Tormented

An entirely predictable high school horror in which a bullied student commits suicide and then comes back from the dead as a malevolent zombie, taking revenge on everyone who wronged him. The only difference with this production is that it's British-flavoured, but in every other respect it's the kind of movie you've seen a hundred times before. The first thing that struck me as I watched this was the distinct lack of sympathetic characters. The high school students are a group of vicious and narcissistic bullies who you'll be waiting to get bumped off – even Alex Pettyfer, playing against type as a bad guy for once. Tuppence Middleton is, I suppose, the protagonist and somebody you're supposed to root for, but I found her as irritating as the rest. Vaguely interesting characters, like James Floyd's Nasser, are kept to the sidelines. The antagonist isn't very pleasant either. Watching this becomes a bit of a depressing experience, one in which you're just waiting for the next gore scene. And gory it is. The film-makers adopt the approach of making every death as inventive as possible, and there are some truly nasty moments played out for their absurd, comedic value as well as the bloodshed. The bit involving a guillotine is particularly outrageous and really works, and it's moments like this that stop TORMENTED from being a dog in the same way that non-starting hoodie horror F was a dog. In fact, it's fairly well made throughout, with well-shot direction and a perfectly-timed pacing. Perhaps not a film you'd ever want to watch again, but it does the business for a one-time viewing.

(MINOR spoilers) This film was made locally (I know people who work at the school in which it's set, and my niece was married in the church where they hold the funeral) so I thought if I didn't support it, nobody would - low budget indie comedy horror is a bit of an acquired taste. I went in knowing only that it was about a teenager who came back from the dead to get his own back on the bullies who'd made his life hell, and that it was a "comedy-horror". I could make a very long list of where this film failed to impress, but I can summarise them in three words: plot, characters and dialogue. The plot holes are big enough to drive a cart and horses through. To call the characters stereotypes is a dis-service to every cheap television sitcom, and the dialogue is risible. One element I found delightful were the constant references to the malfunctioning art-room guillotine - it's obvious that it'll come in handy, and the payoff could have been bigger, but it's well drawn-out. The film sells itself as belonging to the slasher horror tradition and two of the dispatches work very well, others less so. And of course where there's teenage slash horror, there has to be sex and we are given a couple of fair sex scenes, although for my money Tom Hopper's shower scene tops them both for erotic content. If I had to come up with a short tagline for this mess, it'd have to be "A lesson in how NOT to make a teen slasher movie!"

'TORMENTED': Three Stars (Out of Five) This BBC Films production is another tormented high school student revenge tale. It's directed by Jon Wright, written by newcomer Stephen Prentice and filled with a cast of relatively unknowns (although they could be bigger stars in the UK). A young actress by the name of Tuppence Middleton is memorable and strikingly attractive in the lead and the rest of the cast is adequate and fittingly cast. The story is routine and has been done many times before but it is filled with witty British dialog (as well as sometimes confusing slang). The directing is impressive for this type of low budget genre film and the soundtrack is very effective. All in all it's a pretty well made comedic slasher film. As the film opens a bullied fat asthma stricken outcast named Darren Mullet (played by Calvin Dean) has just committed suicide. Class favorite Justine (Middleton) speaks at his funeral although she doesn't remember who he was. She later learns that the boy had a crush on her. The popular clique that made fun of Darren now accepts Justine into their group, with some resentment from the girls, and one of the boys (played by Dimitri Leonidas) has a romantic interest in Justine. As Justine falls in love with her new found popularity, and starts to forget her old friends, her new friends start dieing one by one. It appears as though Darren has risen from the dead and is exacting his revenge. The film is touching and sad at times but it is a little heavy handed as well. Although I felt sorry for Darren and the way he was treated I had trouble routing for him as he viciously killed his tormentors. The death scenes are creative and at times humorous though and as far as low budget slasher films go this one is pretty well put together. It's got that dry British humor that's a riot at times (in this film) and the characters are all at least somewhat interesting. If you're a fan of the genre this is one worth checking out. Watch our review show, 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU_O9yN8W_E

I live all the way in the US and it's only showing in the UK right now. I've searched high and low on the internet and sadly all I got were dead links. So I decided to wait until July. But since the US release was changed to unknown, shortly after, I have no way of watching it and countries can take at least a year to show the movie in other countries. Does anyone have any links? And I don't want to have to pay for anything or have to fill out a survey since they make you giver personal information. I live all the way in the US and it's only showing in the UK right now. I've searched high and low on the internet and sadly all I got were dead links. So I decided to wait until July. But since the US release was changed to unknown, shortly after, I have no way of watching it and countries can take at least a year to show the movie in other countries. Does anyone have any links? And I don't want to have to pay for anything or have to fill out a survey since they make you giver personal information.

After watching this pile of garbage, I really don't have it in me to write a lengthy review of this title. I did, however, feel it necessary to warn any would-be viewers. I'm a die hard slasher flick fan and have been since the early 80s. I've been a die hard horror fan for the same amount of time. Being a fan of 80s slasher flicks, I can certainly take a bit of humor with my horror. This movie fails on every conceivable aspect. The humor is ridiculous. Not only will you not laugh, you'll find yourself disgusted at just how plain stupid it is. I'll stay away from spoilers, but there are some scenes involving the antagonist that will leave you embarrassed for the cast and crew of this film. The kills range from intensely mediocre to terrifyingly boring and uninspired. The makeup and effects were equally as drab. The plot would work well enough for a slasher flick, but the big problem here is the slasher. Boring, uninspired, a bore to look and at times annoying. If the slasher isn't going to be top notch, at least give us some characters to take a liking to; yet we don't get that either. In short, embarrassingly bad humor, bad makeup and effects, terrible script, boring killer, drab characters, and stupidity all add up to bring you this one travesty of a "slasher" film. Aside from Clive Barker, I can't really think of any top notch horror from Britain and you can add slasher flicks to a list of their failed horror attempts.

I have just watched Tormented this evening and I found this film not to be very good at all, and i was quite disappointed with it It is about a boy called Darren Mullett (Calvin Dean), who killed himself through being bullied by pupils at his school. I thought that the acting was not very good and the killings looked as though they were quite cheaply done. The only actors that i thought were any good were Tasha (April Pearson), and Kally (Larissa Wilson), from Channel 4s 'Skins'. I never seem to be a fan of comedy horror, i do not think that it works very well mixing comedy with horror. I prefer to watch true horror myself. I found the last half an hour of the film to be not that bad.

This kid kills himself and we immediately follow up afterward, the funeral as one of this guy, Darren's friends calls out everyone of the high school students in attendance as hypocrites. It seems the one who committed suicide was one of the ridiculed, Darren Mullet(Calvin Dean) was called fat and ugly by the popular snobs of the school. Justine(Tuppence Middleton)stood and talked at Darren's funeral despite not even knowing him. Justine chooses to dump her nerdy friends for the popular kids and their toxic personalities. Jason(Olly Alexander) is Darren's only friend, another kid looked down upon by his peers. Justine is smart and pretty, accepted to Oxford for a law scholarship, and takes a shine to Alexis(Dimitri Leonidas). Brad(Alex Pettyfer) is the jock leader of his "snotty twats" and enforces his will on all the nerds and undesirables of the school. There's this scene that rightfully infuriates me..Justine bypasses her usual desk next to her smart friends and sits with the popular girls. This movie features bullying, a topic that permeates with me intensely. I passionately loathe bullies who use their size and aggression to torment those smaller than they are. Jason is a constant target of Brad and his bigger pal Marcus(Tom Hopper) who are always a nuisance to the weaker students. We get a scene specifically designed to draw an angered response..Jason is chased down, given a wedgie, and punched in the face(not to mention, kicked on the ground), with Brad and Marcus' soccer coach letting them go without a hitch while criticizing the victim. Justine is in over her head as the pack of hyenas she now associates herself with(in this case the bitches)Sophie(, Khalilla(Larissa Wilson), and Natascha(April Pearson), for they eventually run her life. A series of text messages are sent to the repulsive bullies warning of their deaths to come from Darren Mullet's cell phone(their nickname for him was "Shrek"). They think the messages were sent from the nerds, and pick on them because of it..they'll soon realize he's very real, and dead serious(emphasis on dead) about getting even. Mixture of slasher and zombie movie, TORMENTED is ultimately an indictment on bullying. The "death texts" have become a familiar mechanism to use in horror movies these days going back to One Missed Call, forewarning future victims of a fate most unkind. I won't lie watching movies where bullies get their asses handed to them is pretty gratifying, better fiction on the screen than in real life. Hands taken off with a paper cutter, head lopped off with a shovel, paddle across the face forcing an eye to bulge(not to mention the victim gets his own wedgie, before his neck is impaled on a sharp gate), screwdriver through the hand and neck, silver crucifix from a grave penetrating through the torso, & a drowning(Darren sits on this victim underwater in a pool!)are ways Darren gets his revenge. There's a twist in the end questioning Justine's psyche. Clever joke after the credits roll temporarily regarding the cruel soccer coach as well. I wish the filmmakers would've went further with the lesbian tension between Tasha and Justine, but alas, this would never be.

This is a so called "slasher for the skins generation". I am only assuming then that this means the "skins generation" has low expectations. The story is fairly laughable. A fat, wheezy school boy is teased by all the cool kids in school, commits suicide and then comes back from the dead to exact gruesome revenge. This is the sort of thing you got in the mid 80's towards the end of the first slasher movie trend, and to be honest they did it better (although still not good). The script was generally fairly appalling with little or no original thought gone into it. The acting ranged from bad to average. Some of the cast can obviously act but are given nothing but rubbish to say others have rubbish to say and are rubbish at saying it. The "killer" is particularly bad and I just laughed whenever he appeared in any so called scary scene. He wasn't in the least bit scary - fairly bad makeup and extremely bad direction failed to emit even a modicum of fear. The ending was hammered home to you a good 30 or 40 minutes before it actually happened so you would have to be Mr MaGoo not to realise what was going on (and this is from somebody who did not see the ending of Sixth Sense coming). The worst thing though was the directing. The camera focused on all the wrong things at all the wrong times totally destroying any attempt at tension that could feasibly have been wrought out of a scene. The whole thing from script, acting and directing looked and played out like it was a 14 year old drama students first attempt at making a film with all his/her mates playing the roles. You get the odd OK actor but the rest of em are just terrible.

A group of bullying teenagers are targeted individually by a student who committed suicide. Before pointing out that reviewers and critics have established this as "Skins with killings", it is worth mentioning that the E4 programme is a drama, containing controversial yet equally fun and poignant entertainment for teenagers and adults. It in 2007 was a refreshing establishment to represent the English nation with teenager's wrong doings and the stereotyped lives of the 16 to 17 year olds, and with its issues on drugs, sex and school it was to be taken seriously. This picture, is not. Also noting that British horror has fallen into some what convention recently, do not expect to be scared witless. Last year's Donkey Punch for example was a slasher that brewed with high octane teenager zest that was highly predictable but undoubtedly thrilling. But likewise it wasn't especially scary, and neither is this owing to the fact of the build up and perhaps repetitious plot. Someone has come back from the dead to get his revenge. We have seen that with Sorority Row amongst others already this year. However this film is fantastic. When watching a horror you expect to be thrilled and scared and be glued to your seat or hiding behind your sofa. This is a glued to your seat styled slasher that brims excellent verbal disgust, spicy protagonists and quite gruesome death sequences. Scream was perhaps the first original slasher that proved everyone wrong with its many red herrings and ups and downs. This 2009 picture has some very effective montages of thrilling entertainment from an in car sex show to blunt and extravagant vandalism. And whilst the majority is predictable it is simple entertainment built for quick enjoyment and representation of the digital age with the mobile phone texts. Alex Pettyfer thrives on the tough lead bully, a sharp and distasteful protagonist with attitude for anyone who gives one. He brims with bad genes and is the quarter stone for the stereotypical English bully. As before whilst this film isn't to be taken seriously as Skins, it is worth noting that this has an underlining theme of bullying and the wrong nature of degrading others. The essence of karma is present likewise which adds tension and an extra spice which is occasionally lost in inevitability, but is likable. Jon Wright's style here adds your spice and zest with some digital camera shots to give that extra sense of real life and whilst the placement of Mullet in the shock sequences is dreadful, he gets the majority on target for the narrative to work. So, a Skins episode with bloods and gore? In a sense but this doesn't have the heartfelt intention and controversy of the TV programme but unlike the Bafta winning smash, this is to be taken sitting down with enjoyment and dark drama on the heart.

The head girl Justine (Tuppence Middleton) gives a speech on the funeral of the teenage schoolmate Darren Mullet (Calvin Dean) that has just committed suicide but she does not recall who he was. Then she is invited by Alexis (Dimitri Leonidas) to date him in the celebration party in the house of his friend Bradley (Alex Pettyfer). Sooner Justine discovers that Darren had a crush on her and was bullied by Bradley and his friends including Alexis. When each one of Bradley's friends is found dead, they discover that Darren has returned from beyond to revenge the humiliations he was submitted. "Tormented" is a funny and entertaining teen horror movie. The screenplay is not original, with the usual nerds, bullies and bitches, and will not be nominated to the Oscar, but there are unfair reviews in IMDb. This movie is not amateurish; the young cast is pleasant; the girls are very beautiful and sexy; and the ghost is really weird and creepy. There are sarcastic lines and situations and the deaths are generally violent and gore. Give a chance to this film and you may have a nice surprise. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): "Distúrbio" ("Havoc")