Edgar Allan Poe’s The House of Usher gets a modern reworking in atmospheric chiller, The Bloodhound. Francis (Liam Aiken) receives an invitation to visit former college friend Jean Paul (Joe Adler) at his isolated country estate. Jean Paul has recently fallen ill and is in need of someone to care for him, and as Francis is in some dire straits, he happily volunteers. The pair have not seen each other in a number of years and the stay offers them a perfect chance to reconnect. Upon arrival however, Francis quickly realises that Jean Paul is behaving in a rather peculiar manner; he also discovers that his friend Vivian (Annalise Basso), who is also Jean Paul’s sister, is staying at the property, but he is forbidden to see her. As the estrangement between the old friends widens, Francis struggles to cling onto his own sanity.
Although short, at just eighty-five minutes, The Bloodhound is overflowing with atmosphere and tension. From the first moment we enter the house, the air is heavy with dread and despair. The isolated setting serves to further these feelings and all the elements combine to create an uncomfortable and unsettling watch. The sense of gloom is perpetuated by Patrick Picard’s choice of colour palette, the visuals consisting of muted greys, greens, and browns. These tones are reflected within the costumes, creating an echo chamber that amplifies the creepy ambience.
With such an intricate plot and a limited set of characters, the success of The Bloodhound rests squarely on the cast’s ability to convey the complexities of the script. The story is an interwoven and tangled web of lies, half-truths, and intrigue that offers the young cast a great amount of material to sink their teeth into. Both Liam Aiken and Joe Adler work wonderfully together, with Joe Adler giving a great performance that has eerie echoes of a young Michael Pitt. He wonderfully portrays the eccentricities and manic episodes of the Howard Hughes wannabe, which gives Aiken plenty to act against. As Francis, Aiken delivers a compelling lead performance, and makes for the perfect companion for the viewer to discover the weird world.
For a first-time feature filmmaker, Patrick Picard demonstrates an abundance of skill, as well as an astute and intellectual viewpoint. The Bloodhound offers so much for audiences to explore and digest; it’s a welcome change of pace to some of the more basic genre pieces on the market.
The Bloodhound debuts on the Arrow Video Channel on 1st December 2020.
The Bloodhound
Summary
An atmospheric and unsettling modern re-imagining of one of Edgar Allan Poe’s finest works. The Bloodhound is an impressively stylish and intellectual debut that weaves a tangled web of lies, half-truths, and intrigue.
