“Bloat” Is Full of Hot Air

Bloat (Pablo Absento, 2025) 2 out of 5 stars

Screenlife thrillers are growing in popularity. The hottest new subgenre in film involves movies that take place entirely on a computer screen. The plot is presented via texts, phone calls, and a plethora of web searches. Films like 2014’s Unfriended and 2018’s Searching helped this trend blow up with general audiences.

Now, more and more films are using this storytelling method. Director Pablo Absento is the latest to try his hand at it in the new paranormal horror film Bloat. Bloat presents itself on a level playing field with some of the other entries in terms of technical achievement and novelty, but it fails to construct a compelling enough plot to fill the mold. 

In Bloat, Hannah (Bojana Novakovic, Birds of Prey) and her two sons set off on a summer vacation in rural Japan. Her military husband Jack (Ben McKenzie, Fox’s Gotham), originally set to join them, is unable to make it due to being deployed in Turkey. While in Japan, their youngest son, Kyle (Sawyer Jones, Antlers) nearly drowns in a lake. When rescued, Kyle emerges noticeably different.

Through a series of video calls, messages, and some other surprising visual channels, Jack watches from afar as Kyle deteriorates into someone unrecognizable. Meanwhile, Hannah struggles to take care of the two boys alone without Jack’s presence. Soon, things take a turn for the worse, placing Jack’s family in immediate danger in front of his distant eyes. How can Jack possibly save his family while on an entirely different continent?

Like the many filmmakers that pioneered this subgenre, the artists behind Bloat are able to present the information and plot in a very unique way. Some of the methods are borrowed, of course, such as text messages and internet searches. However, Bloat offers some impressive usage of voice memos, surveillance cameras, and the latest in night-vision technology.

In doing this, the filmmakers essentially put Jack right there in Japan with his family, as he can see and hear almost everything going on at a given moment. It makes sense, for the most part, as Jack is a military officer using the latest tech at his job, and therefore one could believe he would do the same to protect his family. There are a number of very intriguing tactics used to display information in Bloat, and most of them work well.

Unfortunately, the novel concepts used to display visuals are the highlight of the film instead of a supporting element. What makes films such as Unfriended and Searching work well is that those stories, in addition to the computer-screen aspect, have compelling characters placed into a fascinating situation. The same cannot be said for Bloat.

Right off the bat, the filmmakers make a colossal mistake by not introducing us to Kyle before the lake incident. The audience has no idea how Kyle behaved and what his personality was like prior to almost drowning, which means that the off-putting, macabre Kyle that emerges from the water is the only one we know. This makes the viewer invest much less in him throughout the film and invokes less sympathy for his situation.

An extremely fast-paced first act doesn’t allow us much time with any other characters before the incident, either, although this might not have mattered, as both Jack and Hannah are extremely rigid, emotionless parents who don’t spark much interest at all. As a whole, the family is unoriginal at best and painfully unknown at worst. The viewer knows nothing about the family except for that Jack and Hannah have previously lost a child.

Joining the yawn-inducing characters is a cookie-cutter possession plot with far too many exposition dumps. The most egregious one happens halfway through in a scene you’ve seen before in every single other similar paranormal film. There is little suspense and tension, and no scares to be found. A common visual featured throughout the film involves technological distortion, but it is cheaply presented and used far too often to the point of annoyance.

The conclusion of Bloat is much like the rest of the film: glossed over and unsatisfying. While its technical elements shine, the characters and plot sink the film to the dark depths of that creepy Japanese lake. In the end, Bloat is only an overly clichéd, run-of-the-mill possession film that’s squeezed into the monitor of a flashy computer setup. 

Matt Patti

Matt Patti has enjoyed voicing his opinions on films from a young age. He has lived in the Baltimore, Maryland, area since 2015 and is a graduate of Stevenson University’s Film & Moving Image program. Matt is currently back at Stevenson University, working as the School of Design, Arts, and Communication's Studio Manager.