I always love when studios hype “from the producers of”, like having a past hit under your producing credit gives you the same credibility as writing or directing. I think because we’ve seen a couple of producers rise to the top through careful curation of the type of film they make this has bled into other producers. But am I really supposed to believe that the producer of Searching is going to only make films with that unique perspective? And, isn’t Searching more of a success based on the ingenuity of the concept and choices made initially in the screenplay, and by the direction? Can this bleed into Bloat?

Judging by the fact you likely had no idea Bloat existed, I’m guessing the goodwill train has reached the end of the track. this little sub genre of thrillers is bloated enough without yet another entry of a person stuck at a computer for the duration of the film, trying to investigate some supernatural phenomenon afflicting his family while he’s stationed a thousand miles away. This time, our unlucky lead in Ben McKenzie, originally known for The O.C., and maybe Gotham. He plays an American soldier who is deployed and unable to leave base, despite the fact that his son suffers a near death experience in drowning. or, maybe he did die, and something else came back? As he watches his wife and two sons over FaceTimes, social media, and security cameras, he becomes increasingly of the belief that his son has had something that has changed him. And our military is too much of a bunch of dicks to let him go visit his family, even on a brief 48 hour pass.

Can you imagine that? requesting leave when your kid almost dies and being denied? No wonder people go AWOL. So, while Searching and Missing felt like they were happening in real life and real time, Bloat takes a slower pace,and also could easily double as a Paranormal Activity reboot. It isn’t particularly scary, nor is it terribly gory, but it does try to get you with a few jump scares and moderately disturbing images.

It does allow for some excellent audio description, since the film has to describe a screen for basically the entire film. the movie is basically a guy looking at his computer screen, and all the interesting and relevant things happen not in his room, but as things he looks at. So, since the film is so visual, it needed a tremendous audio description track to make it work. it got it. This is one of the best tracks I’ve heard this year.

But Bloat is really only here to pass the time. it is fine, and does find some creative ways of advancing the plot from afar, as well as playing with new ways for us to experience what is happening. of the films “produced” by the same person, this is the weakest in the series of Searching and Missing, but perhaps only because it needed to summon a demon to make itself feel relevant, where the other films just play with the fears existing in everyday life. no paranormal activity required.

Fresh: Final Grade: C+, Audio description: A