A modern Wait Until Dark meets The Fan, Blind is a pulpy tale of obsession and fame centered on a retired actress (Sarah French) whose modern mansion in the Hollywood Hills feels like a leaden prison after she is stricken blind by a botched surgery. Day in and day out, Faye wallows in despair and self-pity. French’s performance is incredibly withdrawn and sullen, which reflects Faye’s wellspring of pain but also has a distant, almost stiff quality that is off-putting.
The supporting characters give stronger performances. Caroline Williams plays the blunt, strong-willed, and sultry-voiced Sophia who encourages Faye to keep up with group therapy and put herself back into the world. As the group therapy leader Luke, who is mute and uses a smartphone app to communicate, Tyler Gallant has the difficult task of communicating his emotional interiority through only facial expression. Luke has secret feelings for Faye, but Faye is too busy mourning her old life to think about dating.
Blind intercuts Faye’s grieving with eerie scenes of a Ryan Murphy-esque villain, a faceless, corpulent vagabond (Jed Rowen) who wears an unsettling “Pretty Boy” mask. He kills anyone who dares to cross his path, fantasizes about dancing with Faye, and years to be the kind of conventionally attractive man a famous actress would want. His lair is encased with colorful Christmas lights, a bizarre rainbow labyrinth of twisted desires brought to spellbinding life by cinematographer Thomas Rist.
Director Marcel Walz conjures many genuinely creepy moments—especially those that toy with Faye’s lack of sight—endowing his methodically paced film with an acute tension. However, there are some unrealistic inconsistencies, such as when Faye does not notice Pretty Boy standing right in front of her, despite the film previously pointing out that her senses are heightened. Culminating in a surprising and disquieting ending that indicates there may be a second installment, Blind is a surreal and unique take on the home invasion and blind protagonist thriller.