Tormented

Tormented is directed by Jon Wright and written by Stephen Prentice. It stars Alex Pettyfer, Sophie Wu, April Pearson, Calvin Dean, Dimitri Leonidas and Tuppence Middleton. Music is by Paul Hartnoll and cinematography by Trevor Forrest.

A bullied teenager at Fairview High School takes his own life but appears to have come back from the dead to take revenge on his classmates.

Gruesome, fun and flavoured by pinches of satire, Tormented is a far better film than the internet ratings suggest. The serious subject of bullying makes its point, particularly late in the proceedings, but the makers are more interested in capturing the spirit of the techno teen times while focusing on the antagonists in their natural habitat. They are a dislikable bunch, not only in how they treat those they view as inferior to themselves, but also to each other. Even the central "couple" at the core of the plotting, the closest the film has to someone for us to side with as they strive to survive, come with bile baggage that reveals itself as we hurtle towards a deliciously spiky finale. There is much self-absorption and crudeness, sexulisation and ignorance, it's a bit of a kicker is this, but we are firmly on the side of the recently departed Darren Mullet (Calvin Dean). The cast performances are a mixed bunch, but this hardly hurts the picture, while serious gore hounds will lament the lack of close ups for the "killer" scenes. But this is more than a generic slasher, it has psychological smarts and nifty observations on modern technology's usage for cruel intimidation. It also knows how to have a good time, and you should too. 7/10

I saw it last night at a special preview. I will admit I only wanted to see it because of Alex P, but I was pleasantly surprised. I hate Horror films, but this was much more of a slasher film, and very funny in parts, which allowed you to relax and enjoy it.

The deaths are rather imaginative and only one was quite obvious what was good was that for most you could laugh through each death . The acting is good on a whole, but a couple of the main characters do need some acting lessons, the whole cast is quite young but they have been able to develop each character well.

This film will not be for everyone. It is very 'Skins' (teenager) orientated,as it uses a lot of slang and such. The plot is rather unrealistic but thats what makes it fun, anything could happen, and most things do.

I would recommend this to someone who isn't too bothered about what they are watching, who is up for a good laugh, but doesn't mind a bit of blood and guts.

Weak script and storyline, not much to keep you hooked, easy to follow. A few creeps and laughs. I have no idea what type of audience this is for...maybe for guys who have a kink for school uniforms because they were the most unconvincing bunch of school-kids ever, I hate modified uniforms made to look like they were from a porn movie or St Trinians. And as far as I know thigh high socks,fashion tights, mini skirts and huge earrings are banned from schools...pi-sh, plus the fact they are too old. And probably the first rule when making any sort of film is character sympathy...I didn't warm to any of the characters, apart from Justine(poor girl) so who cares if anything happens to them?

My friend and I really wanted to see this film but sadly it wasn't showing at our local cinema so we got a train to Milton Keynes just to see it and I have to say it didn't disappoint, I was having second thoughts about this film when we were on our way because the TV adverts for this film makes it look like a boring teenage slasher, it is a teenage slasher but not boring. Its funny, pretty gory, and sexy! But everyones different with their films. I enjoyed the storyline as I didn't expect what was going to happen. Great choice of cast.. all very talented and I will definitely be buying it when its comes out on DVD.

See it if you liked Skins, Friday the 13th and Scream.

My review of Tormented I have just watched the teen thriller- Tormented and I really liked the low budget British horror. I thought the storyline was constant and easy to follow and the actors/ actresses did a good job of bringing a hint of humour to it as well as playing the horror scenes well. Also, it was very stereotypical of a teenage school; bullying, girls turning the uniform sexy, Goth's, one main alpha male of the school- Bradley (Alex Pettyfer) and the 'geeks' the ones that got bullied and ignored. Furthermore, I think the way in which Darren Mullet- (Calvin Dean) murdered 5 of the bullies was very gory yet imaginative. Everyway was different and once it happened, little things relate to it such as; the painting of Kalilah and the 'Head school girl' badge and the hole in Justine's school blazer. Finally, I like the way it was a non-linear structure and used the same shot of Justine being arrested at the start of the film and at the end. However, even though I enjoyed the film, it was a little predictable. You can definitely predict what will come next you just don't know how. Also, I think Darren Mullet played a good point in being spooky, but sometimes it was funny in places where is should be. For example, killing the girl in the swimming pool and Jason fell out of the cupboard in the art room. Finally, I think the acting of the teachers good of been better. When the head master found Justine over Alexis' dead body, he said "Justine" without hardly any shock in his voice, just humour. Finally, in my opinion, overall I thought it was a good movie and should surely be recognised more than it does. Alex Pettyfer did a good job at acting and got a huge Hollywood role after his performance. I would definitely recommend this to a teenage audience but not for the faint hearted. I also think that the message of non-bullying is strong all the way through the movie; what goes around comes around.