Movie Review: Tormented

3/10

Goodness me... what have we come to, when this thing gets to the cinema, rather than straight to video as it deserves.

A group of bullies are followed after a schoolchild takes his own life, receiving nasty text messages from, and threatening glimpses of the deceased (a rather embarrassingly monickered "Darren Mullet"). One by one those responsible for his maltreatment are picked off in extremely predictable style, as old as the very first of this genre (Black Christmas, we believe).

In fact, so odd is this film that only about forty five minutes in does it become clear the makers intended this to be a comedy. In no other genre would portentous shots of a grossly obese young man who frequently puffs on his asthma inhaler despite being dead, first seen in full when he "bombs" onto a girl in the swimming pool.

The film is far from scary - in fact, its predictability is its greatest weakness - as is a sketchy approach to motiviations and characters.

Every character is an archetype, almost comically stereotyped - presumably to induce the least possible effort from the films viewers - and this leads to some hilarious moments; not least the fact that none of the schoolchildren appear to have parents at all, no explanation whatsoever given for their absences.

The ending too is outrageously simplistic and stupid, requiring a leap of logic of gargantuan proportions on the part of the police force - though since every single adult in the film is so moronic and hateful we are barely surprised.

This falls squarely into the "don't bother" camp - so don't.

A