The Path Of Blood is one of those films where it is hard to know whether to laugh or shudder in horror

DRIVING through the desert on his way to blow himself up – and take an oil refinery with him – a jihadist realises he is out of petrol and money.

This documentary is culled from 500 hours of footage left behind by captured or dead operatives of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.

1

It features out-takes from propaganda films in which a suicide bomber is having doubts about strapping explosives to the front of his truck.

It is hard to know whether to laugh or shudder in horror.

Director Jonathan Hacker and producer Mark Boal, who was behind The Hurt Locker, spare us real-life beheadings but they do show the gruesome consequences of detonating a grenade hidden where the sun don’t shine. Ouch.

Path Of Blood (18) 90 mins

★★★★☆

MOST READ IN FILM

ANIMAL MAGIC

The tragic true story of Hagrid’s dog Fang - who was abandoned by cruel owner

I SMELL CHILDREN

Who plays the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

'DAMAGE'

This foul-mouthed movie of a Kiwi biker gang never gets the thrilling it needs

DOWN TO THE ABBEY

Get the lowdown on who lives at the Downton Abbey castle in real life