Torment

I love these real obscure independent drama thrillers with some bite, a cast of unknowns, and one hell of a twist involving family relation. That said, Torment is quite a nifty and well made film, the standout performance, that of the middle aged psycho, who's been slaughtering a few women in the burbs of San Francisco. Our female lead has her share of torment in this film, one, from our very ill of mind psycho, and the other, from an old nagging, over cautious, and mad woman, the mother of her soon to be wedded husband, with a sort of Art Garfunkel hairdo. He's also the lead cop on this serial case. Although Torment is far from perfect, I really liked it for it's high originality. Altogether something different, and stand apart, with very promising cult status, and works very conveniently as a thriller, the pre climax, highly suspenseful, if annoying too. Warranted viewing. How much torment can you take? Just watch our lead, the sufferer.

TORMENT was one of those videos that sat gathering dust at the local video store, so I decided to pick it up one day and give it a look. In all honesty, the film is good for the one surprising twist halfway through the meandering story, but does one twist a movie make? Not really. The film is low-low budget, and the small cast and limited situations are reflective of that. The cast does just enough to get the story told and that's about it. But do you watch a film like this to be blown away? Nope. The directors do throw in a few interesting touches, such as the interesting opening sequence of the murderer's car going down the highway, and the cranky old woman in the wheelchair who winds up being something of the hero sort. Other than that, if you want to skip on by, start the walking.

If you didn't notice the year this takes place (1985) due to the cars and clothes, you'd probably think this was a film from around 1970-74, and likely a European Giallo thriller, but it isn't one because it's 1985 and set in and around San Francisco. However, it owes much to the influences of Argento and the other Italian and European directors of this particular type of horror film, called the "yellow" (Giallo) cinema. These really are films of terror, not horror, and they are typically slow-paced and languid, with a minimal music track that doesn't get in the way, a normal human killer (normal meaning non-supernatural) with definitely twisted psychological motivations or obsessions. The actors are also minimal, with only limited numbers of characters, and they are often well-rounded character actors who rise to the occasion to put in above average performances. These films also have rather grisly killings with a fair amount of gore. This particular film meets all of these standards, with the exception being that it is only moderately gory. As has been said in other comments, if you are a fan of the gory modern fast-paced horror films with flat stereotypical characters, you might be bored by TORMENT, but if you like nicely done, plot-driven Giallo terror thrillers, this will not be wasted time for you.

A serial killer(William Witt)is murdering young women of San Francisco.Police detective Michael(Warren Lincoln)tries to find him.Unfortunately,Michael's fiancee Jennifer(Taylor Gilbert)soon becomes the madman's next obsession.She finds herself trapped inside a dark house with an elderly near-cripple(Eve Brenner)."Torment" is a boring thriller which offers nothing new.There is no gore and no nudity,so fans of horror will be disappointed.Even the violence is toned down.There is some suspense during the climax,but I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone.4 out of 10.

As is the case with a lot of movies, there were some really good and inventive ideas for the plot and in the hands of a better writer/director and cast, this could have been a great movie. It is still better than a lot of the dross produced in the 80's, just needed more polishing.