Taking place in Brisbane in 1997, Isla (Sharnee Tones), a sound engineer has gone to her family owned recording studio to help her girlfriend Nic's (Shanay De Marco - Dead Reflection) grunge band record some songs late one night. As well as the band, also consisting of Roy (Brendan R Burman-Bellenger), Rhea (Emily Rowbottom), and new member, Lee (Jordan Schulte), Isla's best friend Jamie (Michaela Da Costa) and a new groupie have came along. It isn't too long until one of them is found dead, with Lee found standing over the body. It is assumed he was the one responsible, but with the phone line cut, and the exits to the studio chained shut, it becomes clear that there may be someone else hiding in the building, someone with a connection to the band's past...
Intro text at the start of the movie reveals that it is apparently a recreation of a real event that occured back in 1997 in Brisbane, and to be honest that element felt pointless, as did that specific time period. It didn't add anything to the movie, other than to stick in the back of the mind that was is happening is just a film (obviously it is, but felt even more of a film with that text declaring it to be so). Still, that is one of the few missteps that occurs here, but all in all this was a great slasher film with some moments I felt to feel fresh. I might as well get through some of my other issues before getting onto the good stuff. The title of the movie refers to a song that the band used to play, but due to some unspoken incident has been blacklisted. It gives bad enough memories that merely the question of whether it should be played (new band member Lee not knowing its dark history, having seen it on an old set list he had been given), causes Isla to have a panic attack. The film ended with me not really understanding the significance of the track completely. Much of this part is explained to the viewer, but I wasn't sure why Isla in particular was so affected by the thought of it, when other characters have just as much history with it but aren't so bothered.
Putting those issues aside, as well as a flashback sequence that killed the flow of the present day section (though was much needed to give some context), Bliss of Evil was a very good slasher. I really benefited by not having read the synopsis as I thought this was going to be another supernatural based music horror. The early kill of one of the cast took me by surprise. This first act is somewhat of a red herring, though the poster for the movie straight up spoils the fact that things aren't what they appeared to be as it shows the killer front and centre. I thought the design of the mostly silent slasher was great, rather than wear a disguise (as is tradition), the hooded psycho (Corrie Hinschen) has instead opted to cover his face in the blood of his victims, giving him the cool credited name of 'Bloodface'. It was also neat that despite being nearly mute, the first words you hear from him are a whole acoustic song he plays and sings over the intercom system, of course the song being the titular 'Bliss of Evil'. He does say a few words over the rest of the film, but as an introduction to the messed up maniac, this really stood in the mind.
He uses a variety of different weapons and tools with which to kill his victims, I don't think a single murder method is used more than once which is good. The effects are decent, nothing spectacular but they certainly did the job.
I really enjoyed my time with Bliss of Evil. I loved the second act that moved events back a few hours to show what was happening elsewhere during the first act, I thought the killer had an iconic look to it, and as under explained as the backstory was (bad enough that at one point I paused the movie to check it wasn't actually a sequel to an earlier one) I did like the killer's connection to the protagonists, but the reasonings for why they were like what they were, were a bit cliché. I do wish that flashback to a year or so previous had been more in depth as it zoomed through its story, though also had the effect of stopping the momentum of the present day moment. Overall though I loved this, it had a great setting and left me guessing how the survivors were going to be able to defeat their aggressor. Bliss of Evil has been released on VOD, including Amazon Prime Video.
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