'BEREAVEMENT': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Director Steven Mena wrote, directed, produced and did the music for this horror prequel to the cult slasher film that got him his start 'MALEVOLENCE'. This film shows the origins of the main villain of 'MALEVOLENCE', as a child, when he himself was abducted by a psychopath and held captive in a farmhouse, where he was forced to not only witness but take part in the madman's brutal killings. The filmmaker says this film was intended to be more of a psychological character study horror film than the more routine slasher film that the original was. I don't see a difference; in my opinion this is a pretty standard B horror film. I haven't seen the original to compare it to but this one is mediocre at best.
The film begins with it's central character Martin Bristol (Spencer List) swinging alone on a swing in his front yard when he's kidnapped by a man named Graham Sutter (Brett Rickaby). It's explained that Martin has no physical feelings in his body, by his mother right before he's taken, so the killer continues to cut and abuse him, as he feels no pain, while also making him bare witness to the killings of other innocent victims he kidnaps. He's held captive in a farmhouse for quite some time while the movie changes focus to a family in the same town where a young woman named Allison (Alexandra Daddario) comes to live with her aunt and uncle after her parents die. Her uncle Jonathan (Michale Biehn, one of my old favorite actors) made a promise to his brother that he'd watch over her if anything happened to him. While dealing with her new situation Allison meets a young man in the area named William (Nolan Gerard Funk) who she develops feelings for. Of course her path eventually crosses with that of the killer and the young boy and things get complicated.
I've read that the original cut was 3 hours long and Mena wanted the film to be an epic horror film. Even at 103 minutes the movie could have used some better editing and I think a longer cut would be excruciatingly dull and unnecessary. The film as it is is barely worth it's time to watch. It does have a nice 80's feel to it though and fans of gore will definitely get what they're looking for. I also love seeing Michael Biehn in anything (especially the sci-fi/horror genres) so getting to see him in action again was a treat in itself (he is underused though). As a whole I'd say the film is pretty average, nothing more and nothing less, just you're average routine horror film; which is not of course how the filmmaker describes it but that's what it is.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGWqCYOhcJs
