Bleed with Me Review (Film, 2021)
content warning: blood, flashing lights, self-harm, violence against women, dead animals, violence against animals, alcohol and drug use, nudity, sexual content, foul language
Rowan is invited to her work friend Emily’s cabin for a vacation. Emily and her boyfriend Brendan are excellent hosts, catering to Rowan’s every need. Her glass is never empty and she’s never far away from any help or advice. Rowan becomes convinced that Emily is only nice to get what she really wants out of her new friend.
Writer/director Amelia Moses’ Bleed with Me is a claustrophobic psychological horror film. She throws us right into the middle of action, with Emily driving Rowan to the cabin, and slowly reveals backstory as the snow piles up.
Our understanding of this world comes from Rowan’s perspective. If she’s in a good mood, the world feels bright and alive. If she’s anxious, the shadows start to take over and the world seems to shrink. She is a woman afraid to take up space in her own story and can’t believe that anyone as happy as Emily could ever really like her.
Everything we need to know is established in the opening stretch of the film. Rowan helps Emily get to the cabin, even though Brendan promised he would do it himself. When Rowan gets distracted, she snaps back to attention at the sight of blood. Emily is not distracted and seems to know exactly what to do to take care of anything. Brendan voices his frustration with Rowan joining their vacation, but Emily does everything she can to make Rowan feel welcome. Close quarters can test even the strongest friendships, and Rowan only knows Emily from work.
There’s a cycle to the storytelling that lines up with the days. We’re thrown into the action as Rowan starts to engage with Emily and Brendan at the start of the day. At some point, Rowan will become focused on blood. She starts to find out more information about her new friends, then begins to reveal some of her own dark secrets as the sun sets and the need for warmth gathers them all around the crackling fireplace. Emily and Brendan help her get to bed, but she doesn’t sleep well as she becomes convinced that Emily is watching her.
The circumstances grow more tense as the story goes on. Rowan’s perspective doesn’t seem to be the most reliable. She’s trying her best to trust her new friends, but they keep trying to find out more and more about her. Rowan starts to hyperfixate on details that have always been there: the scars on her own arms, cracks in the windows, seams in the wallpaper, and Emily’s limp. No matter how hard she tries, she never quite fits into the rhythm of Emily and Brendan’s lives and it’s stressing everyone out.
I have a very specific criticism about the lighting in Bleed with Me. Moses uses natural lighting in the cabin as much as possible. It’s a great choice for the story she wants to tell. This includes the large fireplace that grounds the late night conversations. Unfortunately, this creates a flashing light effect almost as powerful as a commercial strobe light. I did have to pause occasionally to reorient myself so I didn’t get a migraine in those scenes. It’s just something to be careful of when watching if you’re sensitive to flashing lights.
Bleed with Me is a quiet and challenging horror film for fans who like to dig a little harder for their scares. The scenes are scary on their own, but the true terror comes from grappling with perspective and patterns in the storytelling. There are no easy answers here and what you believe is true can change from moment to moment.
Bleed with Me is streaming on Shudder.
