Something that will always draw me to a film, no matter the genre, is specificity and uniqueness. If a movie feels singular, I can promise you that I probably quickly fell in love with it. It’s the same feeling that led me to love the few vampire films I’m attached to: “The Transfiguration,” “Ganja & Hess,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” even Francis Ford Coppola’s “Dracula.” And that is what innately draws the audience into “Bliss.”

The film’s neon-tinged edge and punk rock flavor burst onto the screen in the first seconds and permeate the screen throughout the movie’s runtime, with the production design being a particular standout. It’s full of genuinely fun and flawed characters who round out the story around Donahue as her life comes undone before her eyes. The drug sequences are pitch perfect at conveying the pace of the high as it overtakes the body. The cast, led by Dora Madison as Donahue, is absolutely on fire and their commitment to the concept is a major player in what makes this film, its ideas, and its world flourish on screen. The soundtrack and score is an excellent complement to the movie’s aesthetic and overall worldbuilding. The film also contains a level of gore that is more unhinged than most vampire stories, based on their conventionally standard lean toward traditionally

“Bliss” is just different from most vampire stories in so many ways, yet claims its foundation in the classics. And that’s what made me interested in it, what sucked me into its story, and why I still get lost in it with every rewatch.

“Bliss” is currently streaming on Shudder.