Does anyone know of any free ones? I need a jugular squirt to the side and a stab through the chest

Take a look here.


http://detonationfilms.com/

I've done that effect with a WHITE screen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtj5uNoRFV8
This is an old student video though!
Now a days after effects has "mr mercury" -try it! It's easy, but a little confusing to use.

Aric, that video was too cool. What did you film it on, edit it on, composite with, etc?

hm if quality isnt your first goal simply start after effects and bring up the particle simulation. add a fast blur to those red dots and there you go...

Aric, that video was too cool. What did you film it on, edit it on, composite with, etc?

Thanks, I shot that with little 1 chip dv cameras. And the blood like I said was over a white background, which we sprayed around with those hoses used for pest poison. I used after effects "DV matte" to key the people (Dv Matte is now only available in Final Cut, unless you are still using a PowerPC mac -like me) and Final Cut to key the blood.
Too bad I did not upload the "making of" montage cause it's pretty funny.

These days it's the same method, but I use HDV: Revenge of the Revenge trailer on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/891658)

Also I take back what I said about the mr mercury effect, keying the blood was much better.