Tormented

Studio: IFC Films
Directed by John Wright; Starring: Alex Pettyfer, April Pearson, Dimitri Leonidas, Calvin Dean, Tuppence Middleton and Georgia King

Dec 10, 2009 By Evan Rytlewski Web Exclusive

The cruelty of high school is one of horror movies' most familiar motifs, but few high schools are more purely miserable than the parochial school in Tormented, where even the teachers join the popular kids in humiliating the outcasts. In this British movie, which features some of the cast of the teen drama series Skins, masses of high schoolers are slaughtered one by one by the ghost of the asthmatic fat kid they bullied into committing suicide. It's a poignant premise that exploits the guilt many harbor over their high-school confuct, but the film's tone is erratic, undermining any tension and shock with unfunny comedy. And though the vengeful, inhaler-puffing dead kid should be ostensibly sympathetic--he resembles Vincent D'Onofrio's tubby sociopath in Full Metal Jacket, a killer by nurture not by nature--he proves even more despicable than his oppressors, indiscriminatingly slaying the deserving and the (relatively) innocent alike. The moral, if there is one, is that in high school everyone is awful.

Tormented is currently available On Demand through IFC Festival Direct.

www.ifcfilms.com/films/tormented

Author rating: 5/10

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