Blood Shine review

By David Dent

Joint directors/writers Emily Bennett and Justin Brooks are no strangers to digging deep for material; their 2021 psychological horror feature Alone With You saw a woman (Bennett) isolated in her apartment, reflecting the at the time concerns of COVID.

Isolation – or at least claustrophobia – looms large in Blood Shine. Sleazy filmmaker Brighton West (David Call), the kind of guy who thinks #metoo is for losers and ends his phone calls by saying “peace out”, is being pressurised to finish the script of the latest installment of his successful ‘Craven’ franchise. Claiming to his producer that he’s substance free – he isn’t – and able to focus on the task at hand, he rents a remote house in the woods for inspiration. West’s real passion is ‘Blood Shine’, a folk horror movie he’s been working up from a short – it forms this movie’s faux opener – featuring a strange girl called Clara (Bennett) who receives commands from a Leader figure (Larry Fessenden, always a sign that we’re about to see something interesting).

Once arrived at the house, drinking and smoking take priority over writing; wandering around in the woods he spies a woman bathing in a stream and is clonked on the head for his nosiness. He wakes up in a strange house with the woman, now clothed, tending to him. It’s Clara, the woman from his short film; and she has plans for Brighton.

Life imitating art, done smartly, is always intriguing in a film, and Bennett and Brooks’ movie has intrigue by the bucketload. It also has gore by the bucketload, but it’s integral to the movie’s admittedly scanty plot. Blood Shine develops into a bit of a gender reversal version of Liam Gavin’s excellent two hander A Dark Song, but there’s also a trace of Misery in the setup too. Watching West realise that he’s involved in something bigger than he ever thought possible is perhaps suitable punishment for the filmmaker’s awfulness, but little sympathy is expended on anyone here. 

I really liked this one; it’s murky, look-away-nasty and authentically atmospheric.

Blood Shine screened as part of Frightfest 2025.