In Blood Red Sky, Nadja's (Peri Baumeister) husband, Nikolai (Lasse Myhr), is attacked by a vampire, but there's a reasonable explanation why he doesn't turn into one. The Netflix original centers on a vampire mother, Nadja, and her son Elias (Carl Anton Koch), as the two of them defend themselves in a plane hijacking gone horribly, supernaturally wrong. As the film flashes back and forth between a fight for survival in the present and the past, nearly everyone attacked by a vampire transforms into one–except for Nikolai.
Blood Red Sky takes place primarily in the present, as Nadja and her son Elias fly from Germany to New York. After years of painfully managing her transformation with medicine and routine blood-drinking, Nadja is finally presented with the possibility of a cure, and the pair take the risky flight across the Atlantic. Nadja's flight suddenly gets hijacked by mercenaries who turned into vampires, and she's reminded of her previous fight for survival when Nikolai tragically perished.
While Nikolai's death may seem like a glaring plothole, he didn’t transform for a good reason: he was already dead before the vampire drank his blood. In a series of flashbacks, it was revealed that Nikolai was attacked by a vampire while searching for help after their car broke down. When Nadja finally found him, he was already dead, and she was subsequently bitten by his vampire murderer. Since Nadja was still alive, she exhibited symptoms of vampirism, but her husband never did, having passed before the condition took root.
Blood Red Sky makes sure that its vampire rules are clearly set, as nearly every passenger turns into vampires only if they are bitten alive. The primary example is Nadja herself and the vampire hijackers, who are all bitten by companion Eightball (Alexander Scheer) before dying. Nikolai’s death is markedly different in that sense since he was not bitten alive. Nadja discovered his body by following a trail of blood that appeared to be the result of someone dragging themselves to safety. Notably, she glimpsed claw marks on his body but no visible bite marks, so it’s most likely that Nikolai sought refuge in the house and bled out, dying before the vampire could drink his blood. Even if the vampire murderer had a chance to drink his blood then, there’d be no chance for the vampire condition to take root, and Nikolai would stay unanimated.
It’s also possible that the vampire murderer’s elderly father, who was a Nosferatu-esque vampire himself, ensured that Nikolai was dead before the son could drink his blood. The vampire father clearly had a somewhat developed understanding of how the condition worked, as his makeshift lab and fridge full of medicine implied he had been researching vampirism and its effects for some time. With all his studies, it’s completely plausible that he had the knowledge and the foresight to help his son feed without spreading the condition. Additionally, the vampire father vehemently and repeatedly proclaimed that “this [vampiric] evil cannot keep spreading,” and this belief alone was enough for him to take the steps needed to keep the “evil” out of Nikolai and stop him from turning.
As it brings new medical rules to vampirism, it’s no wonder why Blood Red Sky’s reviews call it a unique film. A deeper look at the perceived plothole of Nikolai’s transformation actually paints a clearer picture of how the condition works in a more realistic setting. All of this truly heightens the action with the ever-present threat of spreading vampirism, making Blood Red Sky a true thriller.