BLEEDING THROUGH

Lindsay (Sandy Behre) has had a torrid couple of years. She is trapped in the rut of absolute grief since her parent’s fatal car accident. Still residing at the family home, her brother (played by director Couto) is under intense financial pressure to sell the property, split the money and move on with his life.

The abyss of despair is amplified by her dwindling college grades. Sure there is help at hand, a sleazy tutor whose advances are even more repellent than those of her pushy boyfriend. Lindsay prefers to spend time alone and doesn’t even have any friends as an outlet.

She is routinely picked on and when not crying herself to sleep fondles her folded knife with a menacing air of affection and routinely fantasises about watching her life pour out from self-inflicted slash wounds on her wrists.

But through the suffocating bleakness a ray of light appears. Seemingly tired of her immature boyfriend and even more infantile circle of friends Katie (Ruby LaRocca) befriends the depressed loner. Lindsay is shy and reluctant to even indulge in the simple things in life like watch a movie, but evidently believing she can burrow through the shell of gloom that enshrouds her new pal, Katie in her heart knows there is a true friendship to be had.

The girls start to bond. They hang out, they take walks and they even have a little solitary time in which they get to know each other a lot better by comparing tattoos and even having the odd massage. But the connection has been misinterpreted by Lindsay. Believing she is in love with Katie, she asks her out on a date. Could this blossom into a solid relationship between the girls? Has Lindsay finally found ‘the one’? Or is she going to suffer devastation and humiliation that could finally push her toward suicide and beyond…

There were so many things about this movie that I adored. Writer and director Henrique Couto has taken the well-trodden revenge story and given it a unique make over saturated in bleakness, added a twist or two and given the whole thing glaze of weirdness to boot.

This was done of a seriously low budget and indeed the project started with Couto and the captivating Sandy Behre literally filming scenes that cost no money at all. Abstract shots of her in the foetal position in the throes of tearful desperation along with some bath time sequences with a razors blade ominously indenting her forearm proved to be seeds from which the project grew from.

The atmosphere of the picture is one of lethargic depression and the deliberate pace of the movie worked superbly for me.

Behre performance as the dowdy, shy and nervous Lindsay was absorbing and at times even uncomfortable. Meanwhile Ruby LaRocca’s portrayal as the lively and seemingly well-wishing Katie was equally appealing. Together, the girls were a fascinating blend which bounced wonderfully off each other.

Without giving too much away, it’s an understatement to say that Lindsay’s character goes through somewhat of a transformation in the latter part of the film. But Behre switching from depressive introvert into a more vengeful guise cleverly stayed plausibly loyal to the original character.

You can’t have revenge without a bit of gore and Zane Crosby’s (who unsurprisingly played a peripheral character as well) work in regards to special makeup effects were way above the standard usually witness in movies with such a meagre budget. While the camera chose not to linger on slow explicit visualisations of flesh being torn and blood spurting from wounds, the stabs, slashes and gouges were brutally effective with some efficient editing helping depict the violence in a satisfying manner.

Spiking the movie was a simple yet at times jolting musical score which effortlessly added to the weird and experimental spirit of the picture.

Of course the movie wasn’t perfect. Some of the supporting characters traits were at times a little over emphasized to get the point across and move the narrative on. There were even elements I detested. Some vintage recollections of Lindsay’s parents were far too close to a venture into ‘found footage’ territory while also represented via camcorder were the so called ‘prank’ scenes involving Katie’s male associates. My heart dropped a little when it looked like the movie would flit back of forth from these but thankfully the amateur techniques was kept to a minimum and were phased out completely in the latter half.

Independent Entertainments disc is loaded with extras. First off we get a feature length commentary track with director Henrique Couto and leading lady Sandy Behre. It’s the first commentary in recent memory that was crafted via a tele-conference but it is clearly audible and for the most part makes for interesting listening. Some mandatory facts about the struggles and challenges of getting a movie project off the ground when there are no funds in the pot along with the hazards of filming without a permit are disclosed. Some attention was paid to the onset atmosphere whereby a whoopee cushion proved a great means of offsetting the depressing subject matter while keeping the crew enthused apparently!

The track also revealed that Ms Behre has an alternative career as a burlesque dancer under the stage name Lily Stitches. (My request to follow her on Twitter is currently ‘pending’!). The pair appear to have a blast recalling various facets of the movie and the director even throws a few questions at the actress about how she felt during the more intensely emotional scenes. It all adds up to a very listenable commentary. Next we have a 23 minute BEHIND THE SCENES chapter. It’s rudimentary footage of the film crew filming. I enjoyed this as it was just a snapshot of what it was like to be onset with the cast and crew ‘playing up’ to the camera thankfully kept to a minimum. Some cemetery scenes, setting up the bedroom sequence and an ode to ‘Faces of Death 5’ featuring Behre’s pet cat and an unfortunate bunny rabbit make for enthralling viewing!

The WORLD PREMIER FEATURETTE may have only been around 6 minutes but again it was a novel ‘extra’. Filmed at the independent Inglewood Cinema, Inglewood Ohio on July 13th 2012, a relatively healthy turn out are in attendance as a very proud Mr Couto fends off tears before presenting the inaugural showing of his movie. A bit of post screening audience feedback rounds the segment off agreeably.

16 minutes worth of EXTENDED SCENES and 10 minutes of ALTERNATE TAKES did little for me as they focused on my least favourable aspects of the main feature: the Parents scenes and the camcorder Prank sequences featuring Katie’s male friends.

Apart from some trailers, we finally have a chapter simply called Ruby LaRocca. A very welcome addition to the disc, Ruby shows why as along as being a luscious specimen of lushness she is also multitalented as the 4 minute skit shows her changing the brake light on her very grateful directors VW Beetle!

So, a cracking low budget independent movie whose drama reeled me in before unleashing some dreamlike horror whose disc is topped off some with some great extras.

I will end by saying I even loved the minimalistic but striking artwork which adorns the packaging. (I’ve always been a sucker for angel wings splattered with blood and as for the black a red striped Goth socks… mmmmm) Highly recommended!

Review by Marc Lissenburg