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BLISS looks insanely good. The newest film from director Joe Begos is ready to premiere next week and we couldn’t be more excited. This movie is already looking to be one of the best horror films of the year, and from that trailer we should be ready for one hell of a wild ride.
Joe Begos has a lot of great work coming up right now, and BLISS is his most highly anticipated film on the way before his next big V.F.W. comes out. This movie looks like a high energy and kinetic mix of Neon Demon, Liquid Sky, Black Swan and Dead Alive all thrown into a horrifying arthouse blender. I love that this is part of the current wave of “Dark Art Horror” movies that are coming out and I can’t wait to hear everyone’s reactions to next weekend’s premiere.
The first thing that stands out about this trailer is how good the soundtrack is. This blend of bold and rhythmic music with the high contrast visuals is instantly appealing to fans of this style. We get to see the main character Dezzy go through what appears to be an almost Trainspotting meets Enter the Void-like downward spiral of drugs and partying, and then everything shifts.
What I’m most excited for is the horror. I’m looking forward to seeing how her rejuvenated interest in painting plays into the bloody and violent climax the trailer quickly shows us. Is she possessed? Does the artwork have something to do with the carnage that occurs? Whatever Begos has in store for us looks great and I’m ready for it.
BLISS will be making its worldwide debut at the Tribeca Film Festival on 27 April and will be playing an additional two more times over the weekend. The premiere screening is sold out but tickets for the following shows are still available. We’ll be keeping an eye out for when the film gets a full release, but until then here is the official synopsis for what we’re expecting to be one of 2019’s best:
Known for her dark and macabre artwork, painter Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by letting loose—as in, taking every drug in sight and tearing through raucous house parties and heavy metal bars. After a few nights spent with her debauchery-loving friends Courtney (Tru Collins) and Ronnie (Rhys Wakefield), though, Dezzy notices changes within herself. On the positive side, she’s finally painting again, but she’s also developing a strange desire for blood. As someone who has never been able to control her vices in the first place, Dezzy is quickly and violently consumed by this bloodlust.
With his previous films, Almost Human (2013) and The Mind’s Eye (2015), filmmaker Joe Begos won the hearts of horror lovers through his stylistic nostalgia and inhibition-free penchant for brutality. Upping the ante, Bliss roars with searing visuals, kinetic energy, an endearing nastiness, and a ferociously all-in lead performance from Madison. Although it’s set in modern-day Los Angeles, Bliss harkens back to the grimy days of New York City grindhouse cinema, when films like Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer and Bill Lustig’s Maniac were the norm.
—Matt Barone, Tribeca