Torched

I acquired this title because of Gutterballs, a "film" that surprised me with its realism and brutality. I figured "Torched" would also deliver. In a way, it does, but poorly. Quite a few scenes were framed poorly, as in unnecessary long close-ups of talking heads. Some of the dialog also couldn't be heard because the mics were too far way from the actors. The violence was fairly decent but the editing was just so poorly done that the film just came off as a student exercise in Editing 101. Was this a "must watch" film? Nope. If you've seen the original "I Spit On Your Grave" or "Irreversible" you've seen this flick before. This outing is better than, say, any of Lucifer Valentine's stuff, but not by much.

Heading into Ryan Nicholson's Torched, I was aware that it was a short flick, some of my horror pals enjoyed it, and that there's some cool torture scenes. It was short, there were some cool torture scenes, but I wouldn't say I enjoyed it as much as the other reviewers on here.

Story is about a chick that gets raped. Later on the same day another attempt is made, but this time chicky-poo turns the table and takes the attacker out of commission. Now he's tied up in her apartment, and she's looking for some payback. All the while she's playing detective/party girl. What follows is a slightly above average revenge tale with some pretty awesome make-up and blood fx.

I understand how people are saying for this type of movie (low-budget indy horror) the acting was much better than average. Well, I suppose it is. The lead actress did an alright job when acting normal but when she got mad and yelled...I couldn't take it serious...it was laughable. Her co-worker chick was pathetically average, the apartment dude and the doctor were probably the best actors in this movie. The worst actor by far in this flick was the dude getting "Torchered." He was getting some serious pain dealt on him and all he'd do was some loud half yell/half moaning? I'd be screaming bloody murder, writhing, throwing myself all over the place. And the ending, it was sudden, felt kind of jumbled and kind of silly. It was nothing incredibly shocking, but I guess it was kind of unique.

Even though I've dissed this movie some, Torched is definitely a flick any self-respecting hardcore horror fan should check out. I'm not saying I'll be recommending it, unless someone asks me for an extreme movie with a short running time. But it's an extreme, gritty, low-budget independent horror flick that will appeal to a lot of horror fans. Unfortunately I wasn't one of them. But I do have to say again that the fx was pretty sweet. The skin melt scene especially. 6.5 outta 10

Torched, what's in a name. The movie suffered some torture. It is released in 2010 but was made in 2004 so what happened? It was one of the first sleazefests of Ryan and his Plotdigger theme but somehow things went terrible wrong. It was never edited and some workprint or a finale copy was released without the clearance of Ryan himself. It was released as Hell Hath No Fury. The fact that HHNF was 113 minutes long and the directors cut 45 minutes says enough. Ryan did his best to withdraw the release but failed. Meantime Plotdigger released Live Feed and Gutterballs. Ryan was fed up and stated to re-release HHNF as it should have been, he re-edited the flick and put a new score on it. But even then things went wrong. The release should have been in 2009 but some factory mistakes while pressing delayed the flick again. But fair as he is, Ryan kept in touch with everybody and the release was made in march 2010. Only available at Plotdigger itself limited to 666 copies. Mine was signed by him so I watched HHNF again as it should have been. What he brings in 45 minutes is of course the best thing. Not a lot of blah blah but a lot of, euh, torched scene's. I won't spoil what is being torched but in fact if you are a guy you will be impressed. It's gore galore in this flick. The red stuff flows frequently. I was a bit disappointed by the fact that there wasn't any nudity in it. HHNF had a lot of it. And knowing Plotdigger, normally they have that, remember Gutterballs. Still you can see that it is a low budget flick. There are some shadows from the boom (sound) watchable. But nevertheless, it delivers what you expect from it. And be advised. If you are easily offended or squeamish, don't watch it. You will need your balls to see it, if you know what I mean. Just like Run Bitch Run one of the better rape/revenge ones this year.

What happens here after a girl gets raped in an elevator (actually not very extreme) is gonna be pretty gruesome for some. The movie also contains the best fake penis I've ever seen on screen (not that I spend my time looking for fake penises of course), and said penis is wholeheartedly attacked with syringes and a blow torch. Hmm...nice (ouch!).

There's no doubt that rape is a horrible thing for any woman (or man - there's a bit of that in here too) to endure, but its obviously just been set up here so the makers could have an excuse to offer what comes after. Burnings, be-headings, and rivers of blood abound. Yep, its a pretty nasty affair, but as with most of these kind of movies I spent the time laughing out loud at its madness.

The acting by the girl who plays the main character is actually not bad for a flick like this. Usually the acting is terrible in these kind of films. I do enjoy a good gory horror show as Hollywood just cant make anything worth a shock at all any more so you really gotta go to the independent scene to find real "horror".

The film is quite short at around 45 minutes and its probably enough, even gore gets boring after some time. Apparently the makers of the August Underground movies were involved in this and it certainly shows. But I cant help thinking.... can anyone actually make a movie that scares people nowadays? Sure its easy to offend and shock (some of us) but scare...? I doubt it.

Anyway, I wouldn't watch this again, not because its gross (or whatever) just because once seen its not worth watching again. You wont find it on Netflix I doubt however, so if you get a chance check it out if this is your kinda thing.

I honestly didn't expect much from this one. All I had heard about this film was that director Ryan Nicholson was involved with AUGUST UNDERGROUND'S MORDUM, and about the infamous "nut toasting" scene. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the execution (no pun...) of this film.

TORCHED is about a woman who is raped leaving her apartment building. Later that evening she is attacked again but wards off the attacker with a stun gun. She restrains him and spends a week torturing him in some pretty brutal fashions (including some of the aforementioned blow-torch fun, and some pretty twisted penile-needle torture...).

TORCHED is actually a pretty strong film in all respects. The acting is above par for a film in this budget range, the story is decent and has a couple of twists, and the gore FX are pretty top-notch. I personally dig the rape/revenge genre as a whole, and TORCHED is another good entry. I'm very interested to see what else Nicholson brings to the table in upcoming features, and am anxiously awaiting LIVE FEED. Also, the soundtrack features some great music, including NECRO and ILL BILL. Recommended - 8.5/10