The death of River Phoenix in 1993 left the future of his final film, Dark Blood, in jeopardy, with several scenes still yet to be shot. But as we reported last year, director George Sluizer decided to finish it anyway, adding narration that he hoped would make up for the missing footage, then debuting the finished product at a couple of film festivals. Reviews seemed to suggest that, even had Phoenix completed work on it, Dark Blood would still be confusing: The Guardian called it “fragmentary, uneven, and downright odd”—hardly surprising, given it stars Phoenix as a widower named Boy whose hermitic existence in the desert, where he carves voodoo dolls and waits for the apocalypse, is upset by the arrival of a Hollywood couple (Judy Davis and Jonathan Pryce). Also, it’s an indie movie from 1993, when they were all pretty much uneven and odd. But now you can judge for yourself, as Dark Blood has been uploaded—in 12 separate parts—onto YouTube. It’s definitely not the way River Phoenix’s film was meant to be seen; but then, no one was meant to see it all. [via L.A. Times]
Part 1: