The Bleeding House - DVD

Content: The past won't let go of the Smith family. While son Quentin (Charlie Hewson) is trying to build a new life with his girlfriend and daughter Gloria (Alexandra Chando) has escaped into her very own world, the parents are finding it much harder to break free of the outsider existence they were driven into by mother Marilyn (Betsy Aiden). When a stranger shows up at their house and asks if he can spend the night because his car broke down, they grant the charming Nick (Patrick Breen) entry after some initial hesitation. It's too pleasant to talk to someone who doesn't know their backstory for once. But the friendly stranger is actually a fugitive criminal who soon shows his true colors and causes all kinds of bloodshed in the Smith house...

The Bleeding House is an atmospheric home invasion thriller, but it takes a little time to really get going. The beginning is a bit tough, which is also due to the fact that not all actors are really convincing and that the dramaturgy doesn't seem very original at first sight. When Nick, who seems so friendly, knocks on the Smiths' door, it should be clear to any genre connoisseur that the family is inviting horror into the house with him. But even if the real surprises are missing, the film takes a very positive turn here. For not only does Patrick Breen (Galaxy Quest) make for a truly nasty villain whose ice-cold stare is enough to give you decent goosebumps. Also, more and more details about the family's past are revealed here, making the proceedings much more suspenseful.

What makes this thriller very interesting is that there is no clear hero figure, and that director Philip Gelatt isn't afraid to get rid of those who might be mistaken for them relatively quickly. True, there are some logic holes and overused clichés. But for a directorial debut, this low budget production turned out to be a really well done and quite cleverly constructed genre piece. After initial lengths Gelatt manages very well to establish a dark and threatening atmosphere, through which the tension level is kept high until the end.

The Bleeding House may not be perfect. But the successful aspects are clearly outnumbered, especially in the second half of the film, turning an initially rather plodding drama into a tense home invasion thriller that offers very entertaining and successful genre entertainment with some intense scenes and a good performance by Patrick Breen. And for that, the bottom line is an absolutely deserved: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The image has occasionally slightly excessive contrast to show, through which it comes in the darker scenes repeatedly to minor blurring and slight image noise. In the brighter moments, the overall very clean image convinces with decent overall sharpness and an atmospheric color mix. The German audio is available in both a DTS mix and a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Both audio tracks present the dialogue in a well intelligible manner, though the surround speakers are only used to a very limited extent. In the second half of the film, however, at least some smaller effects provide a little more life to the multi-channel area. Not spectacular, but perfectly adequate for a low budget production like this. Good!

Extras: As bonus material, there is unfortunately only the trailer and other program tips from the provider.

Conclusion:The Bleeding House is a decent thriller that does take some time to get going and even then suffers from acting performances that are not of the highest quality. But the good performance of Patrick Breen, some well done suspense moments and decent shock effects make sure that genre fans will be thoroughly entertained. If you appreciate atmospheric low budget horror, this DVD is definitely worth a look. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp