In a sleepy backwoods the Smith family keep themselves to themselves, with good reason. The dysfunctional and barely held together nature of the family is made abundantly clear from the offset. The daughter Gloria (who only responds to the name 'Blackbird') seems particularly at odds with her mother, whilst a hangdog father harnesses an air of moroseness and regret.
During (what we assume to be) a typically unpleasant dinner, there is a knock on the door. A man in white arrives on their doorstep in the dead of night, in search of charity. He is well spoken and genuine, a surgeon who has lost his way and run into some car trouble. The father takes pity on him and consults his wife as to whether they can offer some charity in the hope that the news of it will help to un-tarnish their reputation in the town.
After being initially refused, he is granted a bed for the night and charismatically spends a little time with each individual member of the family, despite a violent and disturbing outburst from Gloria. The charm and debonair nature of the stranger evoke images of a lost Twilight Zone episode, whilst an air of menace hangs around him, like Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter.
The film takes many turns throughout the subsequent events, some of which will surprise, some of which will disappoint, but at no stage will you be left bored or disinterested. This is a very well played out horror film and one which will certainly stick in my mind for some time. I would question the initial show of hand as I felt that it occurred a trifle too soon, however, this is only a minor criticism. Another flaw would be the supporting actresses, in particular the brother's girlfriend who is not very good at all, however, this could simply be because the leads are so strong.
I will not supply you with a synopsis of events, but I will say that The Bleeding House is one of the ones which slipped by me last year, as it probably did you, but holds the potential to become a sleeper hit.
It also left me with Nick Cave's 'Kindness of Strangers' stuck in my head for ages afterwards, not because it's used in the film more that .well, you'll see.
Read more at zombiehamster.com
During (what we assume to be) a typically unpleasant dinner, there is a knock on the door. A man in white arrives on their doorstep in the dead of night, in search of charity. He is well spoken and genuine, a surgeon who has lost his way and run into some car trouble. The father takes pity on him and consults his wife as to whether they can offer some charity in the hope that the news of it will help to un-tarnish their reputation in the town.
After being initially refused, he is granted a bed for the night and charismatically spends a little time with each individual member of the family, despite a violent and disturbing outburst from Gloria. The charm and debonair nature of the stranger evoke images of a lost Twilight Zone episode, whilst an air of menace hangs around him, like Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter.
The film takes many turns throughout the subsequent events, some of which will surprise, some of which will disappoint, but at no stage will you be left bored or disinterested. This is a very well played out horror film and one which will certainly stick in my mind for some time. I would question the initial show of hand as I felt that it occurred a trifle too soon, however, this is only a minor criticism. Another flaw would be the supporting actresses, in particular the brother's girlfriend who is not very good at all, however, this could simply be because the leads are so strong.
I will not supply you with a synopsis of events, but I will say that The Bleeding House is one of the ones which slipped by me last year, as it probably did you, but holds the potential to become a sleeper hit.
It also left me with Nick Cave's 'Kindness of Strangers' stuck in my head for ages afterwards, not because it's used in the film more that .well, you'll see.
Read more at zombiehamster.com