a rushed matter with characters disappearing in the narrative or events happening too quickly. It feels as though there was much more that Barnaby left out from the final cut and it does impact the film as a result, no matter how calculated it might have been. Regardless, Barnaby's filmmaking skills are a force to be reckoned with.
"Blood Quantum" is a film that had the potential to be one of the best zombie films to date. From a story premise that could have been engaging, a well-handled tone that has suspense, serious drama and a bit of humour, a few good characters with engaging personalities and performances, acting overall is pretty good given the inexperienced cast, excellent cinematography, wonderful use of synthesizer music, creative animated sequences that tell a story and match the First Nations artistry, the make-up and gore effects, and Barnaby's directing creating a realistic world overtaken by zombies and adding details to differentiate from most zombie media to add lore and aspects that relate to the indigenous culture. However, it's pretty painful for me to say that there are quite a number of mistakes. From the time-gap storyline, the conflict being completely different rather than having a indigenous vs white population debate, the handful of plot holes and story mistakes that don't make sense in the established setting and circumstance, Lysol being an rushed, underdeveloped villain, the female main characters aren't that interesting, side characters either get killed or disappear from the film altogether, and Barnaby's editing feels as if he cut out plenty of scenes that could have helped make the pacing and characters more effective. As it is, it's generally pretty good and one of the better indigenous or Canadian films ever made. However, as a zombie film, it's above average at best and would've been one of the best in the genre if Barnaby put more focus on the narrative or character development.
Verdict: 7/10. Good film as a whole, but reeks of the overwhelming potential of being amazing. Watch if you love zombie films with plenty of gore or like indigenous representation in film.
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