Bereavement (2010)

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Bereavement (2010)

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In 1989, a young boy is kidnapped by a local madman and raised to be a soulless killer. When Allison makes the mistake of trying to save him, she becomes trapped in the pair's murderous game! Director Stevan Mena returns with a bloody tale of nature versus nurture that takes us back to the slaughterhouse in BEREAVEMENT, the highly-anticipated prequel to 2004's hit MALEVOLENCE. Anyone who may have written MALEVOLENCE off as being cheap imitation will have much to consider now. Mena demonstrates all of the same skill and control as he had shown previously, but this time without the obvious references to HALLOWEEN or TEXAS CHAIN SAW that may have lessened the impact for some viewers.

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Bereavement (2010)

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BEREAVEMENT is a much different film than before, focusing far more on the personalities of the characters and the psychosis of the killer. This, again, is no FRIDAY THE 13TH. The people presented on screen are smart, realistic, and rounded individuals. We care for them, and as a result, the tension and suspense soar because we do not want to see them get hurt. Their deaths have meaning. Mena has put together a much stronger cast, with exceptional performances by Michael Biehn, John Savage, and Alexandra Daddario. The biggest praise goes to Spencer List in the role of Martin, however, whose emotionless performance and unflinching expressions capture the essence of the character perfectly. List is never assumed to be evil, he is just blank. The success of BEREAVEMENT lies solely on the believability of this performance, and List excels in the role.

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Bereavement (2010)

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With key cinematography by Marco Cappetta, another thrilling score, and a more intelligent script overall, BEREAVEMENT shows an advancement in style and form for the now-established director. The Masters of Horror will need to scoot over to make room for Stevan Mena at the dinner table.

Carl Manes, I Like Horror Movies

In this prequel of his 2004 Slasher film, Director Stevan Mena, goes back to when it all started, the year 1989. In 1989, 6 your old Martin Bristol is abducted while playing on the swing set outside his home. His abductor is Sutter, a man that has had a life of abuse, abuse that has sense affected him mentally. Operating out of his family's old and rundown meat packing plant, Graham Sutter has taken up the life of a cold blooded killer. Sutter abducts and brutally slaughters numerous victims, all under the watchful eye of Martin. Over the next 5 years, Sutter teaches the boy the tricks of the trade, to kill showing no mercy. The film focuses on a a joining subplot that focuses on a teenage girl named Allison. Allison has just moved from Chicago, to Pennsylvania to live with her Uncle Jonathan, after the unexpected death of her parents in an auto accident. Allison suffers the typical discomfort of being a transplant, and one of the ways in which she escapes from it all, is running along the countryside. It is during such a run that she notices something strange about the slaughterhouse, she notices a confused young boy, peering through the window. Curiosity gets the better of Angela when shew eventually follow the boy into the abandoned slaughter house, but unfortunately for Allison, she soon comes face to face with the murderous Sutter.

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Released in 2004, I reviewed MALEVOLENCE in 2005. I really liked the film at the time, but unfortunately, I have not seen the film since. So with that said, I do not remember all of the details surrounding the plot. But I do remember the film being a throwback to the slasher heyday, it was cliched like the majority of them, but it was a well made piece(However, my review for MALEVOLENCE was not, in fact, it was quite awful. I was a beginner at this reviewing thing then, so it is riddled with bad grammar and all…."shudder"). With this followup some 7 years later, Mena this time around, taking a more concentrated approach. This film tells the story of how the killer in MALEVOLENCE, Martin Bristol came to be, and honestly, what a fascinating story it is. Yes, like MALEVOLENCE there are still the "hack and slash" elements like there were before, but in BEREAVEMENT, there is much more of a character study to go along with it. This time around, we focus more on the killer's mindset. In this film, of course Sutter does most of the killing, but we also examine his relationship with young Martin, and most in particular, the events in Martin's life that would shape his adult self. We watch Martin abused and forced into actions by his mentor, and how Marin is essentially bred to be soulless. Mena also adds a new characteristic to the Martin Bristol character that I thought to be interesting. Here, Mena gives Martin a rare disorder that makes him not able to feel pain. This is interesting, and makes a lot of things more plausible in this story as well as in MALEVOLENCE. When he is abused by Sutter, he can't feel the pain, so one has to imagine that, instead of absorbing that pain mentally, that he must be absorbing it mentally. On the other side of the BEREAVEMENT story, we are introduced to a young, out of place teen in Allison, who comes to live with her Uncle's family. The script takes its time with these characters, from in-family arguments, to Allison's budding relationship with a young guy named William, we get to know these people well. But as usual, when this happens in a Horror film, that usually means that something bad is going to happen to them, and that it does. Without giving too much away, I will say that BEREAVEMENT really brings it in its final act, packing a genuine dose of true suspense, and a lot of the red stuff.

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With MALEVOLENCE, Stevan Mena showed use potential as a technical Director, and with BEREAVEMENT, he has only improved for the better. Shot on an obviously low budget, this film looks and feels as if it is on a much better scale. The cinematography, which has already garnered many award, looks sharp, and Mena stages his suspense like a veteran. BEREAVEMENT is a film that has a dark and moody tone, that along with just the right amount of grit, creates the perfect atmosphere for a serial killer flick.

As for the acting in the film, just about everyone involved is on point. Alexandra Daddario, could not have been more perfect for the role of Allison. Daddario is just gorgeous, but not only that the girl certainly can act. With the Allison character, she creates a strong female lead that the audience truly cares about. I can't wait to see Alexandra in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 3D as good ole Leatherface's sister. Michael Biehn, who portrays Allison's uncle, Jonathan Miller, is great as always, while Brett Rickaby as Sutter, is also disturbingly good(the way he should be). One must also mention young Spencer List, who is Martin, when speaking about the film's standouts. Here. the role of Martin is virtually speechless with no dialogue, meaning the role is executed mostly via facial expression. Much like his ROLE in OFFSPRING, List proves once again that, when need be he can be quite the menacing kid(cave-boy or not).

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Overall, all I can say is that we finally got a prequel that was actually good, makes sense, and is well worth our time. Most prequels such as this one fail in their purpose. Many of them do attempt to tell the origins of one story, but eventually get lost along the way when attempting to be their own original film. BEREAVEMENT is pretty much what it says it is, a straight up origin story - one that definitely stabs!

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