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The Bloodhound

A review by Brooks Rich


A young man named Francis is summoned to the house of an old friend, the mysterious JP. The two haven't seen each other in ten years and it's clear there's something from their past haunting them. Something is wrong and Francis' request to see JP's sister Vivian is rebuked. 


I don't know where to start. I am going back and forth with this one. There's a lot I like. Indie films like this need to be celebrated and not picked apart. If this was a big budget Hollywood film I would probably be a little harsher. But I don't want to be. I really admire what works here. The strength is the acting from actors Liam Aiken and Joe Adler, playing Francis and JP respectively. The film lives or dies with their performances and, for the most part, I think they deliver. They've got an awkward chemistry with each other that fits the story. 


The script is very interesting. It's an adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. The dialogue is ambiguous...... but in a way where we get enough. All the details aren't there but we understand.... sort of. The two had drifted apart after JP's father died. Now there's this weird unspoken tension between them. I particularly like the use of alternate curse words, like gosh and geez, at the start of the film. After like the third time someone used them I thought it was weird. Like someone trying to censor themselves as to not offend. When JP finally drops an f- bomb, it hits that much harder. Really creative use of language. 


I think ultimately this film doesn't completely come together. It got a little weird for me in the final reel, but I still really liked it. I like it because I know the actor and writer director Patrick Picard worked hard. Picard had a vision and whether or not he ultimately expressed that vision, I admire what he put on screen. If a few things had fallen into place and a couple of odd takes had been left out, I would probably say this was my favorite film of the year. But it's still probably going to be on my top ten list. I don't know if I recommend this to everyone. It's really weird. Not standard Hollywood at all. If you like films like The Witch, Hereditary, or the works of Yorgos Lathimos, films like The Lobster and The Favourite, then yes, check this out. 


Rating: 4/5




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