Torment (2013)

Wonderful Movie

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

After the death of his mother, young Liam Morgan is finding it hard to accept that his father, Cory, has remarried and shows resentment towards his new stepmother, Sarah. They make the decision go and spend some time away at their summer home in the hope that the time together will help Liam come to terms with the new situation, and for him and Sarah to become closer. However, what was planned as a hopeful family vacation turns into a nightmare when they are stalked by a crazed family and find out that Liam has gone missing. When Cory finds out that the group intends to take Liam as one of their own, he resorts to anything he can to take back his family.Torment was a bit of a mixed bag in all honesty, unfortunately most of it pretty boring and not all that good. The film has actually got a Strangers/You're Next kind of feel to it as well....just not as good though. The film starts off pretty well, building up what seemed to be quite a decent story, but it kind of fell away when it got to a certain point. From there on in, it got a bit silly and quite nonsensical in the decisions that Cory or Sarah started to make. I know you don't really watch a film like this for realism, but still some of the decisions were a bit ridiculous i.e. firing a flare gun when trying to avoid detection from the "bad guys".Another unfortunate thing was the decision for the masks that the intruders wore. You look at the picture for the film cover and think "maybe it has a different effect in the film", but nope....it's actually still amusing to see a 6ft 3 man wearing a mouse mask like that. In fact, judging by what we see of the main intruders face, he probably would have been scarier to keep the mask off. Tie that off with some poor acting and there is really not that much you can find that is all that good about this movie.Not a movie to avoid at all costs, but definitely not a classic by any stretch of the imagination.

Newlyweds Cory and Sarah Morgan take Cory's 7-year old son Liam up to the country for some much needed family time. When it appears as if Liam has run away, psychological suspense becomes straight-out horror, as Sarah and Cory must now confront a sadistic cult-like family who have been hiding in the house all along and have taken Liam for themselves.Some horror fans will watch anything and give this a try. Some are more discriminating and might give it a chance because it stars Katharine Isabelle. That latter reason is a good one, and bumps this film up from bad to alright.There are some cheesy lines about the kid who will not accept his new stepmother. In such situations, these conversations probably happen and they probably sound stupid trying to reason with a kid, but they sound out of place here...There are some good things: there is nice coloration on the cinematography, giving it a sort of sepia-influenced creepiness. And you cannot deny the interesting villains; the animal mask theme seems to be in vogue for the 2010s... these are some of the better masks out there, probably better than the ones from "You're Next".

This movie is definitely not terrible. It's not as classy as The Strangers or as fun as some other recent home invasion flix but, I honestly thought it was good enough to watch twice. Katharine Isabelle always demands my attention and this time I think the film worked for her. At the very least the film adds positively to her standing as one of our favorite new age scream queens.. The film is shot well, the acting's not terrible, there's some genuine suspense here and a fairly scary bad guy with a little twist or two along the way. As an avid horror fan who wades through piles of crappy movie weekly looking for the hidden gems, I'd say this film will please most genre fans. I don't know just good a sequel would be though. Might have to steer clear of that one...lol.

The Strangers is one of my favorite horror films -- unrelenting tension after the first 15 minutes or so. This film has no tension whatsoever. Just a dysfunctional family being stalked by, well, strangers. I should have gone by the low IMDb user rating and saved my money. Strictly amateur night as far as the filmmaking and way too much time is devoted to how much the kid dislikes his stepmother. A few cuts and this could have actually been a Lifetime Channel movie. Seriously. It barely earns it R rating as most of the horror scenes take place off camera. And the masked strangers are not the least bit frightening whereas they were horrifying and very mysterious in The Strangers. The creeps here wear bunny rabbit costumes, for goodness sake! Bugs Bunny cartoons deliver more thrills than this crap. Plus, you never fear the family is in any real danger from the bunnies. Avoid this one like the plague.