Director: Joe Begos
Notable Cast: Dora Madison, Tru Collins, Rhys Wakefield,
Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper, Chris McKenna, Rachel Avery, Mark Beltzman,
George Wendt, Abraham Benrubi, Jesse Merlin
As a horror film fan, I’ve always had a soft spot for
director Joe Begos. He has a phenomenal knack for creating throwback horror
cinema in a way that is not playing its style as a gimmick as much as a
love letter to the bygone eras of classic horror. When a debut is pure John
Carpenter meets early David Cronenberg, as is the case with his film Almost
Human, the filmmaker will end up on our list of people to watch. Although it
seemed like his career had stalled out for a hot minute after his sophomore
effort, Begos is back with TWO films this year. Both films immediately made my
list as ‘must-see’ for the year and the first of the two, Bliss, finally
dropped on VOD for consumption. Bliss is an intriguing film. It’s
incredibly low budget, but it’s obvious how much Begos has grown as a
filmmaker. The film certainly pulls from the past, once again as a stylistic
choice, but Bliss is exactly the horror experience that its title would
indicate - it’s fuckin’ Blissful in its drug-fueled, fever dream
analysis of the grimy subsect of Los Angeles. It delivers on that experience
with the gusto of an artist looking to capture the angst and intimacy of creating
art and, while the film goes to some wild places, features a rather personal
tone to it that uplifts the entire event.