Film: Bereavement

Following the death of her parents a teenage girl moves in with her uncle and his family and while out running she spots a young boy who went missing years earlier.

It turns out that the remaining occupant of a dilapidated family abattoir has been abducting young women (and the one boy) for years and subjecting them to procedures formerly carried out on the animals.

Bereavement is far better than many in this genre, particularly at the straight-to-dvd end. The production is reasonably good and there are some decent performances on display. Michael Biehn (The Terminator) is the most famous cast member and he is perfect as the estranged Uncle but Alexandra Daddario is excellent as the misguided and still grieving Allison.

Be warned though, there are some very uncomfortable moments involving the young boy, Martin. He has a rare condition which makes his brain unable to process pain, meaning that he is subjected to some vicious actions to which the character does not react. This makes for extremely unpleasant viewing but does make the film a pretty intense experience.

This is a superior horror / serial-killer film but many may find the scenes mentioned just too unpleasant to bear.

Bereavement is available on DVD in the UK from 1^st October 2012.

Ric’s Rating: Good.