Evan (Seann William Scott) is your typical family man – devoted father, loving husband, hard worker, and occasional murderer of bad parents. A high school guidance counselor, his affection for the young and the innocent yields some interesting results. When his infant son cries in the middle of the night, he lets his wife Lauren (Mariela Garriga) sleep while he tends to the boy’s needs. When his lady frets over their newborn’s inability to gain weight, Evan invites his mother (Dale Dickey) to come and help out around the house while he’s at work. When his student shows up at school with a shiner, Evan takes it upon himself to remove the threat from the situation – or, in layman’s terms, take the abusive father to an abandoned mansion, tie him to a chair, stab him with a large hunter’s knife, and bury his cold cadaver deep in the earth.
At first, Evan’s killer tendencies become so clockwork, they’re almost routine – listen to the child recall accounts of their abusive relative while in session, hunt down said relative once school hours end, conduct an intervention under the guise of providing counseling, then paint the walls red with their blood. Easy. Effortless. Like taking candy from a baby. However, as the body count rises, and all of the evidence begins to grow a tail, all traces of malicious intent occurring within this quiet little town begin to lead back to Evan. Now, with the police hot on his trail and his well of excuses rapidly running dry, it seems that Evan’s inclination to help families in need may ultimately remove him from his own.
Beautifully shot by cinematographer Isaac Bauman (Channel Zero), Henry Jacobson‘s highly stylized monster-in-plain-sight movie does an excellent job of highlighting the speed and merciless ferocity with which Evan preys upon his victims. Through lush palettes and clever framing, Bauman uses the space around the patrons as a character in and of itself, displaying the protagonist’s quickening madness through tight frames, while simultaneously expressing the isolation of Evan’s casualties with empty chambers, thereby likening them to mice caught within his trap. Played like a modern-day De Palma homage, Bloodline is filled with quick, blood-coated close-up shots of razor-sharp instruments, and bright, wide eyes filled with surprise as the light within fades to a dull hum. Even when the plot falters, the captivating images onscreen keep the viewer intrigued.
As far as grievances go, there are a few questions left unanswered by the time the end credits roll. In one instance, Lauren catches Evan’s mother giving her son an open-mouthed kiss – once which never really comes back around or bothers to explain itself. Is there an incestuous sexual relationship brewing within the confines of this morbid familial unit? Could that possibly be the reason behind Evan’s serial killer persona? Also, although the movie hints at a play on the classic debate of nature versus nurture, instigating the debate of whether Evan was born this way, or whether the desire for fresh blood is a hereditary trait, the feature doesn’t do much to support either argument, only suggesting the idea and then never quite playing into either hand.
Bloodline is a unique and bloody twist the family man trope, one that implies that the devotion with which we remain loyal to our kin may breed a monster where there was once only good intentions. It’s refreshing to see Seann William Scott in a role deserving of his talents, as he proves that he does indeed possess within him the rare ability to flip on a dime, quickly jumping back and forth between the sweet and wholesome boy next door, to the sinister agent of darkness intent on ripping apart anyone who dare not appreciate their offspring as they should.
