Blood for Dust

There is an elegant slowness and a startling bleakness to Blood for Dust from its opening few moments. The newest film from horror, comedy and documentary director Rod Blackhurst is massively stripped back, a slowly moving film with the ability to pack major, sudden punches and sharp, gnarly violence.

Scott McNairy stars as Cliff, a man desperate to get his financial life back in order following the death of his son. He is a lowly salesman, treat like dirt by his superiors, struggling to make ends meet and to keep his marriage alive. With a mysterious past behind him and a palpable need to fix his current situation, he’s an intriguing if not slightly cliched character.

McNairy delivers a predictably sturdy performance, able to communicate both serious unease and quiet determination through relatively subtle expressions, doing well to portray Cliff as both an underdog and an intimidating criminal. When Ricky (Kit Harrington) offers him a quick and supposedly easy way out, one which involves drug and gun running across state lines, he reluctantly agrees.

Of course, things fall apart and aren’t what they seemed. Blood For Dust’s script certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but there are definite flourishes in Blackhurst’s direct and sometimes meandering approach to telling this story. The plentiful slow tracking shots, the eerie and brooding score and the serious, grounded performances make for a slow-burn neo-noir featuring multiple surprising twists and unexpected narrative shifts.

Both McNairy and Harrington find different ways to dig into the material they’ve been given. McNairy’s subtlety and authenticity captures the crushed soul of his downtrodden working class character, whereas Harrington’s confident and charismatic turn as Ricky sees the character become excitable and disturbingly unpredictable. The two have good chemistry together, with a tension forever hanging in the air between the two characters.

The film’s action is striking and well utilised, effective because it is played straight rather than being gratuitously violent, and its general coldness and detachment makes it stand out in a sea of similar works. With two quality leading performances and a solid, suave sense of style, Blood for Dust is a sturdy neo-noir thriller with plenty of slow-burn suspense and mystery to offer even if it can lacks memorable side characters.

Blood for Dust is available on digital from January 13th via 101 Films.