Joe Begos had two films as a director in this year’s MonsterFest and Bliss (2019) was made before VFW on a low budget, shot on 16mm, and exorcising the director’s own creative funk through the horror genre. Focusing on a painter (Dora Madison Burge, from Friday Night Lights) in a career slump who decides to get high one night on a rare drug called ‘Diablo’. This sets off a psychadelic phantasmagoric journey that involves vampirism, sex, stoner metal, time blackouts, frenzied painting, driving in an open top convertible, and lots and lots of blood. This won’t be for everyone as it is sensory overload within its 80 minutes with strobe lights, deep throbbing bass, and kinetic editing. I thought it was a weird, wild ride, and interesting as a strange expression of the artist’s process – the shots of driving in an open top convertible around L.A. are great, Steve Moore’s score is brilliant, the ambiguity to the storyline is welcome, and Dora Madison Burge’s lead performance is engaging and game. I also appreciated that Begos sticks with non-CGI special effects, which have more impact, particularly with the body horror and hectic gore.
VHS Tracking 