The Bleeding House Takes Southern Hospitality a Bit Too Far
| Tweet | |
|
|
The Bleeding House shows that kindness never goes unpunished and some sins are never forgotten.
Written by The Horror Czar, Don Sumner
May 22, 2011
Movie Trailer
Image Gallery
Release: August 23, 2011 (U.S. DVD)
Written and Directed by: Philip Gelatt
Starring:
Alexandra Chando as Gloria
Patrick Breen as Nick
Betsy Aidem as Marilyn
Charlie Hewson as Quentin
Richard Bekins as Matt
The Smith family has had more than their share of tragedy. Through bits and pieces we learn that the isolation in the country with no contact with any of their small town neighbors is somehow related to the very strange daughter Gloria (Alexandra Chando) and nearly psychotic mother Marilyn (Betsy Aidem). It seems that Dad (Richard Bekins as Matt) and the oldest son Quentin (Charlie Hewson) are along for the strange and dysfunctional ride, but none of them are quite right. The saving grace was a new job in a law firm for Mr. Smith that holds the promise of a new start for the family… but as soon as his potential employer learns the families sordid past the job is denied. This is about when ole’ Mom goes off the deep end, until…
A young and quite charming stranded traveler, Nick (Patrick Breen) shows up at the front door of the Smith house looking for a place to sleep while he awaits a mechanic to get him on his way to the coast. At first Marilyn wants nothing to do with it, forbidding the man from 
entering the house and viewing first hand the inherent strangeness. Suddenly, though, she changes her mind and invites Nick in. Is this a�chance to make amends with the rest of the town? Will everyone change their minds once they hear of her kindness to a stranger? I wouldn’t count on it.
The Bleeding House does many things just right. The suspense, for one thing, is very good through the first half of the film. The strangeness of Gloria, the quick glimpses of knives being under lock and key in the kitchen,and the arrival of mysterious Nick who is a bit too nice and non-threatening, all work together to build a definite feeling that something bad is about to happen. I found myself saying out loud “That’s the fatal error” when Nick is invited inside, and error it was indeed.
Once the set-up is complete and it becomes completely clear that something is remiss, however, the suspense sort of stops. Events seem to simply transpire, from horrific to strange, violent to thoughtful, with no real build-up. It all just sort of “happens”.
The performances in The Bleeding House all had elements of working very well, but did seem to fall short in a few key areas. Betsy Aidem as the mother was particularly good, showing a deep pain throughout most of the film. Patrick Breen as the traveling Nick was very good also, interesting in that his demeanor didn’t change a bit, just about from beginning to end, no matter what he was doing. It might have been nice to see some kind of break from him; some hint to sickness underneath all that Southern nicety, but maybe there wasn’t any… perhaps he really is a pure servant of God. The biggest lost opportunity was in the sick girl Gloria. She set it up great with little tics and an inability to focus on anything people were saying without them exclaiming “Blackbird” to snap her out of her internal trance… but she also seemed to fade in and out of the disturbed character mindset. It was almost as if she didn’t want her friends back home to think she was really like that, so she held back a bit.
Overall The Bleeding House worked well and was interesting and engaging, but missed many opportunities to really make the audience
cringe in their seats. Not via torture-porn type gore and nastiness, mind you, but through some more build up and real scares. Sometimes the real fright comes from the things you don’t see, or from knowing you’re about to see something and being forced to wait for it on the edge of your seat. Something is lost when everything is simply shown to you.
The Bleeding House may have fallen down a bit in the execution, but still has a good and engaging concept with characters that will hold your attention. This one is not destined for cult status but certainly has earned a place as an above average indie horror offering.
Quiestions or comments about The Bleeding House? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
Take me to Horror Movie Reviews!
Horror Movie Freaks is the FREE eZine from Best-Horror-Movies.com that will give you the new horror releases, the new horror news and the new horror reviews that you CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT!!
Subscribing is easy, painless and free.
Do it NOW!!
