Somewhere in the North Atlantic, during the fading days of World War II, a life raft filled with the surviors of a destroyed hospital shop drift with no food or water until they come upon an abandoned German vessel, which seems to be salvation. If we’ve learned anything from movies like Death Ship, things are about to get much worse for all of them.

This Australian film, directed by Justin Dix (2012’s Crawlspace) and co-written by Dix and Jordan Prosser, is filled with style and substance, taking a story that may seem familiar and elevating it to a bloody, suspenseful and surprising film that you should take notice of.

After finding a little girl named Mya — clutching a doll that would fit right into a giallo or modern horror movie — it only takes a few moments before the survivors discover the patriarch and matriarch of a family of vampires that have already taken out every German on board. Their goal may have been smuggling their coffins — priceless artifacts — out of the country before the Allies made their way through Germany — but now, everyone must pay the price.

The film does a great job of setting up the mood in the first half, as it was shot in a legitmate vessel of that era, the HMAS Castlemaine, a WWII Bathurst Class corvette ship that is now an Australian museum.

If you can be patient for the first part of the movie, you’ll be rewarded with plenty of blood, bat-looking vampires who can psychically possess humans and a twist ending that perfectly  fits this film.

Unlike the majority of modern horror that is either all high budget gloss or low cost poorly shot digital video dreck, Blood Vessel was made by a team that understands that mood, lighting and even the color palette of your film go just as far as throwing blood and guts all over the place.

vessel of that era, the HMAS Castlemaine, a WWII Bathurst Class corvette ship that is now an Australian museum.

If you can be patient for the first part of the movie, you’ll be rewarded with plenty of blood, bat-looking vampires who can psychically possess humans and a twist ending that perfectly fits this film.

Unlike the majority of modern horror that is either all high budget gloss or low cost poorly shot digital video dreck, Blood Vessel was made by a team that understands that mood, lighting and even the color palette of your film go just as far as throwing blood and guts all over the place.

You can watch this on Shudder. For more information, check out the movie’s official Facebook page.