Bloody Axe Wound

Bloody Axe Wound is a 2024 American horror comedy slasher film, written and directed by Matthew John Lawrence.^[3][4] It stars Sari Arambulo, Molly Brown, Billy Burke, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The film follows teenager Abbie Bladecut (Arambulo) through her coming of age journey as the daughter of famous serial killer Roger Bladecut (Burke).^[5][6] It received mixed reviews from critics,^[7] who praised its performances and genre-blending plot twists, but criticized its slapstick tone.^[8]

Bloody Axe Wound
Directed by	Matthew John Lawrence
Written by	Matthew John Lawrence
Produced by	Hilarie Burton Morgan Mary Stuart Masterson Wicky Mendoza Matthew John Lawrence
Starring	Sari Arambulo Molly Brown Billy Burke Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Cinematography	Kyle I. Kelley Michael Sutter
Music by	Evan Garcia-Renart Miles Taylour-Sweeney
Production companies	BullMoose Pictures Dynamatt Productions
Distributed by	RLJE Films Shudder
Release date	December 27, 2024 (2024-12-27)
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$78,076[1][2]

Plot

Abbie is the adopted daughter of Roger Bladecut, a prolific serial killer. The family makes their money by selling tapes of Roger's slayings at their struggling horror themed video rental store. It is never clarified how the recordings are made or who makes them, and Roger is not the only filmed killer. The family only receives information telling them who must be killed and after completion the tapes appear on the store's doorstep. One evening the Bladecuts receive a new list of victims. Roger heads out with Abbie as a behind-the-scenes assistant. The outing goes poorly and ends with Roger dying from a heart attack. He is buried by Abbie so he can resurrect, but Roger finds that he is unable to exit the grave on his own, forcing him to realize that he is getting too old to be an effective serial killer. He decides to enlist the family's sole employee at the video store, however his outing goes even worse than Roger's and Abbie is forced to slay two of the victims herself. Abbie then takes up the task of serial killer herself, enlisting her friend Glenn as a helper in exchange for him appearing in the movies as a non-victim. Despite his concern that a woman serial killer might not be as effective as a male counterpart, Roger decides to support Abbie.

As the victims are all teenagers, Abbie decides to enroll in the local high school in order to stalk her prey but quickly becomes enamored of Sam, who is one of the chosen victims. This concerns Roger, who warns Abbie that befriending the teens will only make it harder to kill them later. He is later proven right when Abbie botches a kill and leaves her target, Izzy, paralyzed from the neck down. Abbie later tries to rectify this, but is unable to complete her task despite Izzy pleading for death. Frustrated, Roger begins killing the teenagers in Abbie's place in an attempt to assist her. Realizing that they are being targeted, the remaining teens, including Abbie, decide to hide out in an abandoned summer camp, despite it being the site of Roger's origin story. Roger then picks off the teens one by one until only Sam, Patty, and Abbie remain. Patty turns on Abbie, correctly assuming that she is involved somehow. Abbie is almost killed by Patty, but is saved by Sam killing Patty. Sam and Abbie are then chased by Roger, who pins Sam to the ground, where he starts choking her to death. Unwilling to see the woman she loves die, Abbie kills Roger, in the process calling him 'dad'. This angers Sam, who starts to confront Abbie but is killed by Roger, who had enough life left in him to perform one last kill.

Afterward, Abbie decides to close down the video store despite receiving a shipment of the new film. Later that night Abbie hears the thunder that normally occurs during her father's revivals. She heads to his grave, which is now empty. The film ends with the appearance of a newly revived Sam, as Abbie chose to bury her in her father's grave instead of Roger.

Cast

• Sari Arambulo as Abbie Bladecut
• Molly Brown as Sam Crane
• Billy Burke as Roger Bladecut
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Butch Slater
• Eddie Leavy as Glenn
• Sage Spielman as Laverne
• Margot Anderson-Song as Patty
• Matt Hopkins as Mackenzie
• David Littleton as Mark
• Keaton Morris-Stan as Drunk Lady
• Jahdey Wright as Bryant
• Rena Burkhart as Hip Girl
• Lizzy Cenicola as Daisy

Production

Director Matthew Lawrence began writing script for Bloody Axe Wound around 2014, but was unable to get it produced until after 2020, when interest increased due to his film Uncle Peckerhead. Production for Bloody Axe Wound began in 2023 and filming took place near Saugerties, New York over a period of 18 days.^[9]

Release

Bloody Axe Wound received a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 27, 2024.^[10] This was followed by a VOD release on streaming platform Shudder on March 21, 2025.^[11]

Reception

Bloody Axe Wound holds a rating of 25% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews.^[12]