While its elements are highly familiar, Blood for Dust looks and sounds great, and it has an immediacy, darkness and pitilessness that is all its own.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 14, 2025

Blackhurst doesn’t succeed in closing out his state of the nation diagnosis in a form any more substantial than old-school gunplay. But there are intuitive flashes of a cynical worldview in his crisp image-making.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 6, 2025

The setup is promising but the end product doesn’t fully deliver, offering a sobering, often gruesome tale of bad decisions from impossible choices and the consequences that inevitably follow.

| Original Score: B- | Jul 24, 2024

Blackhurst’s gritty and grounded storytelling in “Blood for Dust” breathes new life into the plot device, and—with the brilliantly-acted contentious chemistry betwen McNairy and Harrington—succeeds perfectly.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 9, 2024

“Blood for Dust” never makes one false move as it leads its characters into temptation and then hell.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 2, 2024

Blood for Dust is a thriller that's so grim it sucks out any possible fun and meaning. The soundtrack is enticing, but insinuates suspense, which never truly comes during this film's runtime.

| May 1, 2024

The screenplay is not offering much that’s new. However, when you have a good foundation and actors who know how to deliver, sometimes a film not feeling so fresh in conception isn’t such a bad thing.

| Original Score: 6/10 | May 1, 2024

The film is thoughtful and dark, the performances are controlled and frequently sinister, and the direction is patient and well executed.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 25, 2024

The details of this crime thriller are the stuff of pure formula, woven together in one note.

| Apr 22, 2024

It's stuck with an all-too-common story (and a generic title), but this thriller boasts some fine performances and an unhurried pace that provides space for characters to breathe.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 20, 2024

The tone perfectly establishes the sense of horror in a low-key manner that lingers all the way through, anchored by accomplished performances all around. Not every turn here will feel novel, but what is presented is a thoroughly enthralling endeavor.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Apr 19, 2024

[W]hatever its shortcomings, including too much solemnity and not enough jokes, there's no denying that the film creates a powerful mood and sustains it.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 19, 2024

Blood for Dust is very well performed, written and shot. It would have been a riveting 85-minute movie but the slow, dragging pace dulls too much of its intensity and lasting impact.

| Original Score: 6.5/10 | Apr 19, 2024

[A] modest, character-driven modern noir.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 19, 2024

“Blood for Dust” is not only set in the early 90’s but contains all the outdated attributes found in VHS bargain bin crime thriller from that decade.

| Original Score: C | Apr 19, 2024

Some stylish visual flourishes and McNairy’s sympathetic portrayal can’t rescue a film that’s more talk than action between its cliched, ultraviolent confrontations.

| Apr 19, 2024

“Blood for Dust” is a sulky piece of crime noir.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Apr 19, 2024

What I really loved about Blood for Dust is the dynamite cast.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 19, 2024

[T]he repetition of ... [the] tone, combined with the routine of the plot, is little more than a matter of hollow style.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 19, 2024

Scoot McNairy shows star talent as the quietly desperate everyman.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Apr 19, 2024