THE TORMENT

I'm always glad to see horror with a supernatural flavour and, better still for independent filmmakers, you do not need vast pots of cash in order to make a creepy film. Paranormal Activity is a well-known recent example of this truism although, for me, that film floundered due to its unsympathetic characters and great lulls in tension. I welcomed a chance to watch British indie flick The Torment because I hoped that it would pick up where Paranormal Activity gave up the ghost. And did it?

Well, in many ways The Torment far surpasses Paranormal Activity (a film I earnestly wanted to like, but ultimately couldn't). The former manages to establish believable domesticity and everyday characters in a short space of time, providing a human interest that just wasn't there in the latter. There are also some good early performances here, with David (Giles Anderson) in particular managing to communicate palpable fear and unease on very little dialogue. The film does a great job of bringing David's troubled mindset to life with some simple devices which really work. For instance, showing how erratically time passes for him and how everyday sounds take on peculiar volume levels and significance communicates his otherworldliness and loneliness very effectively.

The film opens with young couple Alex (Nicholas Shaw) and Kate (Zoe Richards) being disturbed by the late-night arrival of Alex's old college friend, David. David arrives in domestic disharmony after discovering compromising photos of his girlfriend Sarah and he asks if he can stay the night. But, has David brought more than his relationship problems with him? As soon as he's left alone, he begins begging and pleading with an as-yet invisible someone to leave him be, and when he looks out of the bathroom window he sees a (fucking scary) figure advancing towards the house. Quickly, he puts a layer of salt under the door to repel whatever-it-is. It's a simple, but disquieting scene.

Kate and Alex are naturally concerned for their friend's well being - especially when he starts sleepwalking and then ranting at them - and they suspect that he's suffering some sort of psychotic episode. If this is so then it's catching, as they soon find themselves fleeing their flat in terror when Alex sees something too - or at least, he thinks he does... Kate and Alex hide out in one part of the building and David winds up hiding with the terrified-pregnant-lady-upstairs, Anna (Francesca Fowler). During a (somewhat flawed) sequence the walls appear to be covered with newspaper clippings, one of which reports the murder of a pregnant woman at the hands of her husband…bang on cue, Anna collapses, and dissolves in a disfigured mess…

Morning comes and the distraught couple find, and comfort David, but the situation continues to escalate and now David won't let them leave the house for fear of the demons outside. Yep, things can't end well…

I began this review by wondering if The Torment would outstrip Paranormal Activity and in many ways, then, it does (and forgive the constant comparisons, but the two films share a great deal - not just the demonic-infestation-in-modern-professional-household motif, but the use of in-house CCTV, the sleepwalking scene, the distortions in time, using knives to face off against demons…) However, The Torment has its share of problems too - many of which occur around the one-hour mark. I mentioned the sequence which takes place in Anna's flat: some of the action, this scene included, feels mixed up and because it becomes confusing (not least because so much takes place in the dark, sometimes for barely-justified reasons) this damages the momentum which built up so steadily in the first half of the film. I think it's very difficult to sustain ghostly terror over the course of a feature-length film - just as I tend to find short ghost stories more frightening than novels - but, nonetheless, there are more ingenious ways to do this than permitting the film to spiral away into screaming-pitch violence when there are still some tantalising loose ends to take up. Less is more - and that goes for the demonic creatures, too. A final negative criticism would be the ending. Ah, the ending - make-or-break time for the entire film. Well, the ending is ambiguous, and I think there is a lot of space for ambiguity in this type of film, although I think that The Torment would have benefited exponentially from more plot exposition. I wanted to know more about David's book - what had happened at his own house - what happened to Anna - and what, if anything, was on the CCTV footage. Essentially, I wanted to ask a lot more 'Why?' questions during this film.

I felt that the film lost its grip towards the close then, but The Torment certainly has lots of positives, including some genuinely unsettling moments (the impromptu newspaper Ouija board was a stroke of genius) and I look forward to any future projects, which I hope will work towards more plot coherence and less messing with light switches!

Review by Keri O'Shea