Tormented
(2009/British Horror/IFC/MPI DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Feature: C
The teen
revenge horror film reached a new peak with Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976, reviewed on Blu-ray
elsewhere on this site) and became a staple of the slice & dice 1980s
slasher films. Reviving the idea and
making it work is about as engaging as yet another bad zombie film, but Jon
Wright’s Tormented (2009) tries to
hang it on more of a story (albeit familiar) and has the advantage of being
British. Too bad it cannot make either
work enough.
The most
popular teens in a local High School did so much to pick on asthmatic, heavy,
unhappy Darren Mullet that he killed himself.
Too bad for them he did not stay dead.
He is back to get revenge on the unsuspecting group and there will be
hell to pay. Each gruesome murder is
prefaced by a cell phone call. In this
case, it is smiley faces with mocking vocal messages, often accompanied by
wacky animation. This is an interesting
idea (versus more clinical, boring, unimaginative U.S. versions we have seen often),
but this too is not used to its best advantage.
The young
cast includes actors with some experience that some in the industry who are the
next big actor (including Alex Pettyfer, Georgia King, Calvin Dean, April
Pearson and Tom Hopper), but if any of them move on to better films, this will
be a curio at best on their resume.
Stephen Prentice’s script just implodes on itself through sheer
inexperience and simply not knowing what works best in this part of the
genre. Even the suspense does not go all
the way, despite the many opportunities, but fans of such dark tales can see
for themselves.
The anamorphically
enhanced 2.35 X 1 is shot on a RED ONE 4K digital High Definition camera and shows
some consistent softness throughout as a result, which might be somewhat
alleviated if it had the room of a Blu-ray, but some color and stylization is
not bad. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not
as engaging as a work in this genre should be, showing the limits of the
budget. Extras include a trailer and
behind the scenes featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
