31 Days of Hallowe’en 2022, Day 20: The Bloodhound [2020]

Chamber pieces as horror are a match usually made in heaven and, while I did enjoy this on balance, it left me wanting a bit more substance. But perhaps those are the trappings of a mood piece.

The Bloodhound, directed by Patrick Picard, follows Francis (Liam Aiken), who pays a visit to his friend JP (Joe Adler) who’s become a bit of a recluse in his wealthy family’s home. On the premises is his sister Vivian (Annalise Basso) who only rarely makes an appearance other than in apparent dreams to tell Francis that, if he stays, he’s going to die ‘with the rest of us’….

With its build-up of retro fade scene transitions and music, and the story itself (milquetoast young man visits a wealthy eccentric), constantly drawn ceiling-high curtains and, heck, even JP’s peaked hair, I had been expecting something in the way of Dracula. I genuinely thought it had been signposting a classic vampire story. But it turns out that this is an interpretation (though not credited) of Edgar Allan Poe‘s The Fall of the House of Usher; I’ve not read this, so I’m afraid it was lost on me, but that’s entirely my fault.

What we do get, from an uninformed point of view, is a socially tense mood piece about two old friends connecting and, for the most part, it does work. My only two concerns were the editing: Even under a brisk 80 minutes, the pace dragged in parts; and the casting/writing: While both leads did a fine job, the characters seemed to be people who should be at least ten years older than they are, and it felt like the actors were trying to read their lines as such and delivery felt stilted, stalling the pace even more. Despite its limitations, the film does have its own distinct style, and I’d be interested to see what this director does next.

Score: 🎃🎃🎃

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