Hemophilia in movies

The Bloody Movies


It’s Oscar time! Tonight, Hollywood celebrates top movies and actors of the year (oh yeah, The King’s Speech; who can resist any movie with Geoffrey Rush?). I decided to see how many movies had “blood” or “bleed” in the title, with a reference somewhat to hemophilia. There are movies about hemophilia—which we have written up in PEN—but there are no commercial movies named for hemophilia.

Of course, if you have teenagers in the house, you’ll know that most movies with blood (937!) or bleed (20) in the title are of the Horror genre. Like Blood-Sucking Freaks or the Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh or Bloodsuckers From Outer Space; I kid you not. It’s best to avoid any movie with “bloodsucker” in the title. We’ll try to avoid those. In fact, let’s give these our own genres and synopsis:

Bleed (2002), starring Debbie Rochan. Thriller.
A single mother takes her child to her HTC to treat his bleed, when she meets a stranger who offers her a job—to deliver a briefcase to Mexico City, no questions asked.

The Bleeding (2011) starring Vinnie Jones, Sci-Fi.
A child with a mysterious blood disorder stumps a colony on Mars in the year 2099, as hemophilia had been wiped out for fifty years. Is he a mutant, or some secret experiment?

Bleeder (1999) starring Mads Mikkelsen. Thriller.
A spy with a bleeding disorder finds it tough to complete a mission to assassinate a rogue dictator in the Middle East when he runs out of factor in Oman.

Bleeding Through (2004) no actors named (never a good sign). Comedy.
Hemophilia buddies on a motorcycle trip from Boston to Denver realize one is not adapting to his prophylaxis regimen and has break through bleeds. With each stop to get treatment, they pick up more cyclists to join their trip, and create a convoy, unaware that one of their new friends in on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.

Bleed With Me (2009) ditto
Sequel to Bleeding Through. Hemophilia buddies on a road trip from Boston to Miami decide to skip the HTC again and just bleed it out together. They don’t get far.

There Will Be Blood (2007) Daniel Day-Lewis. Drama.
A rebellious teen with hemophilia decides to run away from home and refuses medical treatment, when the girl he loves rejects him.

Book of Blood (2008) Sophie Ward. Drama.
A mother of a child with hemophilia decides to write a book about hemophilia, which changes her life. Hmmm.

Captain Blood (1935) Errol Flynn. Comedy.
A man unlucky in love and work tries out to become the superhero icon for a new factor product, becomes a national figure, and finds that wealth, fame and attracting the daughter of the president of the United States brings on situations beyond his wildest dreams.

Camp Blood (1999) Vincent Bilanco. Family.
A camp counselor with hemophilia falls in love with a girl with von Willebrand disease at a family camp, a love which is forbidden.

Blood in, Blood Out (1993) Benjamin Bratt. Sci-Fi.
A vampire with hemophilia needs human victims to keep his hunger—and bleeds—at bay.

Blood for Blood (1995) Lorenzo Lamas. Sci-Fi.
An experiment goes terribly wrong when a scientist with hemophilia who pioneered a permanent cure for hemophilia transfers blood—and something else—from a mutant to himself.

The Bloody Brood (1959) Peter Falk. Family.
A religious family decides not to let hemophilia stop them from having the big family they always dreamed of. They get more than they bargained for!

Bloody Movie (1987) Alan Hale Jr. Comedy.
Alan Hale Jr. returns as Skipper and this time is stranded on a deserted island with 25 members of a hemophilia nonprofit after their fundraiser at sea hits stormy weather. Hey, it could happen!

Share your own movie titles and captions, and enjoy the Oscars!

Great Book I Just Read
Race to the Pole by Ranulph Fiennes

A magnificent book about a magnificent man. Ranulph Fiennes is a living polar explorer and adventurer, and knows his topic well, having suffered through some of the worst situations ever. Here, he tells the fascinating tale of Robert Falcon Scott, famed British explorer, who reached the South Pole in 1914 under brutal conditions… only to discover Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beat him by just days. Fiennes does his homework flawlessly, citing excellent references, and is a superb writer. He challenges the legacy that Scott was “old school British,” and his inflexibility at doing things the military way led to his demise on the return home. His body lies there to this day. He delves deeply into Scott’s personality, ambitions and motivation, revealing a complex and disciplined man who learned to be an exemplary leader. You will writhe when reading the passages of how these explorers suffered, and yet how eloquently they wrote, even as they lay dying. Most valuable and clever is how Fiennes tears apart, through careful analysis of the literary world and British culture, the “myth” that developed which left Scott unfairly with a poor legacy. Excellent book and highly recommended. Four stars.

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