Dan’s Top 5 Uses of Blood in Film

Today I’m listing my own personal top 5 uses of blood in film. Since Gravity & Momentum is a stage blood company, you might expect my choices to all be massive bloodbaths like Carrie and Kill Bill. Not so. In fact, some of my choices use very little blood, but the blood is used in such a way that it enhances the impact of what the scene is trying to achieve.

The Godfather – The Assassination of Mo Greene

My favorite use of blood in what is arguably the greatest movie of all time is not the assassination of Sonny, but the assassination of Mo Greene. Sure, Sonny gets turned into Swiss cheese and there are lots of bloody wounds, but Mo’s death is far more interesting.

The key to this scene is the glasses. As the killer walks into the room Mo reaches for his glasses to see who it is. He then gets a single bullet through the eye and blood starts to pour out from behind the cracked lens. It’s pure genius. Without the glasses an up close view of the wound would be too gory. The presence of the glasses blocks the entry wound, and we are left to imagine what it might look like. This is an instance where keeping the details hidden is far more compelling than showing them to us.

If you watch the scene closely, you’ll notice that the blood is not particularly realistic from a consistency standpoint. My guess is that because the scene is so short (about 10 seconds) the blood had to hit fast, so they went with an extremely thin mixture. Thicker, more realistic blood would have extended the scene and slowed the momentum of the movie’s climax.

Braveheart – Multiple Scenes

Braveheart is definitely the bloodbath-iest movie on my list. There’s blood pretty much everywhere… throat-slitting, stabbing, dismemberment, decapitation… I could go on. This is not blood for blood’s sake, though. Far from it. In each case the blood is there to serve a purpose.

When Murron is killed, setting the events of the rest of the movie in motion, the detailed gore in the scene where the magistrate slits her throat drives home the utter inhumanity of the situation. One human being looks another human being in the eye and, as punishment for the act of not disclosing a marriage, takes a life. Because we see everything in shocking detail, there is no room (unless you’re a sociopath) for discussion about differing points of view on the matter. The magistrate has just committed an act of pure evil, and we are squarely in William Wallace’s corner for the duration of the movie.

The battle scenes do a great job communicating the movie’s take on the horrors of war in the 13th century: The clang of the weapons and armor against each other, the sickening sound of a blade piercing flesh, the blood-soaked battleground strewn with corpses.

After the battles we get a glimpse into the hearts of the victors: Manic eyes full of bloodlust, guttural roars, faces covered with the blood of both friend and foe.

The blood in Braveheart is not an end in itself, but a means to get us more and more invested in this dramatized version of 13th century England and the characters who inhabit it.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail – The Black Knight

In many cases blood is used to increase realism and emotional investment in a scene. Here the comic geniuses of Monty Python use blood to heighten the level of absurdity instead.

The blood is not even remotely realistic. It’s absurdly bright and thin, in keeping with the spirit of the scene.

Yes, the scene still would have been funny without the blood, but not nearly to the same extent.

Trainspotting – Blood in the Syringe

This might win the award for “smallest amount of blood used in a scene that’s an example of an awesome use of blood.”

There can’t be more than a few drops of blood in the entire thing, but the impact of the small amount of blood flowing back into the syringe full of heroin cannot be understated. It makes me cringe every time.

There’s a connection illustrated by that billow of blood flowing backwards into the syringe. The vein is open. Our emotions as viewers as we anticipate what comes next stand in direct opposition to the anticipation of the junkie on the verge of getting his fix.

Pulp Fiction – Multiple Scenes

Not many movies can use blood for both realism and comic relief. Pulp Fiction pulls them both off beautifully.

Early in the movie we are treated to a gut-wrenching overdose scene. There’s not a lot of blood here, but the whole thing looks incredibly real. The blood is thick and dark (as opposed to the silly Monty Python blood from the Black Knight scene).

Later in the movie when Vincent accidentally shoots Marvin in the face, there’s blood everywhere. Tarrantino expertly balances the realism of the visuals with dark comedy elements, such as the ensuing argument about how to handle the situation and the impossibly earnest discussion of coffee quality while The Wolf is en route to the cleanup site.