Bleed

3/4

Starring: Debbie Rochon, Danny Wolske, Allen Nabors, Orly Tepper, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Laura Nativo

Rated R for Strong Violence/Gore, Sexuality and Language

There are two ways to look at “Bleed,” a slasher film made for $65,000.  One is as a grade z slasher film no redeeming value other than copious nudity and gobs of fake gore.  The other is a little thriller that may not boast the most impressive production values but is able to capture one’s interest nonetheless.  If you take it on a surface level, you’re probably going to take it as the first example.  But if you accept it for what it is, you’ll see that there’s more to this movie than meets the eye.

Maddy Patterson (Rochon) has just been offered a job.  That she writes herself a note of congratulations from non-existent parents and throws herself a party from non-existent friends tells you that she’s not exactly living on planet Earth, if you know what I mean.  Still, her boss Shawn Banning (Wolske) takes a liking to her and they begin to date.  He invites her to a party with his friends: the vulgar Chris (Nabors), his jealous ex Tillie (Tepper), and high school sweethearts Peter (Blevins) and Laura (Nativo).  Once they’re all drunk and partying in the hot tub, they let her in on a little secret: they’re part of a murder club.  All of them kill people for fun and the others cover it up.  Maddy is disturbed, but intrigued.  When she decides to join, things get bloody.

At first glance, “Bleed” has almost nothing going for it.  It looks like crap.  No, really.  It looks like it was made on a video camera from 1989.  The actors were clearly cast more for their looks than acting ability.  Like, these people are impossibly good looking.  And there are some useless dream sequences and one big unanswered question.  But if you accept the fact that it’s crap and allow yourself to buy into it, the story is unpredictable and the premise is intriguing.  Sure, it takes the easy road, but the concept of a woman entering into a club of normal people who kill people for extracurricular fun isn’t treated as a red herring.

Based on the evidence, no one in this movie is going to become a big movie star.  In fact, in the seventeen years since it was released direct-to-video, none of them has.  And for good reason.  None of them are very good.  But they’re good enough to accept them as characters, which is more than one can say for many in such films.  Debbie Rochon has become something of a minor league scream queen, and fits right into this schlock.  Danny Wolske looks like he was taken right out of a photoshopped underwear ad, and has the range to match.  But he has some charisma and screen presence.  Allen Nabors is fine as the lovable, sex-obsessed goof.

“Bleed” is cheesy and campy.  And proud of it.  As silly as it is, the premise gauged my curiosity, and the plot surprised me (particularly the somewhat ballsy ending).  I was genuinely shocked that I got involved in the story at all.  But I did, though I might feel guilt for saying so.  The film, which clocks in at a skinny 82 minutes, moves fast and doesn’t overstay its welcome.  The film is competently made by directors Devin Hamilton and Dennis Peterson.  While they had no budget to work with and are clearly not the Coen Brothers, they know the basics of filmmaking 101.

Look, “Bleed” is what it is.  It is not great art.  Nor is it a particularly good movie.  But as bottom of the barrel filmmaking, it does what it sets out to do, and perhaps a bit more.  I won’t sit here and tell you that it’s worth seeking out or that it will ever scare you.  But on its own silly level, it works.  Just don’t complain to me that you thought it was stupid.  Because I did tell you so.

It’s trash, but at least it’s good trash.