Bereavement (2010) Reviews

• Bleak, Brutal and Gruesome Slasher Film with a Brainless Heroine

  claudio_carvalho2014-01-05

  SPOILER: In 1989, the boy Martin Bristol (Spencer List) has congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), a rare neural disorder, in which the patient does not feel pain, heat or cold. He is abducted by the deranged serial-killer Graham Sutter (Brett Rickaby) and brought to the Sutter Meat & Poultry, an abandoned meat-packing plant in Minersville, Pennsylvania, where Graham slaughters young women that he kidnaps. Five years later, the stubborn seventeen year-old teenager Allison Miller (Alexandra Daddario) loses her parents and moves to the house of her uncle Jonathan Miller (Michael Biehn) that is located near to the decrepit plant. Jonathan, his wife Karen (Kathryn Meisle) and their little daughter Wendy (Peyton List) welcome Allison, but the teenager does not give much attention to her new family. Allison likes to run alone on the road and she passes by the meat-packing plant and then she meets the mechanic William "Billy" (Nolan Gerard Funk) and has a crush on him. Jonathan advises Allison to avoid running near the old factory and Billy, who is a problematic teenager. Allison does not listen to her uncle and brings tragedy to the Miller family. "Bereavement" is a bleak, brutal and gruesome slasher film with a brainless heroine by Stevan Mena. The storyline is cruel with children and most of the directors of horror movies avoid this approach to make the film more commercial. Allison is the key character, but she is too stupid to make the movie work. Her attitude toward her guardians is awkward for an orphan without resources. She is an athlete with big breasts that runs without brassiere, which is unusual. But he worst is to follow an unknown boy through the underground and gruesome basement of an abandoned building seeing jars with blood and weird chains (imagine the smell) without any fear of being raped or attacked by a stranger. Last but not the least, this unpleasant movie is recommended for very specific audiences only. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): Not Available

• Much better if you know what it is

  ace615022011-10-23

  Did ANY of you prior reviewers realize this movie doesn't need an explanation because it IS an explanation? This movie is a prequel for the movie Malevolence. And a good one. The acting wasn't top billing actors (take a look at the budget), but it wasn't the worst I've seen by far. Not sure how anyone could say there's no plot. It won't replace my favorite horror movie, but I did enjoy it. Either watch Malevolence first, or watch it knowing what it is. I can see how confusing and open ended it would seem not knowing that, especially since, as far as I saw, IMDb didn't bother to mention it, either. This movie does a great job telling the background story of how Martin became the psychopath he was in Malevolence. There were still surprises along the way. It would be nice for it to be more obvious what this movie is, because it really is not a stand alone movie like some other prequels and sequels are.

• Huge disappointment

  melissa-1832011-09-01

  Bereavement is about some crazy guy who talks to cow skulls and kidnaps young girls to torture and kill. It's hard to like the girl, Allison, in the leading part cause her acting is so awful. That also applies for the crazy guy. The movie drags along and the scenes where the crazy guy talks to his skulls are boring and hollow. Reactions from captured girls, including Allison, are often implausible and annoying (hardly fighting back, making extreme loud noise while trying to escape, etc). On top of that Allison is telling a young girl to stay in her room while the house is on fire. Not the sharpest tool in the shed. The makers must also believe you can create a real scary scene by making girls scream their lungs out for quite a while. Well, it's not scary, it's annoying. Overall, lousy story, extreme bad acting, not scary and predictable. Makes me wonder who wrote all the reviews and high votes. 1/10

• Vicious and brutal.

  lewiskendell2011-10-26

  "Brought home a boy from the valley. He's young enough to learn the business my way." This recent entry in the "small town psychopathic serial killer" genre isn't exactly a game-changer and it doesn't try to be that scary, but it is a tense, nasty affair that will probably appeal to some horror fans.  We've got out deranged killer that preys on young women, a young boy he kidnaps to "assist" him, and a new arrival from out of town (Alexandra Dadarrio) that enjoys taking long runs alone that just happen to pass by a sinister looking and isolated rundown meat-packing plant. If you're guessing that's a recipe for blood, brutality and death, then you're right. Bereavement is fine for what it is, but I doubt I'll be compelled to watch it more than once. There's nothing really exceptional about it, though some of the outdoor cinematography is beautiful, there's a concentrated effort to give depth and a back-story to most of the main characters, and Alexandra is undoubtedly nice eye candy (if there was an Academy Award for filling out a halter top, she'd have it in the bag). The bottom line, though, is that this is such a thoroughly bleak movie that it's almost too realistically grim and hopeless to find entertainment in. That's not necessarily a "flaw", but it's definitely something some viewers will respond less favorably to than others.  Oh, and I don't think I've heard this much screaming in a film in quite a while. Have your ears prepared to be assaulted. 

• Some Moments: Solid and Scary...Most Moments: Laughable and Cliché

  Pheonix732011-03-05

  I saw 'Bereavement' at a late-night showing, after which the director was available for a Q&A. I really wish I had asked Mena the many questions I had about his film, but, honestly, by that time, I just wanted to get out of there and go home. Although the movie had some brilliant moments (great cinematography, terrific use of sound and very gory scenes) for the most part, it all-too-quickly slips into the realm of "We've seen this before." Examples: A lonely psychopath who lives in a slaughterhouse, a mute child, a big-breasted, small-brained heroine, an ending that involves a fire. Yup. It's all there. Oh, there's also a lot of bad acting and characters who do the most BRAINLESS, RIDICULOUS THINGS POSSIBLE! It's sad, really, because Mena is clearly a passionate, talented man who wore several hats while making 'Bereavement.' Maybe he should have saved some time to give the movie a real, hard, serious look.