The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A stranger with mysterious intentions (Patrick Breen) comes to stay the night at a secluded country home, but what he finds inside is a family torn apart by a violent past and a secret more deadly than he expected.For whatever reason, Netflix recommended this one to me as something I would enjoy. And while I must admit I did enjoy it, I think they could have recommended 100 other titles just as easily. The concept here is good, but not really all that different from a number of other films... a stranger who wants to stay overnight, and can we trust him? That is old hat.Although I thought Patrick Breen was excellent in this, his accent seemed a bit forced. I kept thinking at any moment he would stop and say "just kidding" about his Southern roots. But alas, no, it was not to be.

Apparently a lot of people missed the point on this one. If you need a movie to lead you by the nose and explain every little thing, then don't watch this movie. The premise is really simple - a family, living on a farm on the outskirts of town is trying to find normality in their lives again after a tragedy. When they're visited by a man in a seersucker suit who claims his car broke down, they react predictably - the mother fears the unknown while the father wants to extend hospitality. Initially, the mother doesn't want to take a chance that her desperately normal life would be impacted by the stranger, but, after hearing his eloquent rant about Christian neighborliness in these dark times of trusting no one, she relents and allows him to spend the night. Her motives are clear - she wants to see her family through the eyes of a third party who hasn't prejudged them from their earlier bad acts. Maybe if he sees how good they are, he will spread the word in the community that has ostracized them and they will be accepted back like lost lambs from the wilderness. In order to portray this family goodness, the mother constantly harries the daughter who immediately interests the stranger. As the stranger reveals himself to be a doctor, the mother opens up to him about almost everything but what's wrong with the daughter. Of course the stranger is there to harm them for their misdeeds and quickly subdues both parents before it becomes a cat-and-mouse game between him and the daughter. More back story is revealed about the tragedy which brought the family to the farm and the stranger to their door. While being a touch predictable, it is still finely acted and the characters' motivations are crystal clear.

This film would actually make a very good film school project. It is by no means a professional production. The story though is good, solid, and climaxes great. It is written much better than the big budget Hollywood productions we see nowadays. The actors are above decent, the dialogues and plot are well written, and the characters are strong (except for the brother and girlfriend). Of course due to the amateurish feel of the film, when it comes to music, camera and lights, we go way below average. Special effects are not even worth mentioning as they are nonexistent. In general, this is not a film that I think will ever be on the big screen, but it is fine to watch on the TV if there is nothing better on. The unfair thing is that if the serial killer was played by a big shot actor and there were actually some money to be spent for music, photography and special effect, this would actually be a blockbuster !!! Unfortunate indeed.

My standards for horror movies in general are pretty low. Usually, I am the only person who enjoys a "bad movie" while the rest of the world is utterly disappointed... but the tables turned when I watched The Bleeding House.For the most part, the acting was horrible. In particular, I was expecting Alexandra Chandro, who supposedly played the lead female character, to deliver something half-decent... but this was not the case. I use the word "supposedly" because no matter how much her character was supposed to contribute to the story, her significance fell totally flat. It seemed as though the main character was played by the weakest actress in the bunch. Way too amateur. If not for the actress' IMDb profile, I would have guessed that they randomly picked a girl off the street and gave her less than 5 minutes to read the script.The story was not as original as other reviews here make you think. I was bored the entire time.In fact, the only reason I watched the whole movie was because I spent money for it. In retrospect, even that was a mistake.