Tripp Rhame’s new flick, Bleed, is a decent movie about cults and possessions and hauntings and backwoods creepy stuff that provides some good scares, even as it treads upon some very familiar ground.

Chelsey Crisp and Riley Smith are Sarah and Matt, a newly-married couple with a baby on the way moving in to a new home on the outskirts of a nameless small country town, but the weirdness has already started: Sarah has the same birthmark as a mysterious girl we saw in the opening scene (spooky music sting). Sabrina/Bree (Brittany Ishibashi), Chelsey’s friend, soon drops by with her new beau Dave (Elimu Nelson) for a sort of housewarming, and we discover that Bree has had a few mental issues of her own, seeing hallucinations and whatnot, but has that under control via a bottle of pills ever ready at her side (this sets up some nice effective startles later on that had me questioning: Bree’s mind, or actual ghost?).

Chelsey’s ne’er-do-well brother, Eric, unexpectedly arrives with his newest lady friend Skye.  They are both free spirits (you can tell they are because Skye says, “Groovy”), living out of their car and scrounging for money. Eric is an amateur ghost hunter as well, talking about EVPs and other phenomena they’ve experienced. The discovery of the mysterious little girl’s diary in the attic and her grave on the grounds of the house, plus the mention of a nearby abandoned prison lead the group to go exploring. Except Sarah. She wants no part of this ghost hunting nonsense (could her refusal stem from the paranormal experiences she and her brother had as children? What her brother called their “abilities?” Hmmm???)

High weirdness ensues. As well as impressive gore.

Rhame is a very good director, and knows exactly how to wring every single drop of suspense out of a scene. His pacing is good, and his placement of some very effective startle-scares is perfect. Even on my 2nd viewing, I jumped at two different moments. *applause*

The actors are all very natural and effective in their rather underwritten roles, with Crisp and Ishibashi in particular shining through and helping to ground the crazy proceedings with a solid connection to reality.  I really liked these people and I was genuinely concerned for their well-being as I watched.  Suspension of disbelief FTW, I guess.

The addition of the backwoods cult/family very interested in Sarah’s unborn baby (and her crescent moon birthmark) seemed like it was from a different movie, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It still held my attention and, even though there was some connective tissue between the two narratives, it didn’t always make a whole lot of sense to me, and I kind of wish the filmmakers had focused on one or the other, instead of both.

But that’s not enough to get me to diss the whole movie. I liked it, and I think it’s worth your time. Bleed hits theaters and VOD on March 25th. Uncle Mike sez check it out.