Pernicious (2014) User Reviews

Warning - Fake Reviews here.

[southernjunk · 3/10 · 20 June 2015]

Just noticed that at least 6 of the reviews here all appear to be from the same person - if you look at their history, they've all reviewed the EXACT same (3) movies. This one, (Pernicious), Sparks and Dark Moon Rising. All of them rated the movie 7 or higher (which immediately set of alarm bells on a movie that's been trending in the 2's and 3's).

As far as the movie itself goes, 3 stars is the best this horror fan can do. It was really too gross/gory for my taste. I prefer to shut my eyes because the movie scared me, not because it made me sick to my stomach.

Well, to each their own.

'Don't follow that creepy Asian girl Rachel!'

[Seth_Rogue_One · 5/10 · 12 October 2015]

Now this movie although a 'scary movie' is not very scary at all (at least for me, I've seen over 700 horror movies so I suppose I don't scare easily anymore but I don't think anyone is really gonna clench to their seats with this one).

But it still kept my attention somewhat throughout the running-time which is a bit of an accomplishment at least, granted the pretty faces helped a lot with that and it's also visually fairly competently done... The scenery is nice and scenes of gore and blood are good fun, even though the jump-scares are less successful.

The acting is... so so at best but yeah seen a lot worse when it comes to that as well.

The music is a little overbearing at times, over-dramatic and loud.

The script is, again I've seen movies with worse lol, but yeah nothing to spend your last money on and probably a movie that only holds up for a one time watch.

And yeah I wouldn't call it "good" but it kept my attention somewhat so it's not all bad either, in the end I can only give it about 4 or possibly 4.5/10 though.

Parts of this are like watching torture porn.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 19 June 2015]

"Pernicious" is a bad film in many ways. However, I cannot just dismiss it because it also, at times, shows a lot of promise-- especially since the director/writer, James Cullen Bressack, is so young and seems to have potential. It's a shame, with a bit of retooling it could be an exceptional horror story.

The film is about three incredibly smokin' hot women who inexplicably land in Thailand to work with underprivileged children!! I say inexplicably because the three look and act just like they are in a Spring Break sex romp and show many of the classic stereotypes. True to the types, they are mostly concerned with getting drunk and getting laid...which makes the entire working to teach poor children angle totally laughable. Had the film simply had them be three hot and terribly spoiled ladies (which they were) but without the silly children aspect, it sure would have made a lot more sense! As it was, this is how the movie started and I was immediately turned off.

What came next was also terrible. The three pick up three sleazy guys and it appears that the film is going to be a nudie picture. Surprisingly, it doesn't go there at all--and what follows is just god-awful. The three ladies torture and murder the men. This alone is not the problem--it did work with the plot that follows. But the scenes were often way too vivid and just plain nasty. I don't enjoy seeing folks' teeth getting knocked out nor their eyes shoved into their mouths! Call me a prude if you like, but at the very least, this sort of thing sure seems to lack subtlety!!

Had I not been asked to review the film, I am sure I would have stopped watching long before all this. Amazingly, however, despite thoroughly hating the film so far, the last half actually shocked me because it was quite good. The sense of horror and foreboding in the film was excellent and the back story about the Kumari* was weird but unique. I almost wish they'd redo parts of the first half of the film and then release it--making the ladies just stupid and vacuous instead of social workers as well as cutting a few of the more revolting torture scenes. It wasn't even because all the killing was that believable--but it was just unnecessary-- especially when the film otherwise did a great job of setting the mood without all the over the top gore.

*If you care, the Kumari is a real sort of thing from Buddhism but is from Nepal and does NOT involve murder and gore. Look it up sometime if you are curious.

utter mess fake reviews

[thomasevans51 · 1/10 · 20 June 2015]

OK to start off the film was absolutely rubbish, the acting was atrocious and the storyline was just plain silly.

As for the fake reviewers on here ( fosterchandler3-685-790349) i might add that this guy who gave this film 8 stars is very 'close and also knows his work schedule Lil ' with the director hence the big amazing review.THE OTHER FAKE REVIEWERS ARE "Camden Stewar"t & "cameronflores9" People really need to start watching the actual movie instead of praising a guy who makes a diabolical movie. People really need to stop using the rating system on IMDb to create false hope for people expecting a good movie. One tip i will give to the guy who wrote the 10 star review ( you may want to possibly not make it so obvious how close you are with the director and is fabulous work ethics. Please for the love of god get a grip. Bottom line this film should not have even been made its that rubbish take my advice people don't be fooled by these 10 star reviews from people who have only been a member for like the past month who only have the one review. Come on to the silly idiots out there who do this, people are not that dumb

bad amateurish movie

[rasull-ramad · 2/10 · 20 June 2015]

i watched it because the movie poster boasts some respectable endorsements. Then the movie starts... its all downhill from here. wait its in digital.. a HDcam movie. As soon as the opening starts, you feel kinda nauseous. Something felt amiss. It doesn't feel normal. Not movie like. The amateurish camera angle gave it away. Amateurish editing inter-cutting with the drone cam really shows that this guy doesn't know his stuff. BTW, the overhead shot really sucks. The opening scenes where you see the actresses talking without audio should really tell you of what is to come. Its like someone forgets to record the sound. The movie really got worst. I could not get past the first 8 minute. Felt sorry for the actresses for believing in the director.

Awful Movie with Terrible Story, Characters and Performances and Fake Reviews

[claudio_carvalho · 2/10 · 19 July 2015]

The American Alex (Ciara Hanna), Julia (Emily O'Brien) and Rachel (Jackie Moore) travel to Thailand to a voluntary work and they lodge in an isolated house where they find a golden statue of a girl. They meet three British guys and bring them to the house for one-night stand and they have a dreadful nightmare with them. In the morning, they find that they have been stolen and the guys have gone missing with their jewels and the golden statue. Soon they meet a witch that tells a story about abused children called Kumari that return as a revengeful ghost. Further, they find that they are in danger.

"Pernicious" is an awful movie with terrible story, characters and performances. I was lured by the fake reviews in IMDb and wasted my time watching this film. The characters are detestable with their arrogance and stupidity with the exception of Julia and in the end I was expecting for their soonest death to end the film. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): Not available

A Little Hostel, A Little Grudge...

[FilmFatale · 5/10 · 24 June 2015]

Three American girls travel to Thailand to teach English to the schoolchildren there. They are set up in a sweet house (but still manage to complain about it) and while they are exploring, they find a mysterious life-size golden statue of a little girl. Soon, our heroines are plagued by nightmares, the old man next door who keeps dropping in, a vanishing child, and more. Are the girls a victim of a vengeful spirit? I thought Pernicious was mildly entertaining but it has a lot of problems. First, the three lead actresses aren't great. Sometimes it seems like they're smirking at the script and other times they play it straight so it messes up the flow of the story. Speaking of the story, it's serviceable but completely predictable. You can tell where it's going from the first scene with the statue.

Pernicious would be practically indistinguishable from a dozen or so other Asian ghost revenge flicks were it not for some truly excellent gore from ToeTag's Jerami Cruise. Fans of this subgenre aren't usually confronted with eye-gouging and tongue-ripping and the like, so the gore is kind of out of place but I liked it and it did liven things up a bit (that the actresses don't speak during the big set piece also helps). Still, it's odd that there's creepy scene setting, then BIG GORE SEQUENCE, then creepy exposition/jump scares, then HEY WE HIRED A GORE EFFECTS GUY SO LET'S HAVE SOME MORE NEAR THE END, then it ends.

I can appreciate the filmmakers trying to do something different but I'm not sure how many people Pernicious will please. Ghost story fans probably won't appreciate the gore, and gorehounds will have a lot of time to kill between the good stuff.

Awful isn't strong enough

[nmn34 · 1/10 · 5 October 2015]

There is a long scene in Thai without subtitles. Most of the scares are ripped almost entirely from the trailers of better horror movies. They failed to edit out the three seconds in which they accidentally played the wrong audio track. The fake blood runs off skin like water off a peach. This is pretty much the extent of special effects in this movie. The characters are obnoxious stereotypes of the American tourist. The twist is so poorly concealed, Stevie Wonder saw it coming and decided to read a book instead. The story has all the twists and turns as a taco bell burrito to your toilet. The characters are so poorly written that any enjoyment anyone can get is turning the movie off, a pleasure that for some reason I denied myself.

This movie isn't good enough for Asylum.

Strange time-filler

[roscoe666 · 4 October 2015]

Pernicious starts off like a rather naff TVM. Three models (supposedly teachers) rent a house in Thailand and experience some weird goings on, before shrugging them off and going shopping/clubbing. This pretty much continues for a good part of the film before they can ignore it no longer.

Actually the above précis makes it sound more interesting than it really is. There is no real script or acting to speak of, just by the numbers progression. I thought for a moment the film was dubbed because some parts have badly out of synch speech. After every trauma they remain immaculately presented, with not a hair out of place, and strangely unmoved by their experience.

There are a few scenes of Herschell Gordon Lewis style camp ultraviolence, which although obviously fake, is the only redeeming feature of the film. However, they jar with the pedestrian pace and made-for-TV style nature of the rest of the film.

Overall, although not terrible, you need to be seriously bored to bother with this one.

Dull but has its moments

[TdSmth5 · 6/10 · 26 September 2015]

In the intro we see some evil ceremony taking place. A guy on a chair is being bled. The blood is placed in some jar filled with golden jewelry. A blanked is covered in some symbols in blood. A girl is also on a chair. Next, someone beats the guy to death. Then it's the girl's turn.

Three American girls travel to the Thai countryside to teach English. They reach their rented house and at the entrance is some little dollhouse that turns out to be a "spirit house." As soon as one the girls sees it, she reaches inside and for some reasons takes something. On the second story of the house is a golden life-size statue of a girl.

The girls go out at night and meet 3 Brits. One of the girls has a boyfriend back home, the other two are sisters and slutty. Despite the objections of the taken girl, they end up with these guys back home. They drink something from one of them and get dizzy. Next thing you know, the girls act robotically and torture and kill the three guys. They wake up the next morning talking about this shared nightmare. And the golden statue is gone.

They go to the market and seek to find info on such a statue. They see a girl who guides them out of the city to some soothsayer who speaks of the statue and the girl. She gives them a protective talisman but one of the girls throws it away.

At night they start seeing the golden girl and other creepy stuff. They meet the neighbor whose old father has a confession to make. He knows about the girl. He tells them what happened in the intro and why.

Unfortunately, Pernicious has a lot of problems. For one, there's no character development. The girls are cute, but we learn almost nothing about them. There's the good girl, the bad girl who doesn't care about anything, and the slutty girl. That's all we know. There's an odd discrepancy occasionally between what the girl say and what goes on. For example, once the girls arrive at the house, they marvel how old everything is. And yet nothing looks old at all. The filmmakers make little use of the settings in Thailand. They might as well have filmed this in Mexico. Unless the core of the story is part of Thai lore, but we never find out.

On the positive side, the ending is neat and different. There's some gore but not a whole, but it is very cool. It looks like there are some subtle criticisms here as well, at least that's how I interpret them. For example, when the girls go shopping, one of them talks to the gorgeous Thai salesgirl as if she were talking to a monkey. Turns out the pretty Thai girl speaks English just fine. Or when the girls go the bar and meet the Brits, one of them says that they must be smart because they are British. Of course, if you watch a lot of Hollywood productions that's exactly the image they are trying to portray for some bizarre reason--all the bright, if not genius, characters are Brits and strangely enough there is no show or movie without a British character. Horror movies about the supernatural rarely succeed. This one could have used more horror, more scares, it's all just too dull.

You sort of want to like Pernicious, but they really don't give us a lot of reasons

As Bad As It Gets

[Zebb67 · 1/10 · 3 October 2015]

Bad, buh-bad, bad, bad!!! Three young women travel to Thailand to teach young children (though they all look more like Victoria's Secret models forever strutting down a runway). Let's see, you have the irresponsible, horny blonde chick; the irresponsible, not-so-bright blonde chick; and the one smart, responsible chick (brunette of course--no cliché goes untouched in this cr*p). The chicks (I'm only using that word because that's clearly how the filmmakers view them) decide to party down before school starts, but it seems the house they are living in is haunted with...well, something or other. Some gory murders to wake you up, but since the victims are always tied down, there is no tension or suspense. Additional caveat for those interested: though the three chicks often prance around in their underwear and short-short shorts, there's no nudity. I guess they didn't want to lose their dignity. Why the rating for this garbage is not hovering around 2 or 3 suggests the cast and crew (and friends and relatives of both) were instructed to vote.

Strong if slightly flawed supernatural effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 26 January 2018]

Arriving in Thailand to become teachers, a group of friends trying to experience the culture finds themselves caught up in the supernatural antics of a dead little girl coming back to seek revenge on the original culprits who killed her and set out to stop her rampage from continuing.

This one was a decent enough supernatural effort. One of it's more enjoyable aspects is the rather enjoyable atmosphere conjured up by the whole experience of being in a foreign land. The concept of them being in Thailand being out of their element and trying to figure out what's going on once they wake up from their date night is where this one really starts taking off with some great ideas and concepts. Most of this comes from an incredibly chilling backstory involving the use of necromancy and black magic to detail the steps involved in the creation of the main spirit at the heart of the story and the various rules that go into playing out the different forms of protection or just creating the ghost itself that provides quite an impressive backstory to this one. Tying in the rather creepy and chilling flashback that explains the actions and motivations of the family into undergoing the ritual and how the refusal plays into the manner of haunting against them that turns into some rather freaky moments in the house as they're individually haunted by the ghost in the house all in startling sequences. The final half really puts this into overdrive as well with another big plus in the strikingly brutal and twisted torture games being played throughout here which offers up some shocking sequences. This starts out nicely early on with the dream scene where all three dole out bloody tortures on their dates by literally ripping them to pieces in slow, methodical fashion as the graphic and bloody visuals showing them being showered with blood throughout the process makes for a striking setpiece. The final half, where it really lets loose with them being tortured by the idea of one of them being possessed by the released ghost girl features even more over-the-top bloodshed and gore which does bring this one up quite a bit. This one does have a few minor issues, which comes from the needlessly convoluted and contrived storyline that doesn't make any sense here. This one is way too complex about what's going on with the girl and the witch doctor with the family living there and how it all ties together in the end as it definitely bogs itself down in needing to explore too many angles in order to make sense. As well, the fact that this happens during the parts where the girls become the most unsympathetic makes it somewhat hard to really care as for what's happening which doesn't need to happen at that point. Combined with some minor scenes of dodgy CGI, these here are what hold this down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

A violent supernatural thriller, Pernicious delivers.

[rotundbatman-1 · 7/10 · 24 June 2015]

Pernicious follows three college aged American girls on a summer trip to Thailand. When they arrive, they discover an ancient golden statue of a small girl in the house they're staying in. Their trip takes a turn for the worse after they uncover the statue, unleashing an evil spirit housed within. As the body count rises, the mystery deepens as they attempt to figure out why the spirit is bound to the statue and the reasons behind it's bloody desire for revenge.

This is one of those films that at times reminds you of others, and you think you know what's going to happen next based off of those, but then it flips the script on you. It's at times part Hostel, at times part The Grudge, and there's even a hint of Pumpkinhead in there, yet it still manages to be it's own thing. It's hard to explain. As the plot played out, every single time I thought I knew what was going on, it threw a twist at me. It never went off the rails, but it kept me guessing. Whenever a movie can do that, I definitely consider it a win. The cast mostly performs well, with Ciara Hanna and Jackie Moore being the standouts, as Alex and Rachel respectively. The third of the girls, Julia, was played by Emily O'Brien and she had a few brief moments where reactions were a bit extreme to situations, but she was far from the worst I've ever seen.

Effects wise there was your standard practical/cg mixture. Thankfully most of the blood and gore was of the practical type, while the cg was left mostly to animating the statue. The practical stuff was great, the cg was probably serviceable at best. The budget for this movie went into so many things, practical effects, camera shots, location, etc., that I am more than forgiving if what little cgi is in it isn't quite cutting edge. It looks fine, trust me.

Coming from a guy who shot and edited an entire movie using an iPhone once, Pernicious is a great example of what James Cullen Bressack can do when he's given a real budget and let loose. Gore hounds will appreciate the head bashing and throat slitting, fans of supernatural fare will enjoy the creepy atmosphere and overall tone of impending dread. It's brutally violent at times, moves at a good pace, and tells a story that's entertaining and intriguing from start to finish. Highly recommended for fans of ghost/revenge movies, but Pernicious has a little something for everybody.

Clichés head-on with potential

[InDyingArms · 5/10 · 7 July 2015]

Usually when horror films involve clichés, they turn out bad. But dose that mean all of them that involve said clichés turn out bad? No. "Pernicious" begs to differ with there execution of clichés, and hidden potential not seen.

The plot of the movie was quite intriguing for what it stood for, but the way this film executes the said plot seems to collide; clichés with potential. First off, in the movie you have a load of things you've seen in other horror movie plots. Many horror fans of which see loads of horror movies will realize that when watching this, seeing many elements of which have been seen thousands of times before. But when the movie offers many of it's execution ideas, things seem to be colliding all over the place. Potential kicks in when the movie executes some pleasant little surprises here, and there. The movie manages to give the audience some new, unique plot twists, as well as simple plot situations. Then, as said before, it also mixes in many clichés toward the plot of which we've all seen in many other horror films in the past. Overall, the entire storyline, and plot of this movie collides clichés, and potential. The potential being pleasant, likable, and unique ideas seen in few movies before. The clichés being situations of which the storyline / plot leads too; elements of which we've all seem before, only kicking off to being another part of execution. Just in a different movie.

Clichés only continue, plaguing into the three main characters, as well as some other background characters seen through out this film. The three characters are just three characters we've seen billions of times before, nothing different. Our three characters have, pretty much shown us through out this entire film every single female character cliché in the book, execution little, to nothing different then what we've all already seen before. Some background characters share the same disappointment. Without spoiling anything, these background characters are pretty much like those other background / backup characters you've seen in your typical paranormal film. However, some said characters have some unique offerings, giving the audience some little relief from the constant clichés that has been thrown at us from the previous characters; shedding little light. In the end, some characters were worth it, but audiences have to put up with three some - what annoying clichéd main characters.

Finally, for the entire execution of this film. The execution wasn't bad .. for displaying said clichéd elements above. It's execution, by tying everything together in this film wasn't bad. It has some grip toward what it was doing, while, of course tying in some of the pleasant surprises this film has to offer, from plot twists, to surprise execution, etc. It held a solid grasp through out, keeping that way until the very end, instead of falling apart into a complete mess; Thankfully, the audience don't have to witness a mess; a bullet successfully avoided.

In conclusion. This film wasn't the worst thing in the world, but on the other hand it was close, and almost hit the oncoming bullet toward becoming complete garbage. The movie had some surprises here, and there, some relief of which the audience can enjoy. This film also has some enjoyable, unique elements of which the audience can notice, and happily gain relief. Once again, though, on the other hand this movie tried to pull off some so called "surprises" but fell flat, managing to be highly noticeable. Overall, this film wasn't that bad. It had some decent acting, some small surprises, as well as decent gore, and a solid, yet clichéd storyline. I wouldn't recommend this to those who can't stand clichés seen millions of times before, but for those looking for a small piece of entertainment, here you go.

A solid concept hindered by terrible execution.

[jhpstrydom · 5/10 · 6 February 2016]

Knowing nothing about PERNICIOUS I went in, kept my expectations low and maintained an open mind. The opening scene managed to draw my interest however it quickly dwindled because of an intro that was way too long. And that's the problem with this film. Many pointless scenes involving long conversations which are repetitive and do nothing to push the main plot forward. Very much like the torture scene that takes place early on. A scene that could've been kept short and to the point is stretch out and just plain boring and repetitive.

The three leads being teachers who go to Thailand to do volunteer work could've been an interesting trio but are rendered as the usual horror movie stereotypes. It's also a wonder that these three ladies are teachers since one of them struggles to describe what a life size golden statue of a little girl looks like.

On the plus side the film features good cinematography and a mildly creepy atmosphere. As well as a definite sense of foreboding in the final act. Unfortunately the film contains too many scenes stretched out unnecessarily that do little to push the main plot forward.

Not what you expect...both good and bad

[dan-bgb · 4/10 · 18 November 2015]

Supernatural horror that tries to incorporate too many elements. While not 'perfect', I wouldn't say its 'dreadful'...true, it could have been better. But if your sitting around looking to watch a horror movie, there are much much worse ways to spend your time. At least it wasn't 'formulaic'...well, not TOO much.

OK. The 'good'- 1) Pretty girls 2) creepy supernatural legend 3) exotic location 4) insane gore, ala 'Hostel' 5) nice twist AT THE BEGINNING, 6) The protagonists are smart, not like the typical 'tripping in the forest' or 'looking in the basement when they should be running the hell away'. Btw, did I mention it has some really pretty girls ? (no nudity guys).

The 'bad'- 1) Uneven acting (mostly from supporting cast), 2) Stilted dialogue and story after the first third of the movie.

As I said, it definitely could have been better. But you gotta love these people who continually pan certain horror movies as 'awful' and 'avoid at all costs'...its entertainment people !! You don't like it, turn it off and watch something else...or better yet, make your OWN movie. To say you want the 'two hours' of your life back...gimme a break...your life isn't all that exciting if you're sitting on the couch surfing for movies to watch.

Bottom Line: Like a 5 course meal with some of the courses a bit 'off', leaving you savoring the good bits and wanting more.

Utter Failure

[Lunaroseice · 1/10 · 16 October 2015]

The idea was an good one. The execution was horrible. The women were totally unbelievable. The blonds equated teaching ESL as saving the world. This might have worked if they were playing ditsy blonds but they seemed to be playing slutty blonds. And it wasn't even the clothing giving this impression. It was the attitude and body language. The dialogue was poorly written and the acting was terrible. The brunette, the 'smart' one, seemed to be the ditsy one. Their interactions with the locals were painful to watch because they were so patronizing. Then they hit the bars and the acting and dialogue get even worse. I actually stopped watching before the movie got gory. It was just so bad that I couldn't continue watching.

Perthetic.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 24 January 2016]

Three American fitties, Alex, Julia and Rachel (Ciara Hanna, Emily O'Brien and Jackie Moore), travel to Thailand in order to teach English to children (and to pick up sleazy British guys in bars for casual sex), but find themselves menaced by a Kumari, the vengeful spirit of a young girl who was sacrificed in a bloody ritual.

Borrowing heavily from post-millennial horror hits The Grudge and Hostel, James Cullen Bressack's Pernicious is a wholly unoriginal torture porn/creepy girl ghost story that tests the patience from the word go. Its three central girls might look great in a pair of tiny shorts, but they're unsympathetic characters, behaving in an irresponsible manner that is bound to end badly; the torture element is suitably nasty with fine gore effects by Jerami Cruise, but it's nothing we haven't seen many, many times before; and the supernatural scenes are totally predictable and scare free, supposedly nail-biting moments including the old 'it's under the duvet' trick and the tried-and-tested 'bathroom mirror reveal' (yawn!).

Just about bearable thanks to the lovely ladies (alas, no nudity!) and the gore (best bit being the shot of a pulsating brain in an old woman's crushed skull), but don't expect Pernicious to deliver anything remotely original.

Deeply unpleasant mix of gore and supernatural scares

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 24 September 2015]

PERNICIOUS is a US/Thai horror film with a ridiculous storyline and even more ridiculous execution. It feels a little like the equally sleazy and explicit SICK NURSES, another Thai horror flick that emphasised outlandish gore over the niceties of plot and originality.

This film's narrative concerns a trio of American bimbos who travel to rural Thailand to start teaching careers (when you see the characters of these women, you'll know how ridiculous and unbelievable that is). Before long they uncover a spooky golden statue in their rented home, are menaced by grisly dreams, and haunted by the spirit of a ghostly little girl.

About the only thing this film has going for it is a fairly novel basis for the spooky goings-on: the use of child corpses in Thai black magic, something that fills real-life newspapers every now and then. It's a chilling premise, but this film soon turns into a silly rip-off of THE GRUDGE, except with really awful CGI effects instead of anything halfway decent. Bizarrely, there are also some extremely unpleasant gore sequences thrown into the mix, including one 'torture porn' dream sequence which is among the most explicit I've ever seen. It smacks of desperation in a film that otherwise struggles with poor acting, scripting, and a totally unmemorable playout.

Not just a nightmare for the trio

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 25 May 2018]

Was drawn into seeing 'Pernicious', with a cool poster/cover, an intriguing and quite creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

'Pernicious', simply put, turned out to be a terrible, worse than feared film with next to no redeeming values and so much done catastrophically wrong. One of the worst films seen in a while, which is saying a lot for somebody who on the most part has been encouraged by their film/television watching and has more often than that been quite generous. Decent idea, horrendous execution.

Lets start with one positive. The scenery is atmospheric, if wasted by the schlocky way the film is shot and particularly edited.

However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary it got. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their irritating and illogical decision making and behaviours insult the intelligence. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The acting is also terrible and the effects are ropy at best.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the second half and never is it exciting. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense. A large part of the problem being the excessive gratuity of the elements thrown in to "spice things up", that it borders on pornographic and tasteless, and the utterly predictable, confusing and un-scary way the torture and supernatural elements are handled.

A lot of the film completely fails to make sense, both in underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations. The villains are poorly used and pose very little threat. The last third badly sags in momentum and the atmosphere completely falls flat. Everything feels both overdone and tame.

In summary, a nightmarishly terrible film. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Creepy statue , blood and gore

[polly966 · 8/10 · 22 June 2015]

Absolutely loved this movie, set in beautiful Thailand with beautiful people right at the start, then for it only moments later to have a hostel type feel..changing the tranquil feel to the movie straight into a gore fest!

It's creepy horrific and also has a fun element to it in places, the story line is believable, it's an absolute must see. If you are a lover of all things supernatural, horrific and gory, and the thrill of being scared to death then this movie is for you.

James CullenBressack smashed this one out of the park and is one to watch out for in our very near future!!

At Least One Girl Was Pretty, Though

[redrobin62-321-207311 · 2/10 · 13 January 2016]

Right from the outset you knew the movie was going to be a waste of time. Three gorgeous young models fly thousands of miles away to Thailand to teach English when they could make a fortune on Hollywood and Vine? And then these three fools, I mean, girls drag three strange men out of a bar to their house for "entertainment" after knowing them for only 10 minutes or so? My goodness. The incessant fake crying from the three men was as unbearable as the acting of most everyone involved in this quagmire of a film. The Thai government should sue the studio for exploiting a 10 year old girl like they did in this movie. There's absolutely nothing in this film that you've never seen before - clichéd old stranger who knows the deepest, darkest secrets of a town; a house so far they can't get a phone signal; hot girls running around scantily dressed in a land known for its giant, blood sucking mosquitoes, etc.

I only stayed with this film because I like Asian guys and there were a few pretty ones in it. If you're not into that then give this movie the boot.

This is not the golden girl is the golden fail

[lucifuge2001 · 1/10 · 30 July 2017]

It is hard to know what works wrong for the movie: the story, the script, the actors, the editor, the continuity supervisor or the director. Probably the sum of all. There are a lot of fails in this movie but the worst is the story which left us with two hypothesis or there is not story from the beginning or someone kill it in the way. I hope to help and avoid others to lose time with this crap. There are a lot of better movies around for you to see. Happy trails.

Horrible

[dodgeruk · 1/10 · 27 July 2018]

Just a tension-free torture porn excuse for scenes of torture. As morally bankrupt as a Wall Street trader in 2007.

Yawn

[robert_shadbolt-540-148324 · 1/10 · 25 July 2018]

Terrible and pointless story, Which would not be out of place in a soap opera. The only upside is the use of Thailand for a backdrop. The three actresses should of been wearing bikinis that would of made the film more watchable.