Close your eyes and picture a cult for me. Strange request, I know. You may be thinking about real-life cults from the Manson Family and the People’s Temple (of Jonestown massacre infamy) to Scientology. Or perhaps your perception of cults has been shaped by pagan cults with strange and sinister traditions in Midsommar (2019) or The Wicker Man (1973). Though the definition of a cult is debated between academics, most people will identify a cult as a group of people with shared beliefs and traditions who isolate themselves from the rest of society. Blood Shine (2025) – however – chooses to focus on one isolated cult member and delivers a hauntingly beautiful film that dissects how individuals are pulled into cults.
Directed and written by Emily Bennett and Justin Brooks, Blood Shine centres on the hostage-captor relationship between religious zealot Clara, played by Bennett, and captive horror filmmaker Brighton West (David Call). Clocking in just shy of a 90-minute runtime, this dialogue-driven horror follows the shifting dynamic between Clara and Brighton as they move towards understanding the other. The film opens with a cold open following farm hand Keith, played by Brendan Sexton III, as he is let go from a farm in Upstate New York. Whilst journeying to another farm that may have an opening, his car breaks down, and he winds up at Clara’s house – reuniting on-screen with Shelby Oaks (2024) co-star Bennett.
With strong visuals and a compelling story, Blood Shine is a welcome addition to cults in horror.
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Blood Shine repeatedly flips the power dynamics between Clara, an isolated vulnerable young woman, and the men who intrude on her life. You can’t help but feel worried for her upon these intrusions, but she soon flips who is in control by trapping the men and using the threat of violence and brainwashing to reassert her control. Control takes many forms during the film. From control over the way people think, control in the form of violence and even control over natural bodily reflexes such as feeling pain, the film is a study of what cults do to its followers.
A member of the Children of Light, Clara is a traumatised young woman who found solace in the beliefs and security that the cult provides, despite being physically isolated from them – showing the control that cults exercise over their members. Bennett delivers an unsettling but compelling performance as Clara and has palpable chemistry with Call’s arrogant Brighton. Call’s equally strong performance as co-lead conveys Brighton’s growing sense of desperation and humility faced with death or embracing the Light. The Children of the Light are led by Larry Fessenden’s Leader whose authority is felt despite his screen-time being limited to video projections.
As directors, Bennett and Brooks create an uncomfortable intimacy through close-up shots of blood and wounds that I found myself squirming at but unable to look away. Both colours and light were used brilliantly throughout the film with the juxtaposition of light against dark and red against white (blood on snow, red ribbons swirling against Clara’s white dresses). From a striking first shot of a woman dragging a body at the sunrise with the camera flipped 90 degrees, Blood Shine kept me hooked throughout. With strong visuals and a compelling story, Blood Shine is a welcome addition to cults in horror and I, for one, will be working my way through Emily Bennett’s filmography.
BLOOD SHINE IS A SPECIAL PREVIEW AT THE SOHOME HORROR FEST 2025 (SOHO HORROR)
