Blood Shine

by Hope Madden

Writers/directors Emily Bennett (who also stars) and Justin Brooks explore the concepts of sadism and masochism as vehicles for filmmaking in their spare, effective, bloody feature Blood Shine.

Bennett is the delicately lovely Clara, all alone in a big old farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere. We meet Clara as she answers her door late at night to the recently out-of-work Keith (Brendan Sexton III — Session 9’s tragic, mulleted, and tragically mulleted Jeff!).

It’s an effective prelude to the film to come of a zealot, a vessel, and an awful lot of blood given that the balance of the film consists mainly of two people.

The second of those two people, Brighton West (David Call) is a horror film director. Like Keith, Brighton West is not such a great guy. Call is convincing enough that it’s tough to care what happens to Brighton, but Blood Shine gives both Call and Bennett opportunities to surprise.

Though the film nods to Silence of the Lambs, American Psycho, Audition and some of the dreamier horror indies of the Seventies, that’s more in specific shot decisions than story. Bennett and Brooks have carved out something unique within the isolated zealot storyline and created a character in Clara that highlights Bennett’s skill as an actor.

The small but strong supporting ensemble—extended cameos, really—include Toby Poser and Larry Fessenden. Both are characteristically wonderful, each bringing a presence that alerts viewers to creepiness afoot.

The brings in filmmaking as a device, but it isn’t pieced well into the narrative and winds up feeling tacked on and unnecessary. But the one-on-one between Clara and Brighton, and Bennett’s increasingly brittle performance, compel attention.

It’s an effective lead up to a passable climax. Blood Shine is more invested in the journey than the destination. That journey is a dark one disguised in whites, between two people we shouldn’t care about heading in a direction we shouldn’t want them to go.