Search - Bled on DVD

Artistic, Dark, Slow

Dawn Marakby | Doha, Qatar | 04/07/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"An artist is approached by rich benefactor who seems to understand her artwork like noone else ever has before. He gives her an exotic drug, a resin from some dark ancient tree. Trying the drug opens up a dark, beautiful, sensual world and her paintings improve, but her soul grows darker as her blood lusts during these "dreams" begin to take over her real life. If you're a fan of moody, artsy, vampire films, I'm SURE you will like this. It's a bit slow in the beginning with lots of dialogue and images to set the mood, but really quite beautiful in a way."

Don't waste your time.

Nightingale | NJ | 04/18/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Don't be lured in by the premise of this film or it's pretty dvd cover.

There is nothing artistic about this movie. It is cliche, silly, and not at all frightening. Everything about it screams awful, low budget, softcore adult film: the acting, wardrobe, cinematography, effects, lackluster romance, and most of all--forced plot.

Normally, I can sit through a B or C grade horror flick for solely the entertainment aspect, but this movie was just unbearable. It seems to sacrifice the entertainment aspect in an attempt to be "artsy," yet it comes off as mediocre as the main character's paintings.

If you are interested in a thought-provoking and beautifully rendered vampire film, invest your time in something else, particularily "Let the Right One In.""

Horrible.

Robert P. Beveridge | Cleveland, OH | 12/01/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Bled (Christopher Hutson, 2009)

Somewhere inside Bled, the new movie from Charlie Hutson (Dark Reality), is a really interesting movie straining to get out. The linked subjects of vampires and addiction are inherently interesting, especially in our current addiction-obsessed climate; I've seen the parallel touched on in a few movies, but I've never seen a full-length treatment of it. While there's no denying this is one, it is anything but interesting.

Sai (The Mirror's Sarah Farooqui) is an artists who's on her way up. She meets the mysterious Renfield (Ghost Rider's Jonathan Oldham) at a gallery opening, and he turns her onto a mysterious new drug that (he claims) is harvested from the bark of a tree in Eastern Europe. Okay, except that it looks a whole heck of a lot like blood. When Sai inhales the smoke that rises when you cook the stuff up in a spoon (can you see the incredible subtlety here?), she finds herself transported into a dream-world which gives her all sorts of artistic inspiration, not to mention erotic fantasies about her friend Royce (Sunday Evening's Chris Ivan Cevic). As time goes on, naturally, she needs more and more of the drug to be transported, and things get worse when her pal Eric (Shadows' Alex Petrovich) swipes her stash after his first taste of the stuff.

I don't think mentioning vampires in any film where one of the characters is named Renfield is all that much of a spoiler, even when the word "vampire" never actually pops up in the movie. But the whole vampire thing is a subplot here, actually (another take on the subject matter that could have made this a far more interesting movie than it actually is); instead, the main focus of the movie is on addiction. Where that, too, could have been done very well, the film is instead satisfied to stop off at all the usual clichés rather than trying to do anything interesting, original, or nuanced with the subject matter. The acting is in general substandard, though Cevic seems an especially likable chap, and may have himself a future in the acting world. Unfortunately, his relatively good performance is stuck inside a script that seems as if it's actively fighting against going anywhere. You're probably better off forgetting this thing even exists. *
"

Wasn't that bad...

Shera R. Robison | Under Earth, USA | 04/25/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"... it wasn't gory, wasn't high special effect or even dramatic. However, it wasn't as bad as I had heard. It was pretty unique and that's about all I can say without giving it away. Once you put aside your hardcore Hollywood expectations you will actually see the movie for what it is worth."