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I'm glad I found this unexpected gem. The texture and feel of the film is consistent and perfect. The acting is very good, with minimal dialogue. The fear is there and the scares are there, made all the more real by the gentleness and emotional weight. Especially startling is how the composition of filming, lighting and sound made the girl blend perfectly with the water she inhabited. There are some very chilling scenes, and this is a movie that will stay with me in a good way for a long time. The music is beautiful, too.

Vampire stories are tough to manage. are they sparkling troubled teens? Are they Byronic decadents? Are they brutal meat monster killing machines? It all depends on what you want, or really what the creator of the book or movie want them to be. Of course this movie is not an exception to the rule. The writers and director made choices and followed them. And it works. It really, really does. The worldview is brought into focus by Miranda, played with low key sincerity by Alyson Danielczuk. She is a kind of narrator and chorus who with a sweet, nerdy simplicity describes the chamber of horrors Theresa has been thrust into. And it is a gory, red, and raw world indeed. In the beginning I worried that the movie would take a road into camp. Theresa sits at a desk and is blandly introduced to the vampire world via a nearly Kafkaesque beurocrat. But soon she meets Allison, and the game really begins. All the principle acting in this mostly female cast is well done. Arielle Hope (Theresa) and Sarah Schoofs (Allison) give their all to their roles and shine. And they are such real and natural looking women that seeing them naked in bed with each other feels warm and true and honest. We see real women in an unreal place and it is intense. That pays off later when things really get rolling. Charles Lincoln plays Tony, and his performance is true and solid as well. Sure, some of the minor players are pretty weak, even groan-inducing at times. The character Paisley is never really brought to life. Ah well. The low budget movie is shot well and the visuals are very nice, with attention to composition and style. There is a great scene with a naked and blood covered Theresa talking on the phone that is filmed just right, and I felt all the gravity of the moment. I'm a horror fan, so let me assure you this has all the gore and bare flesh you want. But all of it, and I mean every bare body and drop of blood is used to ideal effect and enhances the story. In key scenes Theresa needs to be naked for the purity of verisimilitude, and it works. If she were clothed there would be safety, or sanity. It is not a mistake that Miranda is never seen nude, and dresses simply and conservatively. Watch this movie. You'll like it.

This movie has been on my list to see for a long time and it was worth it. I think you should see it, too. The cinematography is wonderful. The use of light and darkness in the house - surely a close approximation of what it was like in the Borden residence - adds to the feel of menace and dread in the air all around the characters. Not to spoil anything, but I've read this theory of the crime before and I think it is a very solid one. Of the Borden murders films and TV shows this one is by far my favorite now. Chloe Sevigny has said she was putting a proto-feminist spin to Lizzie and the the story, and that certainly is here. Her take on it feels strong and real and not forced at all. The slow, deliberate pace of the film brings out all the patriarchal oppression smothering and consuming Lizzie, and the housemaid Bridgett. But for all that there is darkness in Lizzie to begin with. Who she is and what she does and why offer up enough ambiguity to to carry the story along. Kristen Stewart's performance is honest and painful and very believable. Bridgett Sullivan here is a sad young woman with few opportunities, too easily exploited by her betters, and is made isolated and alone. If you watch it you will like it, but I think it deserves a wider audience than what it can get from Shudder. Well done.