THINE EARS SHALL BLEED (2024) Review by Steve Kirkham

THINE EARS SHALL BLEED

4 stars
Miracle Media. Digital. 15th July.

1860s America. Reverend Ezekiel Thatcher is a minister taking his family across the country to eventually setup his new ministry. Along for the ride is his long suffering wife Sarah (Hannah Cabell), his daughter Abigail (Lea Zawada), who desperately wants to fly the nest and experience the delights of the big city, and his blind son Luke (Duke Huston).

They reach a fork in the road which isn’t on the map. Decisions, decisions (and you know they will take the ‘wrong’ path). They take the track on the right as “Jesus sits at the right hand of God”. It is clear Ezekiel lives his life by his religious beliefs. Unfortunately for them the rough road runs out at a clearing – they decide to stop there for the night. As they are attempting to sleep they hear strange noises. Next morning they find they are now trapped where they have stopped, as their horse have gone.

As the Reverend goes to search for their missing animals he hears more of what he believes are heavenly sounds, which is reinforced by his son, though his daughter and more especially his wife are sceptical.

As they try to make the best of their situation Ezekiel is drawn more and more to the eerie sounds, believing that God is speaking to him. When a stranger, Woodrow Booker (Lucas Near-Verbrugghe) turns up, claiming he is also trapped there, all is not as it seems…

With a slow build this is effectively creepy, exploring blind faith and religious zealotry and taking a different slant on possible possession in a Twilight Zone type tale. Using it’s contained location and limited budget well, it is generally believably acted by the small cast, even if some of it is a little over ripe in delivery. A strongly directed, low key chiller by Ben Bigelow who also wrote the script with William Bigelow. The former also edited the film.

Steve Kirkham