Good concept, poorly executed.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

I felt the need to add my say in City of Blood after reading nothing but bad reviews here on IMDb. And everywhere else.There's a political message, and it is pretty much drama for a good part of the middle hour, and as a slasher fan I was worried about finally watching this. However, with a strong "2000 years ago" opening and some modern day killings with a unique slasher disguise & weaponry choices, I was satisfied with what it offered me in the sub-genre. Perhaps this is because I have seen most (and I do mean MOST) of the slasher films from the 70s and 80s, and after seeing some of the absolute worst those decades had to offer (oddly enough, not as bad as the new millennium stuff) I've been ready for City of Blood for a long time. The story is strong and if you care about more than just deaths in these types of films, you could be pleasantly surprised.Think of this as a political cop-thriller with slasher elements rather than a slasher with a theme. I welcome it to the family, but just make sure not to expect something you're not ready for. A party film... this is not.

Civil rights advocate is killed, beaten to death by police during an interrogation, and Medical Examiner is being pressured into signing off on a bogus autopsy report declaring the death to be a suicide to prevent a potential race riot. The ME is dealing with his own drama, hallucinating and having flashbacks to a lost love while investigating a series of brutal murders of prostitutes on the streets of London. The murder weapon of choice appears to be some sort of spiked club thingie used in Africa more than 2000 years ago.That minor subplot is played up big time on the original video box (Where the front cover depicts a Faces Of Death-type of skeleton clutching a cityscape and looking ominously toward the sky, while the back cover actually shows a (reversed) still from the film revealing a major character's death!) The video box might have promised a blood curdling horror, but what it delivers is a rather dull anti-apartheid "message" movie with an interesting subplot never fully realised. This rarely seen, South Africa-lensed flick is technically well made and certainly watchable, it's competently photographed, edited, and staged, and the acting was better than can be expected, so there's nothing wrong with it from a technical viewpoint, but it never gives us a character or situation to care about one way or the other: if the M.E. doesn't sign off on the bogus autopsy, they'd have a race war and rioting. If he does, so what? And how are the prostitutes' murders and the African spiked club connected with any of this? If the focus of this had been changed, and that subplot expanded to full length, a much better horror movie could have resulted.

I'll have to agree with all the reviews posted on here thus far and say that this film can be mighty boring, but it isn't without a few charms. Also, I want to mention to never trust a VHS by its (back) cover: To just look at the pictures and the summary, it'd be easy to believe you're going to be seeing an undiscovered hardcore slasher film from the 80's, but... yeah... I don't know what it is I just saw.It starts out well enough, with good directing, acting, and atmosphere, not to mention an engaging storyline. No kidding, the first 30 minutes or so of this movie has some decent suspense and is interesting and sleazy enough to be watchable. I especially enjoyed the main character, who is amongst the worst "main characters" in history: sweaty, bloated, old, nasty, mean, and with a bulldog face. Who wants to look at this guy for 96 minutes? He keeps having psychic visions of his wife while he talks to himself and drives from prostitute to prostitute; meanwhile, he won't sign a death certificate and he decides to become a detective.After this point, there is some nonsense about African politics and more psychic visions, a few murders, and a suicide. The whole film has a really nice and dark look and a very grim, mean-spirited tone: there is no humor whatsoever. Also, the soundtrack is interesting because it's almost entirely chimes, pianos, and a nausea-inducing flanger pedal played forever. But, really, what WAS this? What was the point of this film? When it's all said and done, it doesn't really do anything. But man, that sure is a cool title for a film and a cool image on the box. Worth maybe watching for a few interesting moments... but it's nothing special.

Two Africans are killed 2,000 years ago by a pair of African witch doctor-looking men. In the present day, a white South African medical examiner is investigating the deaths of prostitutes who are killed by a weapon that leaves five holes in their skulls. Somehow he connects this to tribes in Africa that had lived 10,000 years ago.He also refuses to sign a blank death certificate for an African hero. Government officials, including the prime minister, try to pressure him to do it, while a black couple hopes that he will not.He hallucinates his wife (not sure what that was all about), and seemingly hallucinates late- night drives and conversations with prostitutes that turn out to have been real.What the ancient Africans have to do with anything, or why the prostitutes were being killed, is beyond me. Perhaps a South African audience would have understood this movie better.As others have said, it's a snoozer. Lots of scenes of nothing happening, and the lead actor is a mumbler who isn't particularly charismatic.