"Bereavement" Review - Written by Anthony T

Bereavement
Year: 2011
Director: Steven Mena
Stars: Alexandra Daddario, Michael Biehn, Brett Rickaby
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Crimson Films
Running Time: 103 Mins












Going into this film, I had not seen “Malevolence”. I was interested in seeing this film as this film was getting good review online from some of more known horror sites and the fact that independent horror films of this caliber never makes its way to my area.

“Bereavement“ is the prequel to Steven Mena’s first film “Malevolence”, which was released in 2005. The film starts off in 1989, where Martin Bristoll, a six year old kid is kidnapped by a psychotic person. He then takes him to his farmhouse, where he is forced to witness his unspeakable murders. Five years later, his whereabouts are unknown until a young woman (Alexandra Daddario) moves in with her uncle (Michael Biehn) and his family. There, she finds that there’s something strange going on at that place where Martin lives. Her curiosity unleashes a nest of unspeakable evil that can’t be stopped, as now she and everyone she knows is in danger of a psychotic man that wants to keep the whereabouts of Martin unknown and will stop at nothing to keep it that way.

Maybe it was a good thing that I didn't catch "Malevolence”, when it first came out. I probably would not have been as shocked with the ending to Bereavement, if I'd saw the original before this film. It's a good thing to have a prequel that is accessible for those who haven‘t seen the original film in a particular series. It makes the viewer interested in renting or finding a copy of the original, if they like the prequel.

Steven Mena is proving to be a talented director. He does a very good job keeping the intensity up through out the film. One of the things that he does right, he gives the film an eerie tone. By doing that, it makes the film have an eerie feel and intensity of horror movies of the seventy and blending it in with all the violence of today. I usually don't see that in a lot of films, as the violence feels rushed without building any tension and having an shocking tone. By doing that, it makes the viewer come into the film's dark and eerie tone.

Even though this has an eerie tone, there is a lot of bloody violence. The violence scenes were effective, because of the setup that this film has. I liked, how most of the bloody violence was held back until the final act. It allow the story and the characters to develop and it makes you interested in the story. That helps make the film’s action more horrifying, as you care about the characters.

The other thing that also makes the direction work, Mena directs the performances very well. I'm starting to notice between this film and his last film that he does a very good job handling the performances of his actors and actresses. The performance were good here, as this is probably one of the better acted horror film, in a while. The performances helps make the characters interesting and it gets you into the tone of the film. It's one of the things that you need, in order to make a serious horror film work.

But what I liked about this film more than the direction, the fact that it has a very good screenplay. One of the things that Mena does very well, he lets everything develop. I liked how, he holds back most of the main action to the final third of the film. It gives time to develop the story of the back-story of the main character from Mena’s first film. It does a good job of going into the state of mind of the character and how he became so violent. He also develops the subplot with the family before they’re being terrorized. I liked how that was handled very well. Mena does that, by spending time to develop the characters. That makes them important in the story and it helps set up the final act, as your interested in those characters and they don‘t feel like throwaway character that you see in some low budget horror films. If the whole plot and subplot was uninteresting and boring, then maybe this film wouldn’t be as accessible for those who are coming into the “Malevolence” universe, for the first time. Thankfully, the subplots works well and my interest was kept during the course of the character development.

“Bereavement“ is very shocking film that successfully blends horror elements from seventies with the shocking torture elements of today.

For more information on this film, you can visit the film’s website at: http://www.bereavementmovie.com/

Review Rating: Five Stars