gardoma Review of The Bleeding House

The Bleeding House (2011)

The movie's strength is its eerie and Beckettian atmosphere

[7/10 · 18 November 2011]

The Bleeding House was an absolute surprise. I was expecting one of the many gory serial-killer- gets-into-the-house kind of movie, but this movie is, instead quite different. First, the gore is minimal, and the blood shown on screen is limited to the necessary amount required by the story (it plays an important and symbolic role for one of the characters). Second, the traditional scares (i.e., the assassin jumps out of the corner) are basically non-existent. The movie takes its strength from the eerie atmosphere, which is drenched in dysfunctional family relationships and broken characters looking for redemption. Predictable in its plot, but beckettian and original in its execution, with a pace that takes its strength by being consciously slowed down (even when the killer strikes, he seems to do so with a Bressonian lack of speed in its movement) instead of sped up, the movie has definitely something new to add to the genre. While the final revelation of the family secret is disappointing, the confrontation between the two killers (and main characters) is interesting and well-done, and gives a gruesome and chilling spin to everybody's quest for meaning in life---and empirical lack thereof.