Torment

"Torment" follows a young bride-to-be who spends the weekend with her paranoid soon-to-be-mother-in-law at her sprawling San Francisco estate. Meanwhile, a psychotic woman-killer has arrived in the city, and is about to descend on their weekend plans.

This flick was released by New World Pictures in the late '80s and seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle, toiling away on video store shelves before vanishing into the abyss. Like most New World Titles, "Torment" is not high art, but it is a fairly clever psychothriller which has some things in common with the '70s giallo. The entire film really looks more like a '70s picture than it does an '80s one; everything from the score to the gritty cinematography gives the impression that you are watching a film made in the mid-1970s. There are a few homages to Hitchcock peppered in, and a number of great visuals that counteract the low budget.

There is a fair amount of suspense established early on before the film throws its singular curveball at the midway point, which is an unusual and crafty one. The last half suffers after this revelation to some degree, as there isn't much left in the way of surprises, but fortunately a spunky performance from Eve Brenner as the protective, wheelchair-bound mother-in-law really amps things up. William Witt, an unknown, plays the schlubby killer, while Taylor Gilbert is serviceable as the clueless protagonist.

Though not a terribly exciting film, "Torment" is a crafty thriller that manages to succeed in more ways than one. It is worth viewing for fans of psychothrillers, and manages to establish itself as a late-'80s curio that feels more like a mid-'70s English-language giallo. 7/10.

If you didn't notice the year this takes place (1985) due to the cars and clothes, you'd probably think this was a film from around 1970-74, and likely a European Giallo thriller, but it isn't one because it's 1985 and set in and around San Francisco. However, it owes much to the influences of Argento and the other Italian and European directors of this particular type of horror film, called the "yellow" (Giallo) cinema. These really are films of terror, not horror, and they are typically slow-paced and languid, with a minimal music track that doesn't get in the way, a normal human killer (normal meaning non-supernatural) with definitely twisted psychological motivations or obsessions. The actors are also minimal, with only limited numbers of characters, and they are often well-rounded character actors who rise to the occasion to put in above average performances. These films also have rather grisly killings with a fair amount of gore. This particular film meets all of these standards, with the exception being that it is only moderately gory. As has been said in other comments, if you are a fan of the gory modern fast-paced horror films with flat stereotypical characters, you might be bored by TORMENT, but if you like nicely done, plot-driven Giallo terror thrillers, this will not be wasted time for you.

As is the case with a lot of movies, there were some really good and inventive ideas for the plot and in the hands of a better writer/director and cast, this could have been a great movie. It is still better than a lot of the dross produced in the 80's, just needed more polishing.

A recently engaged woman's weekend with her soon-to-be-mother-in-law gets crashed by a deranged psycho who's set his sights on them.

Torment is an obviously low budget offering without any major star power and technical pizazz to help it through some the duller moments of the film, but a midpoint twist is a real shocker and a lot of the scares and jolts are very effective. Still worth seeing once.

A serial killer(William Witt)is murdering young women of San Francisco.Police detective Michael(Warren Lincoln)tries to find him.Unfortunately,Michael's fiancee Jennifer(Taylor Gilbert)soon becomes the madman's next obsession.She finds herself trapped inside a dark house with an elderly near-cripple(Eve Brenner)."Torment" is a boring thriller which offers nothing new.There is no gore and no nudity,so fans of horror will be disappointed.Even the violence is toned down.There is some suspense during the climax,but I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone.4 out of 10.