Released soon after Amelia Moses’ intriguing feature debut Bleed With Me, this is a far more camp and cliched work
Following quickly on the heels of the intriguing Bleed With Me, released in the
UK just a couple of weeks ago, this beast-within horror film is directed by Canadian Amelia Moses, collaborating again with lead
Actor Lauren Beatty. Where Bleed With Me impressed with its willingness to remain ambiguous and use the most basic of tech to create atmosphere, Bloodthirsty is much more front and centre with the gore and the prosthetics and the on-the-nose subtexts. It makes for a much less interesting work, to be honest – one that exposes the cliches embedded in the script which here is not by Moses but Wendy Hill-Tout and mono-monikered musician Lowell. (The latter also wrote the
music that plays a crucial role.)
Beatty plays Grey, an upcoming pop
Singer with a breathy, Billie Eilishian voice, whose first album has been a big success and now faces the anxiety of creating a follow-up. She often has gory dreams about eating raw flesh and turning into a carnivorous beast, which must be especially upsetting given she’s vegan. Legendary producer Vaughn Daniels (Greg Bryk), a character whose connection to the murder of a woman years back is clearly meant to evoke Phil Spector, invites Grey and her girlfriend Charlie (Katharine King So) to come to his remote mansion-studio, complete with creepy unsmiling housekeeper (Judith Buchan), to work on the new album.