Amelia Moses

(On Cable TV, June 2021) Canadian werewolf drama Bloodthirsty is perhaps most noteworthy for what it doesn’t do rather than what it does — updating the mythos to new uses and metaphors rather than reheating the same tropes. Our heroine is a pop signer in the doldrums of coming up with a follow-up to her smash first album, and heading to a remote recording studio to work with a reclusive producer with a dark past. But she’s got problems going beyond the sophomore slump: strange dreams plague her, her parentage is unclear, her girlfriend is worried and her producer may have killed a woman a few years before. It’s a good thing she doesn’t know about all of those missing hitchhikers! Werewolf transformation is here presented as a feminist tale of self-empowerment, artistic expression and achieving one’s true freedom (in-line with a recent trend of excusing violence as long as it’s from the right underdogs). Rather stylishly directed by Amelia Moses, Bloodthirsty is an intimate but decently intriguing tale, perhaps a bit slow-paced, especially knowing what’s sure to come. There aren’t that many surprises here, so this is largely for the pleasure of execution than for the plot itself. As a slightly different take, it’s not bad — but it’s hard to avoid thinking that the film holds back on achieving its premise, that it keeps its lead characters too far away (especially for an intimate piece) and that it wastes its supporting characters as well. Bloodthirsty is also glum to a fault and surprisingly on-the-nose when the characters talk to each other. But then again — would it be a real Canadian genre film if it achieved its objectives?

(On Cable TV, April 2021) The same elements of a film can be interpreted very differently by various people. What’s meant as a slow-burn psychological horror with an ambiguous conclusion to some can be perceived by others as meandering pile in indecisive mumbling with no clear point. Bleed with Me certain courts that ambiguity — a low-budget horror film with three characters isolated in a cabin, it deliberately multiplies hints and suggestions that either the unreliable narrator is going crazy, or her friend is a blood-sucking vampire. Riding the Todorovian Express until the end, Bleed with Me isn’t doing itself any favours with low-end production values and a hazy directorial vision. The film’s elements are incredibly familiar, and the grimy execution adds very little interest to the proceedings. Some will probably like it a lot more than I did, but to me it exemplifies a kind of hellish indie-horror experience where nothing much happens even as writer/director Amelia Moses keeps trying to nudge us with “see? See? Aren’t you supposed to be spooked right now?” Alas, this is painfully trite stuff, and the film never has the guts to deliver a real finale. When an entire film takes place in unfocused dream logic, it can’t even go for a strong conclusion, because it just trained us to doubt anything it has to show us. Bleed with Me probably has a receptive public somewhere — but it’s not me.