Highly Overrated But Still Good

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Apparently BEREAVEMENT is the prequel to another slasher flick, MALEVOLENCE, although I haven't seen that film. Not that I'm missing much, as this turns out to be the most routine horror film ever. The story tells of a guy in a 'creep van' who rides around abducting young women and murdering them in an abandoned slaughterhouse. There's a twist involving the killer's abduction of a small boy who he plans to make his apprentice, but it's hardly much of a twist; the ending is predictable from a mile off. So what do we have in a film devoid of originality, interesting characters, and entertainment value? The answer is Michael Biehn. The TERMINATOR star plays the supporting role of the heroine's uncle, proving solid amongst a mix of humdrum acting turns. Although, I have to say, that Alexandra Daddario stands out (for a couple of prominent reasons) as a modern-day scream queen, playing virtually the same role here as her later one in Texas CHAINSAW 3D. The actor playing the villain is weak, though, and the kill scenes are vicious, mean-spirited and unappetising, with little of merit for anyone who's seen anything even halfway similar.

Whatever happened to Michael Biehn ? After seeing him in THE TERMINATOR and ALIENS you'd bet your life this guy would go on to be as big a name as any of the brat packers from the mid 1980s . For some strange reason he found himself in smaller roles in more and more obscure films . He still remained a prolific actor but only in films no one outside of the production team would have heard of . Add BEREAVEMENT to the list This is a very muddled film and you can see why it was difficult to market . It does a consistent look but the feel of the movie is jarring . It has elements that are very similar to a TVM where a beloved family member goes missing but its scenes of violence are genuinely disturbing and unpleasant as a young boy is forced to watch young women being tortured and murdered by a serial killer . After these scenes we get a rather mawkish and schmaltzy family scene back at the family home . Cut to torture chamber , cut to family home , cut to torture chamber and repeat until the end credits It's difficult to understand who this film will appeal to . Certainly the violence both physical and psychological is enough to alienate people tuning in to see a human story about a mother's obsession to finding her lost son , but hardcore horror fans will quickly become bored by the numerous family scenes . It tells you something that post production on BEREAVEMENT finished in 2007 and yet the film didn't get a release date until three years later

I'm not really sure if I enjoyed this movie or not. There were defiantly parts that I enjoyed a lot, but there were also parts that I disliked a lot. So many things about this movie annoyed me. The victims, the constant screaming, the 'hero's' poor acting, the poor acting by the murderer and the talking to his dead father, the stupid police at the end. But there were brief moments that had depth to them. The shot of Martin looking out of the factory at the end, Billy's father at the end waiting for Billy to return. The lack of expression or emotion by Martin, no matter what was happening at the time. The blood and gore. What really got me was why Martin turned at the end. He had shown no interest in the murders and appeared more than uncomfortable about what was happening when the murders occurred, plus he allowed himself to be rescued and seemed to want to be rescued, but then he kills the girl who rescues him and then his 'teacher'. Although i didn't enjoy this movie as much as i thought i would I still plan on watching Malevolence, as I'm interested to see where the director takes Martins character.

I was a big fan of the fllm Malevolence of which this film is a prequel too. Well despite some better production values it doesn't even hold a candle to that film. Filled with an unnecessary amount of violence overkill we learn the roots of how the killer in the first one came to be. The other actors/victims in the film are decently developed and are surprisingly solid for a genre film. The direction and screenplay are the problem film. Besides looking gorgeous the film doesn't any real gratification the killers story is somewhat developed but the real truth is never explored. The film is kept as realistic as possible and is very mean. Building characters only to tear them down brutally for no real reason. the evolution of the events aren't very satisfying and the over abundance of shameless gore and pointless nudity feels crude. The best thing I can say about the whole downer experience is that it's well made and looks pretty besides that there's not much to offer here that you haven't seen before and explored more in depth and less bitingly.