Horror Movie Review: The Bleed (2023)

Some of the most impressive horror films made are the ones that keep it simple, even if that comes from a lack of choice because of budget. The Bleed is one of those films that starts off slow, features unlikable characters, has some rough acting, but pulls the rug out from under you in such a way, you can’t help but be impressed.

Written by Grant Foxon, directed by Jason Impey, and starring Joanna Rose Barton, Victoria Dutton-Hughes, and Laura Marklew.

The story is really simple. Three women; Michelle, Autumn, and Katie stop at a public bathroom on their night out, and get locked in. It’s a dirty and miserable place, and it doesn’t take long for tensions to rise. There are some deep-seeded issues between these three women, and it’s in this grotty bathroom, they will come out.

Is this just tensions finally boiling over though? Or is something more sinister going on?

The Bleed isn’t an easy watch at first as the grim location and inane chatter of the characters is quite off-putting. However, being only around 44-minutes in length, it doesn’t take long for the superficial conversations of the women to turn into sniping at each other. It’s here we really start to learn more about them, well, one in particular, but that will make a lot more sense come the end.

Which is something you don’t want spoiled for you because it transforms a fairly mundane experience into something more remarkable. That being said, the journey to this point is a problem and it’s fair to say that many will switch off long before, especially when trippy elements are introduced.

It’s here the film gets really weird, and for some, too much. However, others may be grateful to move on from the repetitiveness of the characters sniping at each other in the dirty bathroom. It is imaginative, and what seems quite incoherent a lot of the times, pays off in style. It’s worth a watch, just to see how a story about three woman arguing while trapped in a public bathroom turns into something so thought-provoking.