Friday, March 6

Torment (1986)


Directed by Samson Aslanian, John Hopkins
85 Minutes / New World Pictures / Cropped from 1.85:1 to full screen

An older gentlemen psycho is murdering women across San Fran apparently over not being able to swoon the younger set as he once did. The lead detective on the case sends his wife to his family's large estate for safety during the spree. The detective's overly panicky mother being the only other inhabitant of the home. Soon the elderly woman is crying wolf (or so it seems) over a man stalking about the house. The young wife is suspect of her claims since the sightings and attacks always seem to take place when she's not around. The surprise arrival of the young woman's father sets off a strange set of coincidences...

Despite the outstanding box art and the IMDB claiming the film to be "Horror"--this is a thriller through-and-through, but sadly not a very good one. There's about fifteen decent minutes here after the sagging middle but before the limp conclusion. Otherwise it's a psychological snoozefest and nearly bloodless bore. William Witt isn't terrible, but he's just the same ol' sweaty, overweight, and weathered maniac we've all seen. The only real performance here is Eve Brenner as a pitch-perfect jittery old maid. The direction is lazy with the viewer never getting a good sense of the geography of the home despite much of the runtime being spent within its walls. Christopher Young's score at times echoes his chainlink dirges of '87's Hellrasier. Watch Clive Barker's masterpiece again instead.

Film: 4/10
VHS Picture: 5/10
VHS Sound: 5/10

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