Amazon Prime video is amazing. This isn't sales pitch. It's the truth. What finally sold me was the sheer amount of movies that I can search through. It's the closest thing I've found to the shelves of an old mom and pop video store. Ah, the old days of Prime Time Video, where I'd look at all the lurid horror boxes and try to decide how many I could watch in a weekend.Blood Beat is one of those box covers you'd look at over and over again, trying to decide whether or not you should rent it. Then, when you finally sit down and take it in, it blows your mind and you try to describe it to your friends and they think you have to be making it all up. Ah, the pre-internet days. Well, now that we're all online, I'd like to think of you as my friend. And I'm going to tell you all about this crazy movie.Fabrice A. Zaphiratos has two directing credits to his name and this is one of them. That's a shame - his direction here tends toward the strange and unexpected. There were moments here where I just yelled in glee at the TV, shocked at what was happening. It's not the best movie you've ever seen, but it aspires to be one.This feels like a regional horror movie made by a bunch of European art directors on too many drugs. It's also the only Christmas horror movie I've ever seen that has a psychic samurai slasher. But it really isn't even about Christmas. It's also the only film I've ever seen that has a murder scene synched up with a girl's orgasms. Also, the house the family lives in tries to kill everyone at one point, but no one decides to leave it.This all starts with Cathy and Gary talking about how they'll never get married, despite him wanting to be a father to her children. This scene feels like something out of a pure drama and not in a tacked onto a horror film way. I actually thought I had accidentally loaded up a student film or an attempt to film a 70's hard and honest look at relationships. But soon enough, Dolly and Ted come home. Ted's girlfriend Sarah is the cause of great concern, as Cathy's psychic abilities warn her of the young girl. Surely, she's seen her before. And when Sarah finds a samurai sword in her bedroom, things get strange.As weird as the film gets, it never plays anything for laughs. It's earnest and deadly serious. Unlike a modern film, it explains nothing. You're open to explain for yourself why the mother and girlfriend have a psychic link. Why is the killer a samurai? Why are there strange video effects throughout? Why is the mom a painter? I'd love to discuss this film at a party with a roomful of people who have just watched it.This movie is why I love movies. It feels like a discovery. I want to share it with you.

A family's Christmas reunion gets off to a bad start when the son brings home his girlfriend, leading to an awkward feeling of deja-vu between her and the boy's psychic mother. Weird things begin happening, the weirdest of which happens to be the presence of a glowing samurai warrior who's murderous tendencies appear to be linked to the girlfriend's orgasms."Bloodbeat" is one of the more bizarre films you could ever see. What we have here is a slasher shot in Wisconsin by a French director with a ghostly samurai as the killer. It's actually pretty effective for the first two thirds of the running time, particularly a creepy home invasion and ensuing chase. Through some splendid editing, this sequence is interspersed with the girlfriend's writhing and upward-thrusting in bed. It's also undeniably cool seeing a samurai as the villain in a slasher. During the final third, however, the film veers off in an unsatisfying direction with over-the-top antics and ridiculous special effects. Disappointing, but not enough to ruin the film for me. Oh yeah, excessive overuse of violin chords too.

A family with a few secrets of their own are terrorized by the spectre of a Japanese samurai warrior at their home deep in the woods.People begin to die,some by sword,some by arrow before mother's two kids step in and dispatch the sword-wielding samurai with their newfound magical power."Blood Beat" is a strangely fascinating film to watch.It has tons of flaws:confusing plot,lousy sound and cheap optical effects that made me laugh.There is some nudity and gore(knives entering bodies,a bloody stomach and neck wound)to keep your mind briefly occupied,but I'm still trying to understand this bizarre supernatural slasher.Wish me good luck.6 out of 10.

When i used to live in a crappy room in a crappy flat in London, me and my girlfriend (now my wife) sat down to watch this video (which my mate picked up in a cheap cash exchange shop) one lazy Sunday afternoon. We both really enjoyed this minimal but captivating little tale, but i have no idea why and still find it hard pushed to find a reason to recommend it. Might make a good double-bill with the equally diverting NINJA 3: THE DOMINATION.