'Ironclad: Battle for Blood' (Ironclad Blood War)

If extraterrestrials visited England in the year 1221, they would have taken one look and gone home. Life was horrible then — full of marauding, armored men, hell-bent on driving the pointy ends of swords into each others' midriffs. That's how "Ironclad: Battle for Blood" portrays medieval living among young Saxons.

Directed by Jonathan English, whose (very cool) name is huge among cult fans (i.e., the blood-lust cult, to be exact) "Ironclad: Battle for Blood" chugs violence like a soccer fan with a beer stein.

English's previous outing was "Ironclad" three years back, when he put together an impressive, heavy-duty cast including James Purefoy, Charles Dance and Paul Giamatti.

This time around it's the same backdrop, more brutality and a different crowd. The characters are played by slick young TV actors (Tom Austen in center position, along with Roxanne McKee and Rosie Day) with six-pack abs and miles of legs encased in thick leather. It's the brutal Celts against the home team, and no one leaves the castle until the body count is high enough to call it quits. Warning: It's a very high count. Back then, people had different ideas about real estate.