HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Bliss The Bloodsucking Art World
Year: 2019
Director: Joe Begos
Stars: Dora Madison, Tru Collins, Rhys Wakefield, Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper, Chris McKenna, Rachel Avery, Mark Beltzman, George Wendt, Abraham Benrubi, Jesse Merlin, Matt Mercer, Josh Ethier, Jackson Birnbaum, Susan Slaughter, Erin Braswell, Zoe Cooper
Genre: HorrorBuy from Amazon
Rating:  6 (from 1 vote)
Review: Dezzy (Dora Madison) is an artist who works with paint on canvas, but despite some early success is struggling to follow up her last art gallery show, her latest work a huge but almost featureless impression of something-or-other in red, orange and yellow. It needs a lot more focus to make it interesting, but she is having more trouble applying herself than the oils and is increasingly seeking a drug intake as a path into the creativity that is abandoning her. Not that this helps too much either, and the way she treats others around her, both professionals and friends, is growing more isolating, though when they can supply her with narcotics she is a lot happier. But a new drug proves deadly...

Only not to Dezzy, more to those around her, for Bliss was a vampire movie by stealth, strongly hinting that the antiheroine has been subjected to bloodsucking as a kind of obsession-spawning virus after a threesome turns hallucinatory under the effect of a new type of cocaine, though just as valid, what could have happened was that she was turned by acquaintance Courtney (Tru Collins) into a creature of the night: what a racket she makes. Madison went all out to render her character monstrous even before we see her undergo her transformation from merely bad tempered to actively murderous, in the sort of performance that often gets called "brave" by commentators.

And gets called "naked a lot" by less precious observers, but she did spend much of those naked scenes coated in stage blood and gore, as if her newfound connection to the red stuff has brought her to a kind of performance art that is purely for her own benefit. The self-indulgence of the artist in general has been a fruitful journey for many a movie, be that biopic, comedy or as in this case, horror, except artists in horrors tend to be sent around the bend by their talent or lack of it, the pursuit of self-expression driving them on to fresh depths of depravity, be that painting in blood or using actual bodies in their work: Dezzy might as well be making sculptures with corpses inside.

It was that kind of movie. But while the gore was plentiful, and by the screeching finale was colouring the frame in various hues of crimson, the violence appeared to stem from a general air of aggression in every area of the modern world. This was an experience where every interaction, no matter how polite, can suddenly become a shouting match, or even a physical attack: a fan who has the temerity to approach Dezzy for a spot of "love your work" flattery gets told by her to "Fuck off" and is sent away with his tail between his legs, in a symptom of what is very wrong with this world when a compliment just refuses to take and it is easier to bite the chap's head off instead. Not literally - but Dezzy does indeed bite someone's head off for real later on, as if her temper has consumed her.

Quite often, rather than being frightening Bliss was bemusing, like going to a zoo and finding not the animals placidly feeding, but raging around attacking one another. And there are characters here who would be better off behind bars, director Joe Begos portraying them in a woozy manner that suggests getting stoned to watch this one would be a total waste of your stash, since he had done all that work for you. Adding to the bemusement was the closest thing this had to a celebrity showing up when George Wendt appeared long enough to get his forearm torn open during one of Dezzy's tantrums and dies from the blood loss as she gulps from the wound, about as far away from sitcom Cheers as you could imagine, despite drinking of a sort being involved. After a while this dedication to intensity, f-bombs lacing the dialogue every five nanoseconds to demonstrate how edgy it was, was numbing rather than shocking, but credit to the team here, they truly committed to their ideas and execution. Music by Steve Moore.

[Eureka release this on Blu-ray with the following features:

Limited Edition O Card slipcase with silver laminate finish
Limited Edition Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas; and an interview with writer/director Joe Begos
1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray
5.1 DTS-HD MA and uncompressed LPCM 2.0 audio options
Optional English subtitles
Brand new audio commentary with film historians Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan (Daughters of Darkness podcast)
Audio commentary with director Joe Begos and actress Dora Madison
Audio Commentary by director Joe Begos, producer Josh Ethier, and the Russell FX team
Trailer.]
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 2085 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Darren Jones
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
Graeme Clark
  Desbris M
   

 

Last Updated: