I really enjoyed Nick Murphy‘s directorial debut, The Awakening, and back in 2011, we reported on his follow-up, the crime-thriller Blood.  The plot centers on two policemen who kill a murder suspect and are then plunged into chaos when they are forced to investigate their own crime.  I’m ashamed to admit that I had forgotten about the movie, but now a trailer has been released, and it looks like Murphy has nailed the genre just like he did with gothic horror in The Awakening.  Also, I’m not going to turn down a movie with a lead cast that includes Paul Bettany, Stephen Graham, Brian Cox, and Mark Strong.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Blood is set to hit U.K. theaters and VOD on May 31st, and be released on Blu-ray & DVD on June 10th.  That short release window isn’t a great sign, but I’m still eager to see the flick, and hopefully a U.S. release will be announced soon.

This article offers the first synopsis and image for three movies, where the uniting theme is Avenge Death Of Innocent Female:

• Hummingbird – Afghanistan veteran and identity thief Joey Jones (Jason Statham) uses “his connections in the Chinese mob” to find the person who killed his pregnant girlfriend.  Hummingbird is the feature directorial debut of Eastern Promises writer Steven Knight.
• Dead Man Down – Swedish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev follows up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo his original dragon-tattooed girl, Noomi Rapace.  Colin Farrell plays the right hand man to an underground crime lord in New York, who must avenge the deaths of both his wife and daughter.
• Blood – Paul Bettany and Mark Strong play detectives who investigate the brutal murder of a young girl who desperately resort to “taking matters into their own hands in an attempt to coerce a confession.”  Nick Murphy (The Awakening) is directing.

Hit the jump for the synopses and images.

Director Nick Murphy made an impressive debut theatrical feature with his gothic horror film The Awakening (click here to read my review).  Screen Daily reports that he’ll be making his follow-up with Blood, an adaptation of the Bill Gallagher BAFTA-nominated TV series Conviction.  The plot centers on “two policemen who kill a murder suspect and are then plunged into chaos when they are forced to investigate their own crime.”  Murphy has assembled a strong lead cast for the picture with Paul Bettany, Brian Cox, and Stephen Graham (Boardwalk Empire) set to star with Gallagher handling the screenplay.  Filming is set to begin in the UK in January.

I’m hoping that The Awakening gets out in front of audiences sooner rather than later because Murphy is definitely a director to keep an eye on, and I’ll certainly be keeping Blood on my radar.