Shudder Saturday: Bliss (2019)

Dora Madison plays Dezzy, a young artist who isn't really in the best place. She isn't making the progress she hoped to be making on her latest piece, she seems to be saddled with a guy (Clive, played by Jeremy Gardner) who is happy to freeload his way along and coast through life, and she's dropped by her agent. But thank goodness for drugs. Dezzy heads to see Hadrian (Graham Skipper) to purchase some recreational mood-enhancer, and she ends up getting some Bliss, which is not to be taken lightly. What follows is a crazy rollercoaster of sex, unconsciousness, productivity, and blood. Quite a lot of blood.

Written and directed by Joe Begos (who impressed a lot of people with his directorial feature debut, Almost Human), Bliss is a very nice pairing of form and content. Viewers are dragged along with Dezzy as her senses are bombarded, with inventive and varied visuals often paired up with a loud and pounding soundtrack. I liked the full audio-visual experience, although it's easy to see how this could end up putting many people off.

What I liked a little less was the lack of specific points that could have been made. I appreciate that is my own thing, and it's unfair to be too critical of a film because of what it isn't when there's a lot to appreciate about what it is, but it held it back from being as great as I wanted it to be. I kept waiting for Bliss to step up to a higher level, but it always seemed poised to make a leap without ever committing. Having said that, Begos certainly pulls out all the stops in the third act, which certainly takes a step up in terms of the wilder moments, the bloodshed, and gore. There's one moment, just beyond the one hour mark, that is absolutely incredible, and major kudos should go to Begos for getting hold of enough resources/talented people to help him complete his vision.

I try not to focus on negatives when it's a film I am being generally supportive of. It's not good to mistake insults and unnecessary nastiness with constructive criticism. With that in mind, I will say that Madison is slightly uneven in the main role, disappointing in the scenes in which she has to act more "normally" opposite people (it feels very much like her attitude, both to others and to her art, is something that doesn't fit right on her), but fun to watch when getting wild and vicious and bloody. Gardner continues to be as impressive an actor as he is as a director (so I will happily watch anything he does), and he's a highlight here. Tru Collins and Rhys Wakefield are a hedonistic couple who help to start Dezzy on her main journey, Skipper is just fine as your friendly neighbourhood drug dealer, and you get some nice little supporting turns from George Wendt, Abraham Benrubi, and Jesse Merlin, as well as some other familiar faces who have become part of a loose collective of impressive artists within the horror community.

I've yet to check out some more of the offerings from Begos so far, after being one of the few people underwhelmed by Almost Human, but I'll hope to change that soon. He certainly isn't afraid to make some bold decisions, and that helps to freshen up a central concept that doesn't really shake up the subgenre it's working in as much as it could. He deserves credit for this singular vision, as does everyone, from cast to crew, who helped him get it all onscreen.

7/10

You can order the disc here.