Depressing and disturbing Swiss flick manages to make you feel yucky all over but is so well done it’s hard to dismiss it as exploitive crap. So… win?
Beaten deaf and dumb by his abusive, sister molesting father, our introverted protagonist (?) goes about his life excelling at his accounting job and living a quiet life in his depressing and doll filled apartment. There’s a looney neighbor girl who dances and dreams constantly, that he has developed some kind of innocent and non physical relationship with. He cares for a pet mouse and seems to enjoy putting red liquids on his skin (ketchup and ink to be exact).
But we won’t be staying in this admittedly creepy but less than harmful atmosphere for too long. After a prostitute pickup ends in ridicule some cracks (well, deeper cracks begin to show) and our man begins tumbling downward into psychosis.
He makes a habit of breaking into funeral homes and drinking the blood of female corpses. He even brings one home, sets her up in a creepy room made to look like a funeral parlor viewing room and slowly dismembers the body. Corpse desecration and eyeball snatching eventually draws the attention of the police and press. He’s named himself Mosquito and leaves his name in red marker at the site of every crime.
As you probably already knew, corpse abuse can only take you so far and Mosquito’s addiction escalates to murder. The death of his creepy girlfriend (she dances herself right off a roof) seems to break him completely and a poor banging couple pay the price. But you can only go so far when you’re more concerned with blood drinking than getting rid of evidence.
Dealt with in a completely serious fashion, Bloodlust, never feels like it’s exploiting the true life crimes it’s loosely based upon. Solid performances abound and there’s a generally chilling atmosphere the whole way through. A dark classic given star treatment from Mondo Macabro. 7/10
Spook du jour 