Bliss is a horror mystery film directed by Joe Begos. The plot follows struggling artist Dezzy (Dora Madison), who begins to slip into a world of horrors after sampling the drug Bliss. Dezzy has days of blackouts only awaking to find herself covered in blood, with more and more of her friends going missing, and her painting becoming more and more complete.
This is a hell of a film. It is one of the trippiest films I have ever seen, and I works so well because you’re never quite aware of what is going on, nothing is spelt out to you here, there are so many levels to this film and things to be considered. Even long after watching it and sitting down to write out my thoughts, I find new thoughts coming into my head, being like oh I wonder if this was this, or that meant that. The ambiguous ending of the film only adds to it.
I also love the slow burning intensity this film has, things don’t just go from 0 to 100 as they do in some other horror films, even the good ones, but rather the descent begins softly and then becomes more and more of a freefall as the film progresses. You feel the sense of confusion and peril Dezzy is in, as she doesn’t realise what is happening to her, it is palpable.
My one complaint would be with the amount of nudity in the film, I understand that the director was clearly going for a very primal feel, but Dezzy spends more of the film nude than dressed and it reaches a point where it feels gratuitous. A lot of the time I don’t understand the reason for it either, the same scene could be staged without her being in the shower, maybe it was done push boundaries, maybe to be pervy; we can only speculate.
Overall, this is a great film, truly unique and beautifully designed. A good watch, however there is too much nudity which can be a bit uncomfortable.
Pros.
Stunning visuals.
Ambiguous story telling.
Great building sense of tension.
Good performances.
Cons.
Gratuitous nudity.
4.5/5
Another Millennial Reviewer 