Netflix's New Vampire Horror Movie Slays Competiton, Hits No. 1

A gruesome new Netflix original film has skyrocketed to the top of the streaming service's charts. Blood Red Sky is at the number 1 spot on Netflix, both in the movies category and overall in the U.S. at the time of this writing. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean the movie is being well-received.

Blood Red Sky is an action horror film directed by Peter Thorwarth and starring Roland Møller, Peri Baumeister, Chidi Ajufo and Alexander Scheer. It was co-written by Thorwarth and Stefan Holtz, and it tells the story of a flight taken over by vampires. It centers around Nadja (Baumeister), a widow from Germany apparently trying to get to New York for medical treatment for herself. She has her son Elias (Carl Anton Koch) with her, and she is guarding a dangerous secret. The viewer soon discovers that Nadja's illness is cover for her recently contracted vampirism.

The movie blends genres relatively seamlessly, combining supernatural horror with slasher elements in an action movie setting. It is intensely gory, which may be the most surprising part of its widespread success. It's also an amusing twist that this gruesome vampire movie displaced the romantic vampire series Twilight from Netflix's Top 10 charts.

There aren't enough reviews in to get a consensus on Blood Red Sky just yet, but so far the reception seems to be reasonably good. Rotten Tomatoes shows an average rating of 71 percent for the movie at the time of this writing, with 17 trusted reviewers weighing in. Just over 100 casual audience members have scored the movie as well, with a result of 59 percent approval.

Indie Wire critic David Ehrlich complained that the movie did not realize the full potential of its premise, though Bloody Disgusting's Meagan Navarro argued that it still did better than expected. Asher Luberto of The Playlist felt that the problem was the movie taking itself too seriously considering how "corny" it was, but Sarah Bea Milner of Screen Rant felt that it was still "fun" for all that.

Blood Red Sky hit Netflix on Friday, July 23 and it seems to have ruled the weekend. You can stream the movie there now in the U.S. Netflix has committed to releasing at least one new original film every week this summer, so chances are that Blood Red Sky will be displaced in turn as well. If horror on this scale isn't your thing, you will only have to wait a few more days for the next sensation to take over.