Movie Review: ‘TORMENTED’

British horror is always a hidden obsession of mine. Movies like the Descent and the sequel Descent 2, The Cottage, Shaun of the Dead, and Severance makes me randy when I watch them. Tormented is no different in my opinion. I’m not saying it’s as classic as some of these films but I will say it keeps those elements that make UK imports great which are dry humor and a lot of gore and this film does not disappoint in either.

Now stop right there, I’m not saying this is a great movie so read my words carefully. It is watchable and the characters in the movie fall in line with most teen type slashers. The difference is that in this film the killer is pretty much known from the start and it’s not someone pretending to be or acting on the behalf of the killer is exactly who it should be, the dead student who was, well, tormented. So let’s talk about the film.

I will say as a kid who was bullied early in life this movie does more for me than any story about 2 kids that were bullied shooting up the school. This is what imagination and creativity are about and I’m sure somewhere in life the films writer Stephen Prentice my have been bullied as well. The film follows the story of a very popular girl who is speaking on behalf of a student that committed suicide. The speech is interrupted by one of the real friends of the dead student Darren Mullet. He claims that none of the kids really knew him they just teased and well tormented him. The main character Justine is feeling regret though because she cannot recall who Darren is but was asked to speak on his behalf because she is the head girl in school. After the funeral the popular kids at the school approach Justine about coming to a party hosted by one of the main antagonist a rich snob named Bradley. The only reason she is willing to go is because it’s a personal invitation from Alexis which has seemed to catch her fancy (trying to speak like the Brits here people bear with me). She decides to go and neglect her only true friends to up her status amongst the elite in the school. During the party the DJ is thrown out for making a rude comment about Justine and becomes the first of many victims of Mullet. The film does a good job of not showing Mullet for the first part of the movie even though it’s quite clear who the killer is from the beginning. The popular girls take Justine under wing and make her a part of the family constantly questioning her about how they can’t believe she doesn’t know who Mullet was. What we come to find out from a website that has a video uploaded by Nesser that Alexis is the worst tormentor of them all. This all happens of course after he takes Justine’s virginity.

Probably one of the funniest characters in the film is the goth kid Nesser who was wishing he had the strength to kill himself also and wanted to experience Mullets pain. Mullet obliges by almost killing him by attaching head phones to him and tying his hands down so he can’t remove them and if it wasn’t for a class coming by his brain would have been fried from the loud metal music that was being blasted in his ears. There are many jokes, and antics that allow the movie to move through in an efficient pace even though the acting is sub par. Justine then finds out that Alexis is a bad guy who not only is the main person tormenting Mullet but also has had sex with every other girl in the popular bunch. She also finds out from watching the video that she was there once when he was calling for her help while being teased by the others and she pushed him away and completely ignored him. Disgusted Justine removes herself from them and that’s when the bodies start piling up. There is an awesome seen with the jock of the movie hits the shower because he thinks he sees Mullet and the coach sends him away. Once out of the shower Mullet arrives and starts to snap him to death with a towel which I thought was genius. He gets away and makes it out of the building but Mullet being a vengeful spirit instead of a zombie appears and impales the jock on one of the spikes on the fence of the campus. There is no shortage of gore here which really makes the film a treat. There is not too much substance in the film and the ending is kinda whatever but I think its nice movie to rent and pop on the couch and have some laughs and see a lot of blood. Go ahead and rent this one.