Movie Review: Tormented (2009)
Outlandish kills make it fun, but it's still a bad film
Photo: IFC Films
I'm not familiar with IFC's typical slate of films come Halloween season, but this year they are offering a seemingly generic high school thriller from the UK for audiences to choose from by way of Jon Wright's Tormented, a sloppily made film featuring nothing but hateful "90210" types that you simply can't wait until the next one gets knocked off. The largest name in the cast is Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker star Alex Pettyfer, but this one's more about the tongue-in-cheek black comedy than anything else and at times it works, but for the most part it's just another run-of-the-mill teen thriller.
Tormented centers on a group of — excuse my language — assholes who bullied a student to the point he killed himself. Unfortunately for them he's come back as a ghost to kill them in some of the most unusual and, at times, endlessly hilarious ways.
The student in question is Darren Mullet (Calvin Dean), a rather large young man sporting an asthma inhaler whom you will see get pushed around and referred to as Shrek. Following his resurrection, he starts off easy on his victims — such as a crucifix through the gut — but he soon graduates to more indulgent punishments. This may include ripping someone's penis off, delivering a death blow cannonball to someone in a pool or even towel whipping a naked man in the shower (instant classic). Yup, we are talking high brow horror here folks, but for what it's worth this film never pretends to be something it's not. It's almost a screwball comedy from the start and the cast is asked to take it over the top at every turn.
Pettyfer's performance as Bradley is one you truly hate from the very beginning. It isn't long before you realize he is going to suffer a horrible, horrible death and you are just going to have to wait until he gets his. The rest of the cast is rather generic, although Tom Hopper as Marcus is perhaps the only member of the asshole clan you have any compassion for, but that's primarily due to the fact he's a moron and just doesn't know any better.
The focus of this movie is gory, unique and inventive kills by a killer with a rather strange kryptonite and an impressive plan considering he's dead, yet still plotting his kills as something more than just standard back-from-the-dead-murders. It's hardly a film I would recommend you rush out to see, but if you are looking to put back a few drinks and have a couple of friends over it could serve as a pretty good time.
RSS Feed
| No comments yet 
news feeds