Bluetooth Speaker is an indie experimental horror with elements of comedy to it. It was co-directed by Dallas Ryan (Live One, The Last Request) and Ryan Vania, with the two also co-starring, while Ryan also wrote this. Much like the previous two films I have seen from this director, this one flows in a familiar format, which has both pros and cons to the way it is set out.
After their beloved grandpa dies; Brim (Ryan) and younger brother Sean (Vania) head over to his former home on the instructions of their sister, Brenda (Chloe Gay Brewer - Live One). Brenda was left the remote property in their grandpa's will, and intends to sell it, so has asked her brothers to give the messy house a deep clean. They plan to stay at the place for five days, thinking that will be more than enough time to get the job done. With Brim having brought seemingly an endless supply of cheap beer, and the house bringing back many fond memories of their grandpa, the two brothers decide that they are going to leave the cleaning for the final day, and just hang-out together in the meantime. At some point, a small Bluetooth speaker is found outside the house, and with eccentric neighbour - Old Man Morris (Steve Bilecz - Live One) being the only one they had seen in the area, they assume it is his, and bring it inside the house, to give back to him next time they see the man. The speaker has some sort of ominous power to it however, and slowly but surely, Brim begins to fall under its nefarious effects.
Much like previous films I have seen from the director, Bluetooth Speaker is experimental, weird, and arthouse in style on occasions. It is also a film that feels very long, with a 2 hours, 10 minute runtime, the story doesn't really get moving until the second hour, and it is noticeable with a first hour where not much happens at all. It is inferred the speaker is evil via close-up shots of it with sinister sound effects playing. To be fair, I thought this was neat, it would have been funny if it had all been misdirection and the whole thing was a massive red herring. After the halfway point, things do eventually get moving, and take an unexpectedly dark turn considering the more light hearted and often comedic feel of the first half of the film. While there was some tonal dissonance with the shift in vibe, I thought the second part was much more engaging, rather than characters sat around endlessly talking, there was an increasing feel of something really not being right. It leads to some decent moments of horror, and some effective scenes of madness, helped along by some make-up effects that sold their intention well. Some other effects didn't work quite so well, such as a woman superimposed on a desert landscape, and a dream sequence where Brim floats off the ground. This likely goes in with the experimental style, which also stretches to the lighting decisions. Often when characters are speaking to each other, one will be bathed in warm light, while the other will be in cold lighting, making it seem like the shots were filmed at different times from each other. There are also plenty of hallucinatory and dream sequences, adding to the surreal vibe.
The acting, like previous films is very weird, but also felt like a signature style, and one that is obviously very purposeful. Characters often speak in a roundabout way, saying the same thing over and over in a slightly different way each time, rambling with intent. I liked the flow of these scenes, the characters of Brim, Sean, and Brenda felt authentically like close siblings, their rapport worked well, even if they had some odd qualities to them, such as Brenda's no-filter way of speaking, and Brim's obsession with sleeping with women. There is the occasional montage sequence, something that Bluetooth Speaker always does excellently, my favourite being a montage of Brim and Sean play fighting with machetes they found. Another funny one was a montage of Brim sleeping with people, the camera always close up on his grunting 'sex face'. All the characters have very expressive looks to them, with Ryan being the best of these. From his wild over the top expressions, I sometimes got the feel of a living cartoon watching this, was always fun to see. No one acts in a realistic way, adding to the charm of the film world, the editing done in such a way that scenes linger longer than they should, with characters silent staring at the camera as if the camera had forgot to cut, but again, playfully done rather than due to filmmaking mistakes. There were quite a few side characters who only appeared for a few lines or so, Old Man Morris stood out the most, I loved how his character just suddenly appears in the home each time, with the protagonists always being surprised by this.
I couldn't help but feel that Bluetooth Speaker would have really benefitted by being cut down to a more lean runtime, the first half especially has so little happening that my attention really did begin to wander. There were vast chunks of the movie that while entertaining enough on their own, didn't seem to add anything and just got in the way of the flow for me. As much as I enjoyed the characters and the bizarre way their lines are said during the meandering conversations they have, I did think the much more tightly paced and horror infused second half was when it really started to come together. Despite my criticisms, there is a really unique feel with Bluetooth Speaker, something that can be admired even if some elements didn't resonate for me.
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