Tags:
Film: Bleeding
Year: 2024
Director: Andrew Bell
Writer: Andrew Bell
Starring: Tori Wong, Jasper Jones and John R. Howley
Review:
This was a film that I got the chance to see thanks to Mitch from Millennial PR who reached out to see if I wanted to watch the screener for review. Since I enjoy checking out independent cinema to look for gems, I agreed to see this. Outside of knowing that this was a 2024 film and that it was in the horror genre, I didn’t look into it much aside from that. I like to come into these films blind when I can.
Synopsis: in a world where infected blood is harvested as a drug, two desperate teenagers on the run from a vicious dealer break into an empty house and find a sleeping girl locked inside.
We start this by learning more about what is in the synopsis. There is a drug that is called Blood. It is a deadly and addictive opioid that is harvested from fluids from an infected person. Since introduced, drug related deaths have increased over 400% in the 15-19 year old demographic. There is also another version, called Dust, which is a stimulant that produces euphoria. There’s a good touch here that it is credited to a medical study which adds realism.
It is from here that we see a dealer making this drug. The windows are covered with newspaper and there are two people inside of a room. There is great lighting here that is red. I wanted to give credit there. Now we see a guy getting attacked, he kills the attacker and there are odd sounds. Blood is picked up by hand, not wanting to lose it. We then see that it is being boiled to create the drug. We also see that the attacker is quite dead yet.
We then meet our lead, Eric (John R. Howley). His homelife is broken after the death of his brother. He was into drugs and what we’ll learn later, it is the ones that were referenced. I believe that his mother is Jess (Chloe Sirene). She’s not handling it well. It appears that she’s close to suicide but hasn’t given up just yet.
Things get more complicated when Eric visits his cousin, Sean (Jasper Jones). He’s a small-time dealer. Eric comes over to score marijuana. Sean doesn’t want him smoking in the house as it will upset his father. Eric ignores the warning and ends up doing exactly what his cousin didn’t want to happen. This causes a scene where the father takes the drugs that he finds, rips the package open outside and tells his son to never come back.
This puts Sean in a bind because those drugs were out on loan. He was supposed to sell them and bring the money back to the dealer. To try and make up for what happened, Eric recommends going out to the cabins in the woods to see if they can find something to sell. At the least, they can hide out to come up with a plan. They pick the wrong one though. They break into a locked room to find Sara (Tori Wong). She is infected with something and this creates a chain of events that will change everyone’s lives forever.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start here is that I did appreciate the variation in this lore. I’ve been avoiding explicitly naming the creature that is used here. It was obvious early on, being that we’re dealing with addiction and blood. This is a common idea that is used, especially for more modern takes on this monster. Like I was saying, I do enjoy the route that this one goes.
I think that is where I’ll delve more into first. Eric isn’t into doing drugs after what happened to his brother, who I believe we see and his name is Markus (Josh Krol). He does smoke marijuana, but that seems more to calm his nerves and anxiety. His brother committed suicide or overdosed, that is what his mother believes. There is more to this though when we see how the drugs of Blood and Dust are created. It makes this dealer even more of a villain, especially since people are pulled in against their will. If you’re going to use an idea that we’ve seen and explored, doing your own take is a smarter route. That worked for me here.
I’ll shift gears then to discuss our three main characters. First is Eric who means well. He makes choices though that affect other people and it creates issues. You can also say the same though for Sean. He didn’t want Eric coming over, because he knows how messed up, he is after his brother’s death. He is avoiding him which is hurtful when it is said. Sean is dealing with his own issues of addiction. I do like that he makes a turn, for how long he’s been a jerk. It is misguided what he tries to do though. The last one would be Sara. I do like that at first, we think she’s just an addict. When we see that what happened to her was against her will, that makes her tragic. Eric trusts her, Sean doesn’t think you can, but seeing how these two interact, that all makes sense. I thought that Howley, Jones and Wong were all solid. Jones might overact a bit at times but doesn’t ruin this.
Since I’ve shifted to discuss acting performances, I’ll finish that out here with the rest. Sirene was good in her limited role. I feel bad for her and what she’s dealing with. All the characters we’re following are complicated. She is struggling with what happened to Markus, but it is ruining her relationship with Eric who is still there. I believe Jay Dunn as Hank is the dealer who is behind these two drugs. He’s such a monster, even though there are literal ones around him. Seeing the things he does adds to the overall tension of the film. Other than that, Krol and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking aspects. Overall, I thought this was well-made. I do think they capture where this is set well. It feels like the outskirts of a small town, which is similar to where I grew up. I could see people I knew getting hooked on the drugs like we get here. The cinematography and framing help to capture that. I love the subtle approach to the creature as well. It does look more like the people are junkies, having issues with being infected. The blood looked good. I’d also say the soundtrack fitted what was needed, as did the sound design. My only gripe is that I found this film to be boring. It has a good runtime, I just had issues connecting with it, even though I was intrigued by the story that it is telling.
In conclusion, I’m glad that I gave this screener a watch. We have an interesting concept here of taking this monster and then doing something different with a common troupe of addiction. That was something I appreciated. The acting was solid, being led by Howley, Wong and Jones. The rest of the cast push them to where they end up. I thought this was well-made with cinematography and framing to capture the area where it is set. Also, what they did with this variation of the creature as well. I did also think the effects being more subtle were solid. I did just struggle to fully connect with the characters, so this did fall short for me slightly. Still would recommend giving this a watch.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10