You ready for some cheap to almost zero-budget slashing? Bloodletting ponders the tale of two deranged murder-obsessed maniacs, one a committed serial killer, another an aspiring young fan who team up and scheme together to unleash aimless mayhem. Well, even more aimless mayhem.
This isn’t a serious flick nor does it pretend to be. Featuring scene after scene of silly antics, adolescent innuendo and improbable dismembering, its makeshift acting, crude dialogue and foulmouthed script is best for trash lovers and unambitious viewers whose expectations are met with lines filled with the word “fuck”, and curious directive choices such as the blasting of a baby with a shotgun.
The digital filming is not so easy on the eyes. To be straight up, it’s an ugly son of a bitch, and the decently coordinated camera work and handling can’t seem to make up for it or convincingly compensate. The makeup is rudimentary, if we’re being polite, and the sets are very low quality too, consisting of what mostly seems to probably be the same house with differently arranged furniture, or ad hoc basements and garages.
There’s something half decent of a story too as the criminals explore their unnatural relationship. Butch begins to hesitate at the ramifications of all their grisly career while his butcher-in-arms only wants to turn the volume up. Highs and lows encounter the pair, emotions erupt and eventually it gets completely out of hand, with consequences that shouldn’t really surprise anyone.
Well this isn’t great and way too absurd for any serious interest to be captured, but it’s a hell of a lot better than similar indie flicks relative in terms of production, simply due to its ability to hold a story down with a pace that doesn’t leave the audience stranded or confused – which is an admirable achievement considering so many contenders do exactly that. Not a classic, neither a disaster either.
4/10
Possession Media 