Day 10: The Bleeding House

The Bleeding House (2011)

Bleeding House on Netflix

This little indie jewel is proof that you have to dig through a lot of crap to find something that is far from crap.  It's a quiet little story, with moody, dulcimer laden music, a slow build and more story than blood.

And if you're a sucker for a silvery Southern accent that would be a better guiding voice for Dexter Morgan than his father, the mere presence of the antagonist will make you smile.  Dressed in a slick white suit with an old fashioned doctor bag, carrying on like the Good Samaritan as he contentedly serial kills his way across the countryside, this is a devil you wouldn't mind meeting.

The family is hardly a set of caricatures, either.  Everyone in this film has their own spark, and thanks to a lack of exposition, we get enough backstory to know that the devil knocking on their door is less messed up than they are.

I'm trying to find a complaint about this film.  I really am.  But it's solid.  It's not splatterpunk, and it's not suspense that plucks at your nerves.  You can't cheer for anyone, or hate them either.   You can sense, if you dig for comparison, some Stephen King sensibilities.  But it's better because it's got more polish (and I say that with love, Mr. King), and a lack of expectation because it's a random indie flick stuffed in the Netflix horror section.

A repeated watching gives me more sympathy for Blackbird, whereas the first time I was a mostly fascinated, and annoyed that she'd be herself and usurp the power of killing in the end.  All of the women in this film are fascinating, different each of them, not overly sexualised, and big parts of the puzzle.  Just like the men.  Everyone is a big part of this beautiful, blood-soaked puzzle.

Fine, I admit it.  I love this film.  There's too much celebrated death-- rather than the heaps of blurry corpses every Oscar winning war movie racks up--  to win mainstream hearts and accolades.  There's no one particularly famous to rile up Hollywood with.  No one's particularly pretty. The production values are quality, but nothing deeply memorable.  This film leaves your brain on while it tells its story, but it never tries to dazzle you.

For that, I own it.  This is not a DVD (not available on blu-ray) I lend out lightly, but if you haven't seen it, fix that.  Now.

Would I watch it again? Yes indeed.
Would I own it? Already do.