Torment

It seems like horror movies these days fall into 3 categories: good or excellent (less than 5% of all horror movies per year); "I've seen worse" (30% of all horror movies per year); and utter garbage (the remaining 60-plus% per year). This is one of those "I've seen worse".

The entire movie is a mishmash of different horror movie elements you've seen in plenty of horror movies before:

1. deranged redneck family. 2. unsuspecting yuppies are stuck in a rural area with no cell phone reception. 3. decent actors wasted on a terrible script and poorly developed characters (although the kid was annoying). 4. long torture scenes where the victims are bound and gagged. 5. "BOOM!" jump scares whenever we see a shadow. 6. the heroine is pinned down by the villain but then finds a conveniently placed weapon nearby to defend herself with. 7. despite the fact that she's been through a physically trying ordeal through mud, blood, and grime, the heroine's hair, makeup, and nails are great. 8. the victims will knock the killer out but never make sure the killer is dead.

I was just shaking my head throughout the entire movie, constantly saying, "Wow...this is reeeeaaally generic...at best...". It's never a good sign when I start fiddling with my phone out of boredom. But I was doing that throughout the movie. Before I knew it, the movie was virtually over and everything seemed to be okay. Then the lame twist ending came around and I thought, "Well, unnecessary and mediocre twist endings are the norm these days. So why am I not shocked by this." I think the only interesting thing were the villains' masks. Why were they wearing them? I understand they wanted to keep their I.D.s a secret, but they could have chosen better masks. The masks are stuffy and hard to see through. In real life, any killer wearing those masks would have ripped them off in frustration.

All in all, this is a forgettable movie for someone looking to kill time. After watching it you'll think, "Well, I didn't hate the movie. But I have no desire whatsoever to watch it again."

I don't want to suggest that Torment is an awful movie, but it comes close. It's not for a lack of trying, so to speak, but the overarching problem is that the movie is essentially a carbon copy of all the slasher/home invasion movies in the world and contributes very little of note. I suppose the killers' masks, taken from the heads of giant stuffed animals, is the extent of the film's originality.

Cory Morgan (Robin Dunne) and his new bride Sarah (Katharine Isabelle) arrive at Cory's summer home (secluded, of course), with Cory's son Liam (Peter DaCunha) in tow. The kid resents his stepmom a little, because she's not Mom. Mom's dead, in case you were wondering. Unfortunately, that fact has almost no bearing on the plot, which feels like a tremendous waste of opportunity. At any rate, when the Morgans arrive at the house they quickly learn that squatters have been there very recently - there's spoiled food left out and some blood on the wall. They call the cops, and good ol' Office Hawkings (Stephen McHattie) tells them that teenagers probably hung out there and had a party or something. Doesn't explain the blood too much, but the Morgans don't press him for more info. Just another kindly old officer of the law lending a homespun helping hand, is all.

During their first night in the house, Sarah awakes to a noise downstairs, which happens in most horror films anyway. When she and Cory investigate, they find nothing out of the ordinary - except that little Liam is now missing. And thus begins endless searching (for the boy) and fleeing (from the crazy cult who snatched him and is right next door) that comprises basically the balance of the movie. Run into forest, be pursued by masked lunatic, fire off every flare in your road flare gun so you can see where you're going, escape into your house, get attacked by another masked lunatic, run out of the house and into a muddy stream where you fend off the attacker, and so on.

Isabelle looks great and appears capable of being a damsel in distress. Dunne is a little more lackluster. Young DaCunha's performance felt more authentic than that of any of the adults. But what made this film particularly maddening were the little hints of backstory that are never really resolved. For example, when Cory does find Liam and confronts the kidnapping maniacs, it's strongly implied that he (Cory) knows who these people are, knows their history, knows why they've chosen poor Liam. Do we, the audience, get to discover this as well? We do not. And maybe it would have helped if we did, because a gentle, plausible twist would have been welcome over the generic, often listless storyline.

Torment is not so bad it's good. It's a mediocre entry in a field that's already very overloaded with mediocrity. There isn't even all that much blood, thereby depriving those who love a good gorefest from getting their money's worth. So, no gore, a thin plot, lousy acting, and and overwhelming sense of pointlessness all add up to a movie that's just not worth your time.

After the death of his beloved wife, the widower Cory Morgan (Robin Dunne) marries Sarah Morgan (Katharine Isabelle) and they travel on vacation to an isolated house with his son Liam Morgan (Peter DaCunha). Cory expects that the resented Liam, who misses his mother, gets close Sarah along the next days. On the arrival, they discover that intruders have lived in the house and they summon the local Sheriff Hawkings (Stephen McHattie) calms them down telling that the strangers that have broken in have gone. During the night, Liam disappears and soon they witness Hawkings tied up to the steering wheel of his car. When the car explodes, they realize that they are under attack of sadistic killers and they need to fight back to survive.

"Torment" is a stupid slasher with a lame story, excessive use of clichés and poor development of the characters. The motive for the killing of the insane family is shallow and senseless. The brain washing in the teenager Mary Bronson (Amy Forsyth) is unexplainable and hard to believe. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Faces do Medo: Bem Vindo a Família" ("Faces of the Fear: Welcome to the Family")

One of my favourite horror icons and scream queens Katherine Isabelle plays Sarah Morgan. The new partner or wife to Corey and unlikable mum to Liam. I will say she's pretty good here and has more fighting power than other roles. The Morgan family move out to what seems like the middle of no where and it's not yet apparent anything is wrong. I won't go to much into the events of what happened but the family find themselves stalked by some strangers that wear the dismembered heads of Liam's stuffed toys somehow. And it's really quite scary. This film was made really well and built up tention well. Overall this was a pretty good horror with a pretty great cast.

The best thing about this film is that it has good, creepy costumes, but other than that there really is nothing very good about it. The operative word is cliché, it pushes no boundaries and creates nothing new. The twist at the end caused me to say, "oh, that's mildly interesting", but it really had no capacity to really surprise or even any relevance. The adult leads play their parts well enough, and the motivation for the assault is plausible enough although not very likely. The leads are not as incompetent as in many such movies, but nor are they particularly compelling or innovative.

Watch it if you have nothing better to do but don't make an event out of it by inviting over a bunch of friends and expecting a scare fest, because it does not deliver much on any front.