Blood Simple is a 1984 American independent neo-noir crime film written, edited, produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh.

The film's title is derived from Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest (1929), in which the Continental Op muses: “This damned burg's getting me.

When a caller informs the couple they are being watched, Abby grabs some belongings, including a pistol Marty gave her.

Meurice, another bartender, tells Ray about a phone message Marty left regarding money stolen from the safe—Marty's cover for the $10,000 he paid Visser.

After writing the screenplay, the Coen brothers shot a preemptive dummy theatrical trailer for Blood Simple, which showed "a man dragging a shovel alongside a car stopped in the middle of the road, back towards another man he was going to kill" and "a shot of backlit gun holes in a wall.

"[8] The trailer featured actor Bruce Campbell, playing the Julian Marty role, and was shot by recent film school graduate Barry Sonnenfeld.

[9][10] After completing the trailer, the Coens began exhibiting it with the hope of persuading investors to help fund a full-length feature film.

[11] Blood Simple was shot in several locations in the towns of Austin and Hutto, Texas, over a period of eight weeks in the fall of 1982.

The critical consensus reads: "Brutally violent and shockingly funny in equal measure, Blood Simple offers early evidence of the Coen Brothers' twisted sensibilities and filmmaking ingenuity.

"[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

[15] Janet Maslin wrote: "Black humor, abundant originality and a brilliant visual style make Joel Coen's Blood Simple a directorial debut of extraordinary promise.

"[16] Pauline Kael called it "a crude, ghoulish story with thriller themes," but was effusive about the performance of M. Emmet Walsh as Visser.

[17][18][19] In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Ebert wrote: "A lot has been written about the visual style of “Blood Simple,” but I think the appeal of the movie is more elementary.

[25][26] Some audio extracts of this film are used in the song "Quotation For Listening", by On Thorns I Lay on their album Egocentric, released in 2003.

The original MCA Home Video VHS tape and LaserDisc was released on October 10, 1985, with a 96-minute running time.

Additionally, they resolved long-standing rights issues with the music; the original theatrical version of the film made prominent use of The Four Tops' "It's the Same Old Song" (1965); the Coens had replaced it with Neil Diamond's "I'm a Believer" (1966) for the 1995 U.S. home video edition on VHS.

[6] In 2024, The Criterion Collection released the film on 4K Ultra HD for the first time as a combo pack which includes the 2016 Blu-ray disc as well.

Blood Simple was also the first feature-film score for Burwell, and after his work on this film, he became a much-in-demand composer in Hollywood.