Tormented (I) (2009) User Reviews

Bullying and Revenge

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 4 February 2010]

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")

Grange Hill with gore

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 21 April 2012]

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.

Weak

[DJOfRadioGallifrey · 18 July 2011]

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?

T-e-r-r-i-b-l-e

[Jackurius · 2/10 · 1 June 2009]

A very silly and disappointingly crap film about a murderer who relies on an inhaler to kill people. I wanted to complain to the cinema as I felt they had stole my £5.20 which could have been used for a tray of nachos, unfortunately I sat through a dismal performance and swore all the way home.The murder scenes were so cheesy, like cheese on toast cheesy, like grated cheese with salad cheesy, like a cheese factory being bombed by cheese cheesy. Another thing which made me yet more angry was the way the director had to emphasise the characters, for example the geek in the film had huge hair and huge glasses...boring seen it before. It then had the same bullies as usual, pretty boys and pretty girls...BORING SEEN IT BEFORE. Amazingly unrealistic, luckily for Jon Wright the soundtrack made me give it another star. I predict his next film to be based on the adventures of Barry the inhaler.

Darren couldn't escape even when he was at home. They sent him texts and e-mails and they set up a website.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 11 June 2012]

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

A not very-convincing horror tale with a message

[mfcoder-imdb · 4/10 · 3 December 2009]

The best thing about Tormented is the opening and closing credits, which were original and interesting. The opening 10 minutes weren't bad, but from then on things go downhill and rarely pick up.

The main problem with this film was the poor storyline and script. Direction and acting were okay, and quite stylish at points, but the storyline itself wasn't sufficient to tread a path between horror and comedy.

The bullying is over-the-top and unbelievable, certainly for the age of people involved; characters were kept paper-thin; and the script riddled with clichés. You simply didn't believe what was happening, nor that, when events turn nasty, the protagonists greet them with such an indifferent attitude. Logic is out of the window - a school with 3 recent deaths, an unexplained accident, and a disappearance - yet no sign of the police, and the school still open ... hmmmmmmm.

The bottom line is, this is another film that seems incapable of representing British school students as they really are, and opts for cliché which doesn't go far enough for parody. The result leaves the viewer too detached to show much interest in the events, and there aren't enough laughs to retain interest on a purely comedic level (the only laugh coming from the discovery of the 'full condom', and we have to wait an hour for that).

Of interest to those who might like Skins, if only to see something much worse. A shame.

Much better than Imagined

[sharpbunny2004 · 7/10 · 23 May 2009]

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.

very amateurish

[Seamus-25 · 3/10 · 26 November 2009]

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.

Definitely see.

[peacockJLAP · 7/10 · 24 May 2009]

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.

Poor at best

[jimstarbuck1 · 1/10 · 20 September 2012]

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.

I personally did not enjoy this film, the characters felt underdeveloped and unlikable and the plot was poorly written and predictable. I came into this film hoping for a charming British horror comedy reminiscent of Shaun of the dead but instead I got a soulless clone of a film. The characters where cheesy American stereotypes with the average jocks, nerds and sluts.

My main problem with the film was the fact that it achieved neither horror nor comedy. The characters where so out of touch and unlikable it was impossible to care whether they lived or died. In terms of comedy this film is poor as well it was almost like the jokes were written by someone at the CBBC and then they just added a in a few swearwords to make it seem more mature.

However i do feel that the special effects were done well for a low budget film and the deaths where gory and creative. And the plot, despite the fact that it was predictable was, at least easy to follow.

To conclude i would not recommend watching this film there are plenty of other films in this genre that do a much better jobs of both the horror and comedy aspects. So unless you are unbelievably bored please stay away from this film.

Growing up can be tough.

[Otoboke · 22 October 2009]

Let's face it; growing up through the ever encumbering teenage years can be tough. What with the numerous social pressures from peers, the raging hormones, dead serial killer bully victims and the fact that your every move pretty much defines your life from then on—it's quite possibly the hardest time of your life. But hold on just a minute, what's this about homicidal, vengeful ghosts of overweight asthma kids taking out their angst on other high school clichés from the chavs to the goths and emos? Well, yeah, it happens—not a lot, but Tormented goes on the record to prove just how much more inconvenient this little chink in the chain of teenage life can be. Think you have a headache from exam stress? Try having pencils shoved through your nose into your cranium, or perhaps something more traditional like a screwdriver through the throat; now, that's tough.

Like all brilliantly devised horror stories however, we must start at the beginning—the humble innocence of a time when ghosts and bloody murder seemed neighbourhoods away in some dingy alleyway somewhere, or perhaps confined to DVD collections of your average ditsy teenage girl. Here our story begins at the funeral of Darren Mullet, a guy with such a terribly obvious-to-pick-on name and stature that if it wasn't for the fact that he was the one being buried, he probably wouldn't have been invited. The same goes for his bombastic wake party hosted by his school peers who only ever knew him by his nickname (Shrek) and use the outing as another social ritual of alcohol-fuelled bedroom disappointments. All is going pretty well for the hypocrites and social pundits of Wherever High, that is, until big buzz-kill Darren decides to crash everyone's party and start bringing the thunder through various, very elaborate and poignantly ironic means of murder (it's pretty obvious he was horror buff)—well, when he's not gasping for air and taking a puff of his inhaler. Good news is though, that you can still get a reception in the afterlife because Darren even finds the time to send some rude, antagonising messages to his victims before slaughtering them; classy.

Sound comical? Well, it is, but not entirely in a good way. You see, while Tormented is being touted as being a "comedy horror", you could just about tag that onto most horror movies without causing much of a ruckus. The fact of the matter is, Jon Wright's movie can be fun (as fun as a movie that essentially strives to take the subject of teenage suicide and depression and look at the… ahem, funny side can be), sure, but it's also a bit of a drag at times. On the one hand you have this ridiculous plot which never seems to take itself too seriously, which makes for some entertaining watching at the very least—but then on the other you have this very fine cast ensemble who lend the movie a sense of Skins-esquire realism that distinctly puts the otherwise campy and self-depreciating narrative on a bit of a backburner, despite the fact that most play broadly written caricatures. The resulting feature is fragmented and somewhat perplexing; not quite dissimilar from your average teenager then, I guess.

Tormented can be genuinely funny, a little spooky, and even somewhat moving in a couple of scenes, but too often it's the case that the viewer will be left laughing at the movie rather than with it (a primary example being one of the best ads for safe-sex I've seen in a while). Sure, it offers a horror experience that, because of its levity, doesn't numb the cortex, but neither does it really make that much of an impression. Instead, the entirety of the movie can be written off as being a mildly amusing, but mostly insignificant distraction. Horror buffs will probably enjoy all the farcical horror shenanigans a lot more than your average cinephile of course, because despite the fact that Tormented really isn't a great movie per se, it's at least got all the staples and defining traits of your average back row snog-fest to fill up the awkward silences with guffaws of "Oh my God, look at that guys chest bleed! Awesome!". However, if you do decide to—or if you have already taken it upon yourself to—see Tormented, take a moment with me now to reflect on the life of poor Darren Mullet that was taken when he hung himself instead of just, you know, not using his inhaler anymore.

Not a good comedy horror film....

[MovieGuy01 · 3/10 · 17 October 2009]

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.

All in all a pretty well made comedic slasher film!

[Hellmant · 6/10 · 14 September 2010]

'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

Typical revenge flick

[oldkingsol · 4/10 · 17 May 2013]

A typical revenge flick - class outcast dies as a result of atrocious treatment from his classmates (suicide, true, but he wouldn't have if he'd had a moment's peace), comes back from the grave to exact bloody revenge.

The acting was acceptable, even pretty good for some of the characters. But character development itself was rather weak. Especially the character of the main antagonist, Darren. Then again, I guess it's hard to portray a very animated personality when the character's primary action consists of being a teen-killing zombie. ;-)

As for the action, I don't really need to give away any spoilers - nothing new at all, the movie is quite thoroughly predictable. The best parts were the two sex scenes. Other than that, it was okay for passing time or for a late night horror flick craving.

Skins Slasher

[HeroesFan101 · 7/10 · 22 May 2009]

I was fairly surprised at how much i enjoyed this film, it dragged slightly but i did fairly enjoy it. There were some good gags in the film and a few familiar faces from the likes of "SKins" and "Grange Hill". It was quite gruesome but for a British slasher it was good. With the movie being made under £1 million i found it was applaudable for a film on that budget, Alex Pettyfer seemed, i thought, strangely fitted to his character, and the character of Tasha played by SKins' 'Michelle' was i thought creditable, i feel that this film may do quite well in England as it is a bit of 'British Comedy'. However the plot may have been silly and very far-fetched i found myself laughing and squirming just as i did with "Shaun of the Dead", in my opinion a well-cast cast whether recognized faces or not. Overall, i do feel like it has been said, that SKins fans would enjoy this, and that it is a fairly unlikely representation of school life but i did enjoy it.

Not what it promised

[torin03843 · 2/10 · 29 September 2012]

This movie inhabits the most dangerous area for movies, the gray area, it was labeled as a comedy horror but at no point during the movie was i scared or amused. In the beginning i thought it might be special. But then as soon as i saw the undead kid i knew it was crap. He doesn't look terrifying or even frightening just kind of annoying.

I mean, who comes back from the dead with evil powers and starts off their haunting career by sending scary text messages?

Also this movie was praised by people for "really showing how bad bullying is" but no "bully" would ever, ever, EVER take a kids inhaler during an asthma attack and hide it.

The size of it is this movie isn't good enough to be remembered or even bad enough too be remembered it's just kinda there.

An enjoyable allegory...or is it a parable?

[innocuous · 6/10 · 1 December 2010]

I can never keep it straight.

Anyway, this is not a bad little independent film. It keeps your interest (unlike most teen slasher films) and pays minimal attention to reality. The adults (teachers and staff) are totally clueless and basically uninterested in what's going on, while every teen in the movie is almost a super-genius at villainy. (The basic theme of the film is "don't be a bully or bad things might happen.") I find it a bit charming that there's never any explanation about why things are happening in the way that they are. Got somebody coming back from the dead? Sorry, not enough time to explain why. Also, it's hard to see that there are any "rules" to this movie. Bad people get what's coming to them, but (fairly) good people get it, too.

Production values are pretty high, cinematography is more than adequate, and the music fits in well. What more do you need? Definitely suggested as being a cut above the average slasher flick.

How do you screw up a simple slasher film this badly?

[adamscastlevania2 · 1/10 · 16 September 2014]

(2%) A film highlighting one of the biggest problems with certain low-budget British cinema in that it lacks both ambition and ideas. The school "kids" are all clearly 24 which at least in American slasher films the students don't wear uniforms, but here they do and it just looks as if they are all going to a fancy dress party as the same theme, it's awful. The writing is dire, the characters are from another world as they behave and talk like no real human beings actually do, and the mix of American elements thrown in from time to time just doesn't work and only further hampers the already broken reality in which this is set. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the real kids from the school in which this was shot (clearly during summer break) couldn't make a better film themselves.

one of the disaster horror movie ever!

[thalasemia_major · 1/10 · 6 July 2010]

I spent my time watching this horror-comedy-whatever disaster movie... If someone write a screenplay like this, and come to you as a producer,do you spent your money or time for a movie like this? why they did this?just someone answer me why?because there is nothing new-different...believe, a ghost came and kill everyone who laughed and enjoyed with him before.but hold on this is an intelligent ghost,because he did everything and the girl who didn't remember him found guilty for all!!!what an amazing end..and clever ghost made all these with just taking a small ''head girl'' sticker from the girl and putting it to the crime scene..wow fantastic!! where can i start to write about this horrible movie?there are two major arteries in arm,ghost-killer cut the two arms of the girl,OH god!hold on...blood flows like Niagara... sorry but i can't go on.

this was one of the worst horror movie ever.don't spent your time.

Fun if not frightening British horror that shines with Skins energy

[Stampsfightclub · 8/10 · 13 October 2009]

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.

Does it know what it wants to be?

[bowmanblue · 7/10 · 4 January 2020]

I've seen so many horror movies in my life that I'm ashamed to say that I had to re-watch the opening twenty minutes or so of this film straight after sitting through it, simply to make sure I actually understood it! It starts out soon after a British private (I think?) school has had one of its pupils commit suicide. However, those left behind soon start to realise that the pupil may be dead, but he isn't quite finished with them.

Now, normally I list the plus points of a film and then get on to whatever gripes I have about it. This time I'm going to do it the other way around. First of all, as I said, I didn't 'get' what was happening. Yes, I knew a student had taken his own life, but I couldn't work out who it was supposed to be and his relationship to the cast. This is because you never see him (alive). The action picks up after it's all happened. Fair enough, but I thought it would be more integral to see his interaction with those who he considers to be his 'tormentors.' In fact, I actually thought a boy gets killed in a graveyard near the beginning of the film WAS the boy who everyone spends the rest of the film talking about (hence my need to re-watch the opening). I guess there's narrative reasons they did it this way, but those fall under 'spoiler territory.'

Secondly - and I hope this isn't a 'spoiler' - this is a 'super-natural' film. At first I was expecting a 'real' killer, but I guess this area of the plot is foreshadowed by the talk about 'Hamlet' near the start of the film.

So, once I'd accepted how the film-makers were doing this and the 'rules' of the game (so to speak), I actually sat back and quite enjoyed it. Yes, there are other flaws I could mention - like the 'liberal' school uniform which the pupils seem to be allowed to wear any way they like (especially when it comes to the girls wearing theirs like St Trinians!). Then you have the cast themselves. I'm sure the actors are all competent enough, but the fact that every last one is a complete and total stereotype of a modern teenager does kind of grate on you after a while.

I know I'm sounding quite negative, but if you're looking for a gory little slasher film with a supernatural twist then you should enjoy it like I did. The gore is actually worth waiting for as there's a scene with an eye which really is quite sick (in a well-done special effects kind of way). Plus there's an undercurrent of dark humour running through this and the gag with the 'badge' made me chuckle long after the film had ended. Of course this meant that the film veered from horror to comedy without really much warning. All the actors play it straight, but there's some definite winks to the audience here and there.

'Tormented' is no classic and I doubt will be remembered by anyone, but it is perfectly watchable and if you're a fan of the genre then you could do worse (if you know what you're getting).

Stupid.

[aloysius_predato · 3/10 · 21 September 2010]

It gets a 4 because it was semi-professional. The storyline was grossly overblown and the characters were powerfully overdrawn to create an effect similar that which occurs when one attempts to smoke oregano in place of marijuana. The writer brings to life some of the dumbest situations imaginable in what can only be construed as a desperate attempt at originality. I can't stand it. Not to mention, the perfect opportunity for a female locker room scene, instead we get a dude's naked arse in the locker room. Be equal, that's all I ask, one for one or none for none, not none for one...that's f*ed up. Chest for breast, arse for arse... only way that's fair... or nothing for nothing. This movie should be thrown into Hell.

The worst film of 2009

[freemantle_uk · 1/10 · 4 July 2010]

And that is an achievement in itself, considering it had strong competition from Paranormal Activity, GI Joe: the Rise of Cobra, Transformers 2 and The Spirit. Tormented was a terrible excuse of a film, setting itself up as a post-modern, horror comedy. It's fails miserably.

Darren Mullet (Calvin Dean) was a highly unpopular, asthmatic student who was nicknamed Shrek by the popular kids/bullies. He commits suicide and at his funeral everyone fakes collective grief but quickly recover for a drunken party. The bullies, the leader, Bradley (Alex Pettyfer), his girlfriend, Tasha (April Pearson), the muscle, Marcus (Tom Hopper) and bitchy girls Sophie (Georgia King) and Khalilah (Larissa Wilson) run the school with a reign of terror; but there start to receive text messages from Darren from beyond the grave. They are picked off one by one. In the middle of this was Alexis (Dimitri Leonidas), another member of the gang who starts to go out with Justine (Tuppence Middleton), the head girl and object of Darren's desires. But Justine starts to feel guilty when Darren's friend Jason (Olly Alexander) claims she is just as guilty because she ignored him.

The film's writer Stephen Prentice and director Jon Wright (not to be confused with Joe Wright), have obviously never met a teenager or set floor in a school. There is just so much wrong with this film, the filmmakers did not understand the psyche of teenagers in Britain. Every character was a stereotype, popular kids, jocks, nerds, goody two-shoes, slags or emos: it will be hard to find anyone like that in any school in Britain. It can be argued that the filmmakers were simply placing American stereotypes in a British setting but basically they barely work in an American programs and films, and not at all outside North America. Most British students are hard to pigeonhole into a set group and often a mix of characteristics and personal tastes. The filmmakers also did not show a realistic view of bully. The students in this film are meant to be sixth form age, around 17 to 18: but by that age most people would have easily have grown out that phase are often in school because they want continue their education. You would be hard press to find any sixth form or A-Level students like any that are like any of the characters in the film. Also well as unrealistic characterisation there is a logical problem in the film. If one student dies then it's a tragedy, if more then one dies then well, questions would be asked, the police would get involved, the media would report it, politicians may get interested. This was a film were it did not know whether to be serious and dark or comic.

There are some okay moments of horror, like the killer's ironic methods of death, like tiring a girl's hands up with her school tie so the killer can cut off her hands. They is also a fun moment for the squeamish where a bloke has to push his eyeball back into its socket. But these moments are few and far between.

The acting throughout the film was sub-par. No one stood out for being better or worse then their contemporaries because they are all not particularly good actors. The direction too was poor: filmed like a Skins episode. That was meant to be a selling point, but the problem is Skins is an overrated program. There is no scares or good comedy and an fight scenes are poorly handed. The characters are not interesting in any way and Wright makes no effort to do otherwise. There is no way to feel sympathy for either the bullies or even the victim.

Tormented offers nothing new to the slasher genre or say anything about bullying. A total waste of time.

I liked this!

[sarahmillyhannah · 6/10 · 24 June 2010]

I struggled to get into this film at first. Being a British horror type film i was also wondering if we were going to get something like 'The Hole'. But it wasn't like 'The Hole' it was more like a usual picking off teens one by one film but with a bit more of an interesting twist to it and I loved the ending. There are some very realistic bullying scenes which are not a pleasure to watch, but you do understand why the 'fat kid' wants his revenge and you have absolutely no sympathy with the bullies. Some of the death scenes are great if not grisly too! The bullies i think are believable. I can see there being many kids so vain and full of themselves to behave like they do in this film. Its not a typical slasher/stalking thing as there is no atmosphere like that due to the lighthearted nature of the film. I thought it was great. It was different and very entertaining. Certainly no where near the worse film I have ever seen, I think i would still give that title to Cabin Fever 2!

One of the worst comedy-horror films

[harvey-palak · 3/10 · 21 September 2012]

I have just watched the horror, Tormented and found it a very poor and rubbish film. It is briefly based on a bullied teenager comes back from the dead to take revenge on his classmates. The horror-comedy failed miserably. I found it stupid how the killers' power and murders was relied on his inhaler. Although, it had an unexpected twist at the end of the film, when the police and other students think that Justine (Tuppence Middleton) had killed the other students, it still didn't improve the film at all. There are some decent moments of horror as the killer's methods of killing such as tiring the girl up to the guillotine so that she cannot escape while chopping her hands off. Moreover, the killing of Tasha (April Pearson) was also enjoyable as it was unique and didn't how Darren Mullet was going to kill her. Overall, I found it boring, uninspiring and predictable. The film was really cheesy throughout and the humour was just embarrassing. The makeup on the killer was horrific, didn't look scary at all. Although the plot seemed a good one but when the actors, script & budget came together it was terrible. I feel that you can just add this to the list of other failed horror-slasher-comedy British films.