Paranoia Meets Pointed Poise in Bleed with Me

For anyone who has experienced sleep paralysis, the sinister sensation of a presence hovering at your bedside is an unparalleled nightmare. In writer/director Amelia Moses’ Bleed with Me, this hellish hallucination is taken to its most uncanny extreme as a wintry cabin vacation among three friends reveals a parasitic relationship—one that involves discreetly siphoning blood by moonlight.

After a period of personal turmoil, Rowan (Lee Marshall) is pleasantly surprised when she’s invited to join coworker-turned-friend Emily (Lauren Beatty) at her family’s remote cabin in the woods for a picturesque snowy getaway. They’re also accompanied by Emily’s boyfriend Brendan (Aris Tyros), who is less enthused about an apparent third wheel on what was supposed to be an intimate romantic getaway. Though even Rowan herself suspects that her last-minute inclusion is nothing more than a sympathetic gesture, her presence on the excursion suddenly seems to fulfill a more ominous role. In the middle of the night, suspended in a state of groggy semi-consciousness, Rowan’s bleary eyes perceive a dark figure sitting by her bed. In the morning, she wakes to find a small incision on her forearm—so fresh that it still glistens with bright red blood. Night after night, new nicks emerge in neat succession like tally marks, and the figure at her bedside becomes harder to dismiss as none other than her beautiful blonde hostess. With a hinted history of trauma and instability, Rowan’s trust in her own perception remains rocky—particularly when her paranoia becomes palpable to those around her. With no possible way to escape, Rowan must confront whether the evil entity is indeed inside of the cabin or simply a figment of her own imagination.

There exist various similarities between the plot of Bleed with Me and Moses’ previously released 2021 feature Bloodthirsty: Both star Beatty as a blonde monstress who may or may not be satiating a craving for blood, are set in remote snow-covered abodes and involve a two-to-one woman to man dynamic. However, Bleed with Me is technically Moses’ first completed feature despite being released nearly four months after Bloodthirsty. This fact certainly shows, though it is in no way a detriment to the film’s overall effectiveness. The small cast, capsule setting and slow-burning yet scintillating story are efficacious in their sparse simplicity, leaving ample room for carefully crafted ambiance and performances to arrest the viewer with mounting dread and anticipation.