Besetment (2017) User Reviews

Do You Know How Much Garbage Bags Cost?

[nogodnomasters · 3/10 · 2 July 2017]

Amanda Millard (Abby Wathen) needs a job and not a GED. She manages to score one at the Oregon Hotel in remote Mitchell, Oregon (actual place, filmed it there). The town is a bit backward and Mildred (Marlyn Mason) the owner has a simple minded son Billy (Michael Meyer)...and we know where this goes.

Normally films such as this take place in remote rural locations to make it believable. This was a low budget film. The sound track had a lame made for TV appeal for much of the feature. The acting was what would be expected for a script that lacked cohesion. The camera angles and framing needs improvement, stop cutting off the top of heads. The climax was unexpected, but wasn't very climatic. What was with the wig? The end scene with Adam wasn't developed.

Marlyn Mason won best supporting actress at "Back in the Box, California 2016" for what it is worth. Now I had to take a second look when I saw the name Marlyn Mason which looks like cult rock star and Michael Meyer whose name is similar to the Halloween killer. During the opening credits they showed scenes from the film, which was a waste when they should of showed newspaper clippings about the dead husband and other nefarious things about Mitchell. And what was with the backward "E"' in nearly every name? The film was written, directed, and produced by Brad Douglas. The production had potential, but fell short.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Besetment

[a_baron · 3/10 · 8 October 2017]

Most horror films dehumanise men, regardless of the sex of the victims; this one has a female villain, and it doesn't work any better. Amanda is out of work and desperately seeking to get away from her alcoholic mother. Out of the blue she lands a job that is not really commuting distance, so it is agreed she will stay over during the week. It entails working at a small hotel in the middle of nowhere, one that doesn't appear to have any guests, and is run by a matronly old woman, and her son who although not an imbecile is totally under his mother's thumb.

Three weeks or so into her tenure, Amanda receives some startling news: she is pregnant. This is startling indeed because she has not had sex, like ever. Difficult to believe in this day and age outside of an Amish, Moslem or Orthodox Jewish sect. So how did she get pregnant? The flashback is, well, grotesque, and that's without the incest. The woman who runs the hotel is clearly as mad as a box of frogs if she thinks she can get away with what she plans.

There would have been a relatively happy ending, but they had to go and spoilt it. Don't watch this one if you are easily disturbed; stick to films that won't give you nightmares, like those about zombies and vampires.

Not THAT bad actually

[patriarch-k · 5/10 · 8 October 2017]

I did not really look this movie up on IMDb before I saw it and I usually avoid horror movies with less than 5 points. I just forgot it this time and started watching the movie. I enjoyed the movie and didn't think it was bad at all. It was actually kind of good, but it is a movie that will be forgotten after a week, but it was not bad. The only thing I was reacting on was the ending which WAS bad. That completely destroyed the movie and that's why I had to look it up on IMDb afterwards. Still worth a try though if you have nothing to do and just want to consume a random horror movie and not get disappointed.

Weak Screenplay and Poor Production

[claudio_carvalho · 2/10 · 15 June 2017]

The unemployed Amanda Millard (Abby Wathen) is desperate to find a job since she is forced to live with her alcoholic estranged mother. Out of the blue, she is invited to a job interview at the Oregon Hotel in Mitchell in the countryside of Oregon 80 miles far from home. When she arrives, she is welcomed by the nice Mildred Colvin (Marlyn Mason) that offers a maid position to Amanda and her son Billy Colvin (Michael Meyer) fix her car. Amanda returns home to say goodbye to her mother and to her friend Brittany (Sonya Davis) and bring her belongings to Mitchell. Soon Amanda befriends the cook Brad (Max Gutfreund) from a nearby eatery and spends her day off with him. When she returns to the hotel, she faints and learns that she is pregnant. But how, if she has not had any sexual encounter with any man?

"Besetment" is a horror thriller with a promising storyline but a weak screenplay and poor production with extreme low-budget. The flawed plot could have explored the situations better and developed the characters better. Brad, for example, is murdered but the viewer does not know anything about him and no resident seems to miss him. Mildred uses a gunshot in the middle of the night and nobody hears the shot. Amanda is abused in the hotel and sees her friend murdered in her room, but she keeps the baby and moves to live in the place in the end. The director and writer Brad Douglas is quick to make amends to the polemic situations using fade out, such as the incestuous relationship of Billy and Mildred, or she sewing Amanda's mouth. There is one very funny line (Amanda saying to Mildred "I'm either giving birth to the new messiah or that doctor's full of s hit!") and one attempt with the Sheriff that can not recall the correct codes. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Sometimes all I want to say is LMFAO!

[Boristhemoggy · 2/10 · 21 January 2018]

OK good points, the premise of the story is good, Marlyn Mason is actually not bad at all, Abby Wathen isn't too bad really, butt hat's it. The screenplay is dire, my guess is some high school film students could do better with a £150 video camera and a week to plan a movie. The photography is dire with poor lighting and exposure, angles etc. The direction is erm...missing. lol This is a perfect movie if you have a first date and want to make sure that date focuses on you because they are going to spend only 5 minutes before realising what rubbish this is.

God-AWFUL

[j_crawford · 1/10 · 21 June 2019]

I have pretty low standards and I don't ever care to write reviews but I've GOT to say that THIS was the worse movie I've ever watched. The. Worst. You can tell that there was no budget. Like, at all.

What happens when cameras a are cheap

[rosslittle-278-657280 · 1/10 · 24 June 2017]

Medium shot, close up, medium shot, close up, medium shot, close up, long shot, medium shot, break the 180 degree rule, long shot....

Total rubbish. Story is drivel. Acting is awful. Characters aren't in any way shape or form believable. Totally totally pointless and bland.

Don't even bother..... really don't...

Amateurish and very bad

[RandomTard · 2/10 · 17 May 2021]

This movie has been done with a small budget and it shows. There is nothing good that can be said about it. Acting is horrible, script is idiotic and even the fake blood looks like ketchup. I really had to struggle to watch this trash to the end, and the ending was ridiculously stupid.

Actually not even worth the review.

[johannes2000-1 · 2/10 · 26 July 2018]

I could say so much about this movie, but it would be a waste of energy. The premise is not that bad, but in every other aspect it fails: the script, the editing, the dialogues, the settings: it's all sad and uninspiring. The only good acting is by the mother (Marlyn Mason), but the heroine of the story and the few other characters really acted below par.

Probably the makers thought that a touch of realism would make things better, but the scene where the mother secures the semen of her retarded son is quite appalling and I watched with disbelief how she walked around with the result and injected it in Amanda. The horror was not so much in the goings-on themselves (I usually can take tons of horror and gore!) as well in the fact that they really thought it necessary to show all this distasteful stuff.

The courtroom-scene at the end was a bit surprising and could have made for a decent closure, but alas, they wanted to spring on us the obligatory final twist i.e. the start of a whole new chain of horror. What can I say: it was.... well, preposterous is the best word.

I rank it not 1 but 2 out of 10, just for Marlyn Mason.

It could've been.. back completely dumb story

[coflorida · 4/10 · 5 July 2020]

It could've been a good psychotic kidnapping story. The mother was smart enough to drug and impregnate the girl but was stupid enough to think she'd get away with trying to legally marry the girl to her son.... using the missing girl's REAL NAME....

should have labeled horror comedy would make more sense

Retrosploitation and More!

[blankenshipdk · 8/10 · 19 February 2018]

Seriously, the only disappointment I can find in this shocker are the low IMDB ratings. It would seem the movie going public has come to accept recent Hollywood dreck in the guise of the horror genre as legit. I turn your attention to an actual horror movie not based on or centered around; 1) a graveyard 2) an insane asylum 3) a haunted house 4) demons & 5) kids lost in the woods who find a haunted house near a graveyard or nuthouse and then get possessed or harassed by demons. A vivid imagination along with some referential grindhouse/ exploitation style filmmaking sure goes a long way especially in the hands of a skilled director who included top notch acting, convincing character development and a compelling story line. This story has everything needed for a gothic psychotropic rave-up that's modernized just enough to help redefine the postmodern all-American horror film complete with a patina of grimy sleaze. The brilliance of this presentation is demonstrated additionally by the constraint shown in the scenes of violence and twisted sexuality. None of that over the top in your face spook house induced loud violence that goes on for hours thus losing potency. If you can't be entertained by high art infused with incest, heads blown off, kidnapping, rape, familial dementia and home medical strategies then I suppose a concept like " Texas Chainsaw " or "10,000 Maniacs " is simply lost. Otherwise, skip this real thriller & go back to the demon in the haunted house with a graveyard and kids near the loony bin in the dark rain and junk.

There are worse movies out there that are big budget

[belleabu · 6/10 · 10 September 2019]

I have learned that low star rating movies may not be that bad. Low budget and independent movies seem to provide stories a little out there, but that can be a good thing. Single woman living with alcoholic mom finally gets a job which even gives her a place to live. Charming little town with strange folk. Hotel owner is a seemingly 'perfect' business owner and charming long time resident. Something has to be amiss right? The horror is the act which the main character ensures and the twisted villain.

Perfect running time and to the point.

I noticed lack of females, residents and even tourists which was fine cause I focused on the story.

I've only got myself to blame.

[petereplica · 2/10 · 2 September 2020]

From the outset it was obvious this was going to be cheap and shabby, in my defence I was busy doing something else while watching. The plot was ridiculous as was the script; in fact it was awful in just about every way. Just avoid this there is nothing at all to be gained from watching it.

Absolute Tosh

[tamarareddell · 1/10 · 28 October 2020]

I can generally watch most films and see some good in them, this! well 1 star and calling it tosh is being polite. Please don't waste your life watching this, I did and I so so so regret it.

Different, but still nothing special.

[Gunnar_R_Ingibjargarson · 5/10 · 25 February 2018]

A unemployed woman finds a job in a ugly looking hotel where she meet an old woman who hires her. The woman who seems very nice has a dark secret, and a dark agenda. Besetment is obviously a B-movie, there's no doubt about that, however you don't see that in the production, direction, maybe in the acting, nothing else.

You had us up to the end...

[mleskovj · 26 February 2018]

Overall the movie ethralled me and my husband for the better 3/4 of the film. They could've ended the Film at a certain point but chose to continue on and end it with a scene that made us want to throw the TV out the window. For those who choose to watch this film you may enjoy it however I would go right ahead and stop it right after the end of the courtroom scene.

Not bad for the budget

[adeleysim · 4/10 · 27 January 2019]

You can tell it's extremely low production, but it was a really interesting/messed up plot. Watchable for horror fans.

Worthless movie that's such a new bar for unappealing standards and lows

[epbomb · 1/10 · 22 October 2023]

Besetment starts with promise, it would seem the main character Amanda is falling into an unexpected psychological thrill ride. It's at that moment the movie takes a complete opposite turn! This movie takes the Norman Bates and mother relationship complex to a different level except Norman Bates is mentally handicapped and mother is both living and deranged. Our main character Amanda is chicken hostage by the Mother character. We quickly learn the Mother character, Millie, has an abusive control over her son, Billy, and engages in on screen incestual activities with Billy. This COMPLETELY CRINGEWORTHY incestual scene lingers on screen for almost 5 minutes.

Through acts of incest Millie collects the seed of her son and impregnates Amanda, who is being fettered, tortured, imprisoned, and otherwise maltreated in a room in the family Motel. Avengers friends are worried about her is she is disappeared and have alerted the county sheriff who seems willfully blind but suspicious. Under duress, Amanda is forced into a marriage with Billy at the town church. Billy's surprise application for a marriage license at the city hall captures the attention of the sheriffs who conveniently appear at the church while the marriage rights are in process and Amanda kills Millie and self-defense.

The movie closes showing Amanda winning substantial amounts of land and money in a civil case at court showing Billy is already in jail for his role in the actions against Amanda. Suddenly the movie shifts showing Amanda had given birth to the child of the forced impregnation who appears to be four or five who promptly commits an act of gruesome murder. The movie then ends in credits.

On the whole, the movie has very little to show for itself. Very low budget, only a few set locations. The Norman Batesish relationship almost works for a little while, but it is ruined wanted disgusting on screen acts of incest, which is pathetically also the Apex point of the movie between the rising action and the following action and resolution. If this has been a purely psychological Thriller it probably may have been more tolerable, but after the climax the pieces fall apart and the ending is leading with more questions than answers as if a sequel must be necessary. One could only hope that no sequels are ever made to this rubbish and this movie should descend into the bowels of an abyss never to see the light of day again!

Found The Many Mistakes Amusing

[kowboykaziklibey · 4/10 · 23 December 2018]

There's so many mistakes involving continuity in this film that by early on during the scenes where Mildred meets Amanda for the first time, but already knows exactly who she is, or when Mildred is serving whiskey shots to Amanda then puts the cap on the bottle and sets it down with cap magically off the bottle again, it was clear that simply watching for all the ridiculous basic filmmaking screw-ups was going to be immensely more entertaining than attempting to watch this movie as a serious work could ever be.

pretty good

[eduardocarrochio-65879 · 8/10 · 24 December 2018]

Outrageous in good ways, acting is fine, especially the old lady

A good movie

[Daman-Malone · 6/10 · 19 January 2018]

Reading some peoples reviews on this is pitiful. The story is solid, acting is good the camera work could be better (seeing camera man in window of Sheriff Joe's Jeep outside the restaurant), sound is ok. Over all it's a good film, not every movie needs to be on a super explosive Hollywood budget. Like many die hard horror fans, we will watch good, bad and really bad and somewhere in-between each of those is the "it's not bad but not good either". This movie is certainly not an edge of a seat sitter or splatter/slasher flick but it does tell a good story and it shows some good acting by leads.