torstensonjohn Martin Bristol brilliantly portrayed by (Spencer List), a young boy with congenital analgesia, is kidnapped by psychotic and deranged Graham Sutter (Brett Rickaby) . Over the next five years, Graham brutally butchers several young women, forcing Martin to watch. Throughout the film, Graham talks and argues with the skull of a bull hung on the farmhouse wall. This compelling story delves into the mind of a madman and the torture the young boy not only witnesses but has to endure. The casting could not have been more appropriate as on a $2million dollar budget the film was well paced and edge of your seat style. The editing and cinematography were perfectly wound together. This will for sure be a great cult classic in terms of psychological thrillers. A solid 6 almost 7 for me out of 10.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Back in 2003, director Steven Mena made an ultra low budget slasher effort called Malevolence, chronicling the brutal crimes of a kidnapped child named Martin Bristol, who grew up watching his abductor commit heinous murders in front of him, and as such became a monster himself. The torch of evil was passed, but we never got to see those early years and the inciting incident which led to such madness. Cue a prequel, entitled 'Malevolence: Bereavment', a detailed, suffocating and very, very disturbing account of Martin's childhood initiation into the life of a serial killer, under the wing and at the hands of a madman named Graham Sutter (Brett Rickaby, a walking nightmare). He snatches 6 year old Martin (Spencer List) from a backyard swing, with designs on naming him as both protégé and acting as mentor, kidnapping locals in the area and subjecting them to unspeakable acts of violence and psychological experimentation, all in the name of some illusory philosophy that only makes sense in his diseased psyche. Meanwhile, a young girl (early work from Alexandra Daddario) moves into town to stay with her estranged uncle (Michael Biehn) and his family. While she tries to wade through a romantic coming of age story involving a local boy, events surrounding the killer's actions get perilously close to everyone, and erupt into one of the most stressful, harrowing chain of events I've ever seen in a horror film. Biehn is Hollywood's resident badass, but the genius in casting him here is that not even he is a match for Sutter's tedious reign of terror, and it's in such contrast that the film strikes despair right down to the bones. Sutter is barely human, with ninety percent of his dialogue spent on indecipherable rambling, making us feel all the more alienated by the fact that the only other human being around to soak up this toxic output is poor young Martin, on a clear path to mental destruction. These scenes are as lonesome and depressing as the acrid rural vista in which this all unfolds, and while we're thankful for atmosphere and setting, we can't wait to get out and breathe fresh air by barely the halfway mark, lest we choke on such overpowering despair. Keep an eye out for genre legend John Savage in a crotchety cameo, providing the film's single iota of comic relief. As much of a vicious little sleeper as the first film is, nothing quite compares to the sheer bleakness and soul dampening evil they achieved this time around. Don't go onto this one in a bad mood, it'll mess you up.

nitsuamahp Not much going on throughout the movie... or I simply stopped paying attention. Alexandra Daddario is a beautiful actress with quite a few big movie roles under her belt; however, in this movie her character wasn't very bright and would progressively become more and more annoying (with the way she acts, she should've been dead 40 minutes in). The protagonist, Allison, pretty much becomes that one girl who is always going to be endangered no matter who comes to save her or how many times she escapes because of a villain known as MR. BAD PLOT... and I guess her own stupidity. How does she react when the killer or something bad appears? "Ahhhhh!" or she starts to cry. Next time try not to be so loud when your goal is to survive in a horror flick (SPOILER: Allison doesn't get another chance to redeem herself RIP). I swear I saw her going for a run early on in the movie, so why isn't she running now? (Rule #1 of horror 101: RUN RUN RUN!) As for the villain, he's... well, he's kind of lacking as he doesn't have a strong presence (he's not scary). The killer also didn't have a real advantage over any of the other characters, so I'm not sure why none of them were able to fight him off (seriously, it's just one guy). The guy seemed slightly below average in size (body mass), why is he overpowering everyone with such ease (1 jab knocks a girl out cold). The supporting cast didn't really add much substance to the narrative either and I didn't really care when or how they bit the dust. Another major character in the film is a boy named Martin who is kidnapped by our killer and latter becomes his successor in the movie Malevolent. This makes Bereavement a prequel that tries to explain why Martin turns into a murderer but fails to explain why this actually happens. How does the kid somehow inherit the killers traits? How does seeing a goat-head-thing translate to him gaining the mindset of a killer? Why was his transformation so quick (he did a complete 180)? These questions are never really answered, it just kinda happens because... you know... PLOT. The story failed to convey a smooth viewing experience, in fact, it was pretty bland and just seemed to drag on from start to finish (a bit slow for my taste). Overall the story deserves a 1.5 star, but the girl is quite the looker *cough* with massive assets *cough* and her aunt and uncle seemed like really cool people so I added another 3.5 stars.

vengeance20 So, after watching Malevolence. I watched this prequel which in this film, follow the events of how Martin Bristol became a killer & where he learnt the twisted techniques in committing these acts!The film wasn't a disappointment! It was gory! It was intense & lives up to it's 18 certificate! The stabbing scene near the end with Allison proved that! The torture scenes were a far better improvement! The death scenes overall were intense & bloody! Just how I like them to be!I also liked how this film shows what became of Martin & how a boy with no feelings became a killer! I also liked the references to Psycho & Texas Chainsaw massacre & how they pay homage to them!Overall a 10/10! This was ace!