Bereavement (2010, DVD Review)
Director: Stevan Mena
Cast: Michael Biehn, Brett Rickaby, Alexandra Daddario, Peyton List
Anchor Bay Entertainment / NTSC Region 1 / Rated R / 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen / Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround / English and Spanish subtitles / 107 minutes
Disk Extras: Commentary with Stevan Mena / Deleted Scenes / Making of / First Look: On the Set / Theatrical Trailer / TV Spot / Still Montage / Screenplay
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A few years ago first time writer/director Stevan Mena cut his filmmaking teeth on a low-budget slasher called Malevolence. Word was that it was the second part of a planned trilogy about serial butcher Martin Bristol. I, like many others, was not impressed for the most part with the very derived story and plot that generously lifted from some of the horror classics like John Carpenter’s Halloween and the greatest horror film of all time, Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Like a lot of first time filmmakers, Mena’s dialogue was barely okay at best and the acting was pretty amateurish. The one bright spot was the director’s camerawork and liberal use of the scenery and surroundings. So when I heard that the prequel to Malevolence was being released, I was less than excited about it.
Six year old Martin suffers from a disease that doesn’t allow him to feel pain in any way. This keeps him from doing a lot of things, even talking in fear that he will bite off his tongue and not know it. He is kidnapped by the local teen girl serial killer and for five years is subjected to the mad, murderous teachings of his captor. Allison is a teenage girl who has just lost her parents and is moving in with her aunt and uncle in rural Pennsylvania, right down the dirt road from the slaughter of innocent young girls just like her. She meets a local guy and begins to butt heads with her uncle and one day after she has a fight with him, she decides to visit the old slaughterhouse where she recently thought she saw a small boy in a broken window… the home of Graham Sutter: psychotic killer and his wee protege.
This is Stevan Mena’s third film (the second being Brutal Massacre: A Comedy) and in the five or so years since his freshman film, Mena has matured and really come into his own as a writer and director alike. Bereavement is a grim, brutal portrait of rural terror and leaves a lasting impression on you long after you hit the stop button. Mena’s stark and realistic look into the relationship of madness between Sutter and the young boy is unflinching and sometimes uncomfortable to watch. The director’s use of the contrast of the wide, beautiful country backdrop and the chilling, filthy slaughterhouse set-piece is intensely effective. Mena also did not scrimp in the extreme violence and blood. In one scene his victim is gored through the back of the knee, hung from a meathook and roughly transported right into the roaring furnace while loosing a blood-curdling scream. I winced during the entire messy incident.
Veteran actor Brett Rickaby (2010′s remake of The Crazies) who portrays the murderous yet obviously mentally ill Sutter relished his role and chews up every scene he is in. He seethes with menace but somehow gets the viewer to have sympathy for him and his sickness. Young Spencer List knocks his mute performance as the up and coming serial killer Martin out of the park. He took what Rickaby threw at him and spat it right back at him with a wicked glance. On top of that, we are treated to the manly charisma of Michael Biehn, star of such small movies like The Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss. To round out the terrific starring roles, Alexandra Daddario (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief as well as the upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D) not only can act her ass off, but she has the looks and the lungs to be the next great Scream Queen. In all this is one of the most complete casts in a horror movie I have seen in a while.
I would love to eventually see this on blu-ray because the lush scenery caught by Mena of the Pennsylvania country is gorgeous and multiple viewings would let me enjoy lines like “Please don’t…” and the reply “I have to” over and over again. If you are in the mood to be terrified by the real boogieman, pick up Stevan Mena’s Bereavement on DVD or blu-ray next week, August 30th from Anchor Bay Entertainment.
