2011
Directed by Philip Gelatt
Starring
Alexandra Chandro, Nina Lisandrello, Patrick Breen & Charlie Hewson
Leo Tolstoy famously wrote
“All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on
a journey or a stranger comes to town.” A stranger comes to town, for some reason
it is a concept that has always captured my imagination. The unknown forces
that can disrupt and shape our lives have always made me lock my doors and
check my closets before I go to bed. Philip Gelatts 2011 horror film is one these
stories, one that will make me use the peep hole when someone knocks on my door
and never trust a man in a white seersucker suit.
The opening shot of the film sets an ominous tone
that will be slowly delivered upon for the next hour and twenty minutes. The
Smith family is like most in that it has a past and would prefer to keep their uncomfortable
secrets hidden after all “Small towns have a long memory.” The opening twenty minutes establishes the
uncomfortable nature of the Smith family. The dinner sequence is tense and
hints at greater problems the family is facing. Why the hell did she lock up
the knives after dinner?
When the stranger (Patrick Breen) shows up stranded,
wearing a white suit, carrying a doctor’s bag and speaking with a southern
accent that feels as if it were pulled from another era, they invite him in.
The Stranger has arrived. That simple decision is one that will forever change
the Smith family. We know where this film is heading because of that opening
shot but we are waiting to discover how this group of people will get there and
why?
The motivations and backstory of our characters are
not given to us all at once. In fact the way we are given information is slow
and deliberate. If you are patient this film it will repay you. This movie feels like a throwback to something
from the 70’s and I mean that in the best possible way. This movie is limited
in its scope but is still a powerful character study. Some people have
complained that the reveal is not worth the wait but I argue that the tension
building up to the reveal makes it worth the wait. To speak in clichés, it’s
not about the destination but the journey to get there. I had mixed feelings
about the ending but I loved how we got there and that defiantly counts for
something.
All families are forced to deal with different levels
of adversity at different times. The question that is worth examining is how
much adversity can those people around you handle before they will snap? What
will happen when they are truly tested?
Patrick Breen gives a performance that is nearly perfect
and quite memorable. Some people might find his Tennessee Williams Serial
Killer thing to be a bit too much but I for one loved it. His character feels
like a force of nature. Our antagonist is an unsympathetic hurricane destroying
the lives of the people who cross his path. Ever since Poltergeist 2 older,
soft spoken Southern gentlemen types creep me the fuck out and Mr Breen has
continued in that tradition nicely.
The Bleeding House is streaming on Netflix and
available on VOD