Strange Company's Director, Hugh Hancock, died in 2018. Strange Company is no longer a registered Company. This site is part of his body of work, and as such it is hosted and maintained by a group of volunteers and as an archive of his work. If you have any problems with the site, please report them using this form.


Democracy: Internet TV



If you're interested in following what else Hugh Hancock and the BloodSpell team are doing, check out:

Death Knight Love Story
the new film from Strange Company

MMO Melting Pot
the best of the MMO blogosphere



BloodSpell: the groundbreaking Machinima animated feature film

BloodSpell is Strange Company`s first feature-length Machinima animated film.

It is available to view or download online, released under Creative Commons license.

Watch now


It is a story of a world where men and women carry magic in their blood, and spilling it can unleash terrible power.

Where these "Blooded" hide in fetid slums from the Church of the Angels, commanded by their divine masters to "cleanse" the Blood Magic.

Where choices are fraught, alliances rarely safe, and blood is all.

A young monk named Jered flees the Church when his own Blood Magic is released. Now he must survive the pursuit of the Church, the gladiatorial pits of the Blooded underground, and the hidden truths of the ancient struggle. The choices he makes will tip the balance of the war between Church and Blooded, and change his world forever.

Mixing a vivid world with fast-paced action and punk attitude, we think BloodSpell will be like no film you`ve ever seen.

It is made using the game Neverwinter Nights, and is written and directed by Machinima pioneer Hugh Hancock.

"Damned fine storytelling and editing/production work."
- Cory Doctorow, author and activist

How often will it be released?

BloodSpell was initially released as 5-10 minute episodes, which were released in 2006. 

Since then, we have completely re-edited, remastered, and in many cases reshot footage to turn BloodSpell into the feature film we originally envisaged. This feature version includes hundreds of new shots, new voice acting, a completely new edit and soundtrack, and is, basically, BloodSpell 2.0. We think you'll be impressed. 

Watch BloodSpell: the Feature now!

It is available for viewing without charge under the Creative Commons license.

"Fantastic!"
- Rod Maher, creator of FRAPS

What`s unique about it?

We`re fairly sure BloodSpell is the largest Machinima film ever created. It`s an independent film that, because it is using Machinima technology, isn`t subject to the usual limitations of smaller films. But, at the same time, we don`t have the politics, money and producers of a Hollywood production involved, so we can experiment with ideas, styles and attitudes that wouldn`t be possible in a more top-heavy Hollywood production.

Of course, we still have some limitations, and BloodSpell won`t be beating out `Lord of the Rings` for visual effects. But we hope that what we lack in slick polish, we can make up for in originality and passion.

The other unique thing about BloodSpell is the way it`s being released. We will be releasing BloodSpell under a Creative Commons license, meaning that it will be free both to download and to modify: in other words, where even many indie filmmakers might get upset if you put their work up on Bittorrent or translate it into a new language, we`ll be encouraging work like that, and supporting it as much as possible.