Bliss (at MONSTER FEST ’19) ★★½

I WONDER what the reaction would have been if an established actress had the lead role in Bliss, rather than an unknown.

This low-budget horror is not a film many people will seek out, but features a performance that could be career-defining.

Director Joe Begos’ approach to having the film-making reflect the lead character’s mental and physical deterioration makes for a messy and uneven aural and visual experience.

In its worst moments, manic strobe lighting, spiralling camera work and heavy metal soundtrack make it almost a chore to watch.

But, it’s also constantly elevated by a brave and committed central performance from a young Texan actress named Dora Madison.

She has been around the traps for about 14 years, appearing in 10 low-budget features and several television series. I can’t recall seeing her before Bliss, but some people may from recurring support roles in Friday Night Lights, Dexter and Chicago Fire.

In Bliss she plays a semi-successful artist, Dezzy, who has hit a creative block and is in danger of being dumped from a major exhibition if she can’t finish her central piece. She’s also stressed about money and a boyfriend and isn’t averse to recreational drug use.

In a desperate effort to unblock her mind she goes on a drug, sex and alcohol fuelled bender that is made even worse with the addition of a new substance called Bliss.

Dezzy does indeed starts to finish an amazing art work, but at the cost of descending into a maelstrom of hallucinatory episodes caused by the drug.

Growing addiction aids her creative side but may also be turning her into a blood-craving killer.

Yes, the film gets progressively more ridiculous and, no doubt to some, laughable at times. But I firmly feel that Madison holds the entire proceedings together.

She is on-screen for the entire running time and is called upon to portray not just a complete mental and physical breakdown, but one with extreme horror elements.

Unfortunately the script is too uneven to provide a fully coherent theme and character arc and the gorier moments will put many off.

So, while this isn’t a film to revisit or thoroughly recommend, I would keep an eye out for this actress.