Starring - Crispin Glover (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Back to the Future), Jake Horowitz (Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, The American Werewolves), and Lucy Loken (Teen Wolf, Devil in the Details)
Release Date - 2025
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "A reimagining of the lost Lon Chaney classic"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
I'm one of the few that are open to remakes and reimagining of classic movies. The way I see it, remakes have the ability to expand on a story that we already know and love or it could suck which leaves us with the original to watch. A few days back I received a press release for a reimaging of the lost Lon Chaney film A Blind Bargain. I was unfamiliar with the original film but I was immediately sold when I saw that it starred Crispin Glover. I know he is eccentric and can be a bit much but I fucking love him. He never disappoints me when he is in front of the camera but a few of the films he has been apart of were damn near unwatchable. Regardless, I had to see this one so I replied to the email and was granted a screener link.
The movie follows a young man recently sent home from the Vietnam war with a new habit. He's dependent on drugs and his mother, along with a social worker, want's him to get clean. They recommend a clinic for treatment and his initial appointment results in them drawing his blood. They later call him and state that after running a test on his blood sample they are able to determine that his mother has the type of blood that the doctor needs for his experiments to reverse aging. He offers the young man a large sum of money for a pint of her blood. Owing a hefty amount to a local drug dealer, he tricks his mother into visiting the clinic where they sedate her in order to take her blood as needed. He gets his money and soon finds himself in need or more and more forcing him to turn to the strange doctor to chip away at his aging mother.
I know absolutely nothing about the original film or why it's considered lost. What I do find funny is that it's listed as the "lost" Long Chaney "classic." If the film was lost then how is it a classic? Is anyone alive that has seen it? When was it lost? These are all questions that I don't want to take the time to look up. I may not know a lot about the original film but I did enjoy this remake, or reimaging, though it was extremely slow at times. The acting in this one is is very well done. While Glover stole every scene he was in, it was Jake Horowitz that makes the film for me. He is a strong lead and goes to great lengths to make his character believable. One hell of a performance from someone that I was unfamiliar with. The supporting cast is solid for the most part but we do get a few scenes with dialogue that lacks conviction and feels flat. The story for this one reminds me of a few other films I've seen from the 60s up until today. A selfish doctor or scientist is running illegal experiments where he offers someone down on their luck cash for blood, plasma, semen, and so on. What makes this one stand out is that the person on their luck gives up their parent instead of bodily fluids. It works especially when you see all the fun and memorable characters tossed in to move the film along. With that being said, several scenes were painfully slow and difficult to finish. These scenes does throw the pacing off but doesn't ruin the film. Finally, the film is not one with memorable deaths. We get a lot of colorful characters but fantastic blood and gore is not part of this film. Overall, A Blind Bargain is a fantastic vehicle for Crispin Glover to play a mad doctor but the story is predictable and often too slow for it's own good. It's fun for a first time watch but nowhere near as enjoyable as man TikTokers and IG influencers are letting on. Check it out.
