A bad moon is rising in "Bloodworth." The misfired hillbilly gothic stirs up a murky brew of old resentments, youthful hope and backwoods superstition in the story of an ill-fated and symbolically named Tennessee family. As members of that clan, Kris Kristofferson, Val Kilmer and Dwight Yoakam are compelling in beautifully lived-in, vanity-free performances, but the drama's escalating dread fizzles in a farcical pileup of disaster.
Originally titled "Provinces of Night," after its source novel by William Gay, the film concerns the return to Tennessee of musician E.F. Bloodworth (Kristofferson), who left his wife (Frances Conroy) and three boys 40 years earlier. Two sons (Kilmer and Yoakam) remain embroiled in misadventures, while brother Brady (screenwriter W. Earl Brown) turns his focus — and his hexes — on the matter of punishment for Pa's perceived sins.
