Customer Reviews

Malevolence

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If I'm not mistaken, this movie was released straight-to-video. I've never seen a s-2-v movie I liked, so I'm not sure why I thought this would be an exception. I had read an extremely inaccurate synopsis on the internet for this movie, but it had sounded good so I rented it. This movie is terrible. I've seen a lot of bad theatrical horror films, this movie doesn't even deserve a theatrical release. But, I must admit. It had a few good elements (hence, my 2 stars). The music (composed by writer & director Stevan Mena) is really good, like "Halloween" & "Friday the 13th" good. Some of the uses of the music during scenes where the killer appears are pretty effective. But this movie sucked from the beginning. It begins with a little kid (who we've already seen has been missing) watching a man kill a young girl in a basement/torture chamber. Then 10 years later, we meets Kurt (Richard Glover), Marilyn (Heather Magee), Max (Keith Chambers), and Julian
(Brandon Johnson). Marilyn and Max are siblings. Marilyn and Julian are lovers. They four plan to rob a bank and after they do (apparently the budget wasn't big enough to film the robbery) Max is dead and Kurt is heading to the meeting spot, a secluded "deserted" house in the middle of nowhere.
When Max was shot, I was compelled to write a thank-you note to the writer,
because Keith Chambers is one of the worst actors I've ever seen. This man should be shot. Anyway, as Marilyn and Julian stop to bury Max's body. Kurt drives to the house when his tire blows. Kurt (dressed in the same jumpsuit he robbed the bank in and holding two bags of cash...What a dumb a$$) jacks a car that contains a young mother named Samantha (Samantha Dark) and her daughter Courtney (Courtney Bertolone). Why does Samantha have a English accent? Anyway, Kurt takes the young mother and daughter to the house, when Courtney manages to escape. Kurt runs after her, leaving Samantha in the house. Kurt ends up at another house (the setting of the torture chamber) and is killed. The killer takes one of Kurt's money bags and uses it as his mask. Marilyn and Julian then arrive at the meeting spot to find Samantha and most of their money missing. Insert next cliche here. Anyway, at the end of the movie we find out who the killer is. Never before have I known exactly what was going to happen before it did, writer Mena doesn't even bother to add something in at the end to make us go "wow, now that's a twist." Instead, after "discovering" the identity of the killer; we are given yet another "I saw it forty minutes ago" twist. I think Stevan Mena should stick to scoring horror films rather than writing them. Seriously, folks. Don't waste your time.

GRADE: D- (because of the music). F (ignoring the music)

Martin Bristol was taken from his backyard when he was six years old, and became the innocent puppet of a deranged psychopath. Ten years later, the somewhat less than well adjusted Martin is living the legacy of his captor. Julian (Brandon Johnson), Marilyn (Heather Magee), and Kurt (Richard Glover) are bank robbers who, after botching an attempt at their crime, are seeking refuge from the authorities. Grabbing a mother and her daughter as hostages during a car switch, they head out to an abandoned home in the middle of nowhere where they will become the hunted instead of the hunters.

The makers of Malevolence clearly had a decent film idea in mind, it just wasn't pulled off very well. Malevolence is in part an homage to the amazing stylistic techniques of Carpenter, particularly his film Halloween. However, it seems to be true that none can quite live up to the standard set by the master of creepy suspense horror. There also seem to be elements of Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre mixed in as well. Though a unique idea that attempted to utilize tried-and-true horror elements, the plot and script simply were devoid of entertainment value.

Though there were a couple of genuine scares, mostly due to sound effects and decent camera work (both similar to Halloween), they were few and far between. For the most part, I found this movie to be utterly boring and far too slowly paced to hold my attention. At the viewing I attended, many people simply got up and left.

Being Anchor Bay's first attempt at their own production, one can only hope that things should get better with time. Anchor Bay has a great reputation for putting out excellent DVD releases of other films, but their own productions will definitely need some work. I would suggest saving your money and renting this one instead of purchasing it.

[good things]
The movie, after starting off slow, was fast paced and quite suspenseful. The movie payed homage to old horror classics such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the slaughterhouse), Friday The 13th Part 2 and The Town That Dreaded Sundown (the sack head), A Nightmare On Elm Street (green and red walls in the slaughterhouse), and Sleepaway Camp (bug tape). You can tell that Stevan Mena is a huge fan of the genre classics.
The killer reminded me more of Jason in Friday The 13th part 2 with his mannerisms. He stalked and he hunted like Jason. There are also a few scenes that to me seemed like carbon copies of scenes in Friday The 13th Part 2. The acting, in my opinion, was also dead-on along with the directing.


[the bad]
The movie needed more blood and gore. It needed more killing. The whole bank robbery and 'up to the bank robbery' scenes were just too much. It slowed the movie down alot, and really had no significance to the actual plot.
The movie was unique in alot of ways, but the homage was a bit overdone in a few scenes. It seemed like a friday The 13th Part 2 remake in some of the scenes. I did like that, but when it comes down to it, they left a slight sour taste in my mouth.


[final thoughts]
This movie was so hyped prior to it's release. By watching trailers and checking the website periodically I was so anxious to see it. It's sad to say that when I did get around to see it that I was severely let down. I am not saying the movie sucked, it did not, but it was way to slow. I find myself trying to watch it and I can't and if I do I bump it up a few chapters to get to the part where the movie starts go speed up.
But, I really liked the killer, and the story behind him. I liked the references to horror classics, and I liked the soundtrack.
There were hints of a sequel, and I would really like to see it. Hopefully they can fix the mistakes they made in this one and improve.

MALEVOLENCE concerns a group of bankrobbers who hide out in a forgotten farmhouse. Little do they know that a homicidal (malevolent as it turns out) maniac lives just down the road. This leads to several brutal deaths. There's a bit more to the story, including the killer's novel method of succession. The movie's atmosphere is caustic and full of doom, making it easy to believe that no one will indeed "get out alive". Yes, MALEVOLENCE was obviously put together by someone who loves the genre. It was fun to spot the tributes to TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (the bones and clashing cymbals) , FRIDAY THE 13TH 2 (the hood), and HALLOWEEN (music). As a throwback / retro-horror film, MALEVOLENCE punctures the bloody bullseye...

"Malevolence" is a slasher flick which borrows significantly from "Halloween", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Friday the 13th Part 2". The fact that this plagiarism is so evident leads one to believe that the makers of this film were paying homage to the classics. Maybe, but the most glaring problem with "Malevolence" is not so much its formulaic slasher mentality, but its monotonously generic and artificial quality created by the poor acting and poor execution that consequently results in a lack of a cohesive horror movie atmosphere which is essential to any horror movie's success. "Malevolence" is big on plagiarism of classic horror movies, short on substance and nonexistant when it comes to style. Still, the easily recognizable slasher flick formular is bound to draw a smile from slasher flick lovers.

"Malevolence" is about a group of bank robbers who plan on robbing a bank and meeting at an old house out in the middle of nowhere to split up the money. However, things do not go according to plan. When our bank robbers finally end up at this old house, something much more dangerous than the cops await them. At this point, killings begin to occur by a madman.

What "Malevolence" does not have is character development, suspense, or any real originality to it. This is a clear result of the lack of acting ability and consequent poor execution so clearly evident in this film. Sure, the bank robber slant to the plot is a little bit different, but the actors are so inept in the way it is executed, who cares? It's easy to see where this movie is going. The bank robbing part of the plot is clearly incidental to the typical slasher formula so clearly evident in this film.

The actors in "Malevolence" are clearly below average, and this shows easily from one scene to the next. It's almost like the actors were performing in a high school play at times. The acting comes across as artificial, lifeless and against the grain so to speak. They really struggled with the making of this movie, apparently. The result is a rather poorly executed movie overall that does not flow well from scene to scene. It's fine to be a low-budget slasher flick, but it's hard to make them work unless you have a great director who has a harrowing vision of what he wants.

That being said, "Malevolence" does just enough with what it has to be referred to as a typical slasher flick, and a very fair to average one at best. Ironically, perhaps what saves "Malevolence" is its attempt to get back to the basics of the slasher flick formula. Indeed, while "Malevolence" has little originality to it, the movie does borrow from some of the classics causing the viewer to be interested in the movie from that basis alone. Therefore, it's not so much the easily recognizable slasher flick formula that brings "Malevolence" down (although limitations with this formuala are inevitable), but it is the acting, execution of the plot and screenplay and the artificial and unnatural flow to the movie itself which brings the movie down.

That said, "Malevolence" stays within itself and does not try to do too much, perhaps realizing the limitations of its cast and the movie in general. "Malevolence" borrows from "Halloween" some variation of the theme music at times. For instance, when the camera hits the slasher-villain, that little evil tune starts, a la Michael Myers in "Halloween". Obviously, "Malevolence" is not nearly as effective as portraying this sinister quality of the villain. Sometimes, you just have to smile and laugh about the plagiarism. Also, the viewer will notice that the slasher-villain shows up in the background at times just outside of the characters' peripheral vision, another steal from "Halloween".

Also, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is represented by the old farmhouse with human bones so clearly evident along with bones of a bull and other animals. If you listen closely, the viewer can hear the pans clanging in the background, a clear homage to "TCM", or dare I say, highway robbery??

Finally, let's not forgot the hood from "Friday the 13th Part 2", which is the least borrowed from horror movie, but it's clearly evident that the makers of "Malevolence" borrowed this from "Friday the 13th Part 2" because the killer almost looks exactly like Jason with the hood on.

Notwithstanding, its generic slasher formula, almost unbearable acting flaws, and plagiarism of some of the all-time great horror movies, "Malevolence" is not so bad that it is unwatchable. In fact, if you find yourself up really late at night, you could do a lot worse than this slasher as there are some fairly good death scenes with some brutality and, well, if you're like me, you like slashers and you will watch them for what they are and understanding what they are not.

Therefore, if you do not like slashers, STAY CLEAR from "Malevolence", but if you are in the mood for a rather amusing but NOT scary slasher flick you might want to check "Malevolence" out for its blatant plagiarism of the horror classics of yesteryear. One really has to assume that this was homage being paid by the makers of "Malevolence" to the aforementioned classics because it was such a blatant rip-off. I'd like to give "Malevolence" the benefit of the doubt. After all, how many people do the makers of "Malevolence" thing are going to watch this movie that have not seen "Halloween", "Friday the 13th Part 2 and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"? That being said, do not expect much than an ordinary slasher flick, and you may not come away to disatisfied. Expect anything more especially with regard to the acting and execution, and you will want to throw your DVD copy of "Malevolence" in the garbage can.

I saw this movie and there were quiet a few scarey parts that I didn't know what would happen. I found it very interesting and it held my attentiion until the last minute of the movie. If you are into a psychological horror, not necessarily a gore movie, try this one.

As a big fan of the classic slasher films of the 70's & 80's its always nice to see a Director who is not afraid to be called a ripp-off artist & who knows that when somthing isn't broken there is no need to fix it. This is a good horror film made by a real horror fan & i enjoyed it very much! 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' & 'Halloween' are blue prints on how to make a good scary horror movie,so MALEVOLENCE Director Stevan Mena used the blue prints & made a good scary horror movie with a couple of corney dry spots.

I was devastated after watching this film. Why? How? What do I have to do to get the scripts that I've written to film?

I've been writing for a few years now and constantly my scripts are ripped apart for minor illogical incidents. Yet, nothing as ridiculous and riddled as MALEVOLENCE.

AND THIS MOVIE HAS WON AWARDS!!

Where do I go? Where do I sign? How can I get my script turned into a movie?

Wow. Where do I start? First of all. MALEVOLENCE is Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Psyco, House of Wax, etc. etc. I don't mean, it's like them, it is them. The stories. The camera shots. The music. Complete rip-offs. You will see absolutely nothing new by watching Malevolence.

I understand that this is a first film by the director and the actors, but the acting is so over-delivered by everyone. Horrible scripting.

An argument before a bank robbery over the fact that the girl wanted a Snow White mask instead of the Werewolf mask. Completely unnecessary. An argument in a script to get across that the people are wearing characters masks... is not needed when you can see it visually.

A mother and her daughter are abducted and despite the fact that the daughter is able to wiggle from her restraints and run free, the mother can't. Yet, the mother, after watching her daughter run away being chased by a murderer and watching a brutal murder... she is apparently narcoleptic because she manages to SLEEP! Soundly... numerous times.

She also manages to wiggle her way into a closed closet, despite having her hands tied behind her back.

The mother knows there is a crazed knife wielding murderer out there and her daughter is missing, yet she never gets emotional until she finds her daughters shoe. Then, she whimpers, for a second and they cut to the next shot and she's fine again.

Oh, of course, the knife wielding murderer slaughters everyone he comes in contact with, but of course he decides only to restrain the ONE guy who can save the day.

Just because you turn the music up really loud every time GUNNYSACK face appears in the woods, doesn't make it scary.

Neither is a wall display of bones and a large animal head. Which is never explained... I might add.

Our killer is a major weeney who gets cold-cocked by a 12 year old girl and knocked out by a chair to... HIS BACK?

At the end of the film, the camera is set on a close up of 2 officers who says things to elude that they are looking upon a devastatingly huge amount of corpses and the numerous amount of missing person cases to be solved... and the camera pulls out to show 7 bodies. An 8th is brought out.

I'm sorry. Lately I've been really upset at the weak quality of movies that we are being subjected to. There are so much better scripts and movies to be made out there and the studios aren't looking past themselves and their friends and it's appalling.

There are many many many writers out there with original ideas and far better scripts. PLEASE STUDIOS... look harder!! FIND THESE PEOPLE AND QUIT CHEATING US with run of the mill trash.

After suffering through recent horror duds like WHITE NOISE, DARKNESS, ALONE IN THE DARK, this little indie is refreshingly well done. Director/writer Steven Mena obviously respected John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN as much of this film pays homage to that 1978 classic. Although not quite the caliber of HALLOWEEN, MALEVOLENCE nevertheless brings on some tense scares, thanks to its haunting imagery and an eerie score by Mr. Mena himself (another tribute to composer/director Carpenter). While derivative of other stalker films, this movie manages to engage us in the story of a trio of bank robbers who make the mistake of arranging their rendezvous at a spooky house. We're introduced early on to the disappearance of 6 year old Martin Bristol, and then ten years later, we're reintroduced to quite a different Martin. While the performances may not be Oscar-caliber, Brandon Johnson as Julian, Samantha Dark as the kidnapped mama, and Heather Magee as the doomed Marilyn all do their best in keeping the viewer interested. MALEVOLENCE is much better than the big budget horrors we've been inundated with and gives the horror genre a much needed boost.

If I'm not familiar with a movie, I'll usually visit The Internet Movie Database website to get the skinny before buying...with regards to the low budget, independent film Malevolence (2004), there seems to an awful lot of ten star reviews all saying the same thing, about how this movie is a `return to the genre' (meaning the horror genre), a homage to movies like Psycho and Halloween, etc. Usually when I see something like that, I chalk it up to reviews posted by people who have a particular interest in seeing the DVD sales do well, or, perhaps friends of director...regardless, I decided to give it a chance...and I have to say, it wasn't as great as the glowing reviews stated (I didn't think it would be), but it wasn't that bad, either...especially considering it was Stevan Mena's first effort (he produced, wrote, and directed the film). Appearing in the film is Samantha Dark (Life & Times: Harry Otter), R. Brandon Johnson ("One Life to Live"), Heather Magee (Garmento), Courtney Bertolone, Richard Glover (Arizona Heat), and Keith Chambers (Hitch).

As the movie begins some text is displayed on the screen indicating the year is 1989, and how hundreds of thousands of children go missing each year, some found, some not...and then it speaks of one particular boy, and how he disappeared while playing in his backyard. We then cut to a scene where a young woman is hanging from the ceiling of a dilapidated room (looks like a basement), chains around her wrists, and a shadowy figure enters with a large bag with something moving inside...perhaps it's a sackful of puppies? Nope...it's a young boy (I'm guessing the one that was referred to earlier), revealed as the man removes the bag, apparently so the boy could witness the bit of nastiness to follow...fast forward about ten years and we see two men, Max (Chambers) and Kurt (Glover) talking about a job (in a graveyard, of all places), the inference being some type of armed robbery, to which afterwards Max returns to a motel to inform a couple, Julian (Johnson) and his girlfriend Marylin (Magee), who also happens to be Max's sister, that the robbery is going down the next day. Turns out it's a bank job, and it does go down, but not necessarily as planned as Max gets shot in the gut. The crooks split up, Kurt, who has all the money, in one car, the rest in another, the plan now being to meet up at an isolated location and split the dough...along the way gut wound Max bites it, and Kurt picks up a couple of hostages in a mother (Dark) and daughter (Bertolone), and eventually all (except Max) end up at a deserted, rundown house, but it turns out they're not alone, as there's someone living in another deserted, rundown house nearby, someone whose not quite right...and by that I mean he be into killing (he got the killing jones, if you will), which may explain why the all the houses in the area are deserted...

Okay, I did see a number of references to horror films of the past, some of the more noticeable ones being The Amityville Horror (the exterior of one of the houses looked very similar to the house featured in that film), Halloween (the killer who survives many injuries), Night of the Living Dead (well, I won't tell you which part, but you'll know it when you see it), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (victims suspended from ceiling, awaiting a gristly and violent end and usage of bones for interior decorating), Friday the 13th Part 2 (the killer donning a sack on his head) and so on...which made me wonder if this was really an homage, or someone just ripping off scenes from popular and influential horror films of the past and stringing them together with a somewhat lame storyline to create a new film (it leaned slightly more towards the latter, in my opinion). To me, homage is a respectful acknowledgement, not necessarily pilfering what others have done in very obvious fashion perhaps due to a lack of originality (did anyone see Gus Van Sant's 1998 remake of Psycho?)...I thought the direction by Mena was very strong and skillful, especially given this was his first film. He knows how to set up shots, create some suspense and tension, and I'd be interested in seeing him direct another film because I think he's got a lot of potential, but perhaps a film written by someone else, as that's where I felt the most weaknesses, in the plot, characters, and dialog (so much time was wasted on the setup to the point where we didn't really even see the killer, who was rather goofy, until about 45 minutes into the film). The actors did okay (nothing spectacular, but a lot better than expected), it's just their characters felt unsubstantiated, and I didn't find myself making connections to any of them, which resulted in my not really caring if they got whacked...in those other films I mentioned, each fostered an emotional investment from the audience towards the characters which developed a sense of dread from implicit dangers they faced. And some aspects didn't really make sense, other than the fact they were obvious plot devices to get a particular character alone so that they could be put into danger...perfect example is when Julian decides to drive off in the dark looking for Kurt (Kurt arrived at the house first), who's gone missing, leaving Marylin all alone. Where the hell would Kurt have gone, especially since the vehicle he arrived in was still by the house? Yeah, it wasn't the same car he left the robbery in, but Julian and Marylin had already deduced that Kurt had probably switched cars along the way...and I especially loved the bright idea of letting Kurt take all the money from the scene of the crime by himself, while the other three drive off in a separate vehicle, because it's not like Kurt would've run off with the half a million dollar haul...nah...besides, Marylin said Kurt was too afraid of Max to screw them over like that...yeah, whatever...if I was in a situation like that with a half a million dollars it would be `Vaya con dios, suckers'...and I'll tell you what, as far as Max getting shot in the gut, it sure didn't seem like it was all that painful...especially if you've seen the film Reservoir Dogs (1992). Remember Tim Roth's character? And I have to say, Marylin didn't seem to take it all that hard when her brother Max croaked (rather quickly, considering gut shots usually involve a long and painful demise)...but, perhaps I'm being too nit picky...there are some scares to be had here, along with some creepy atmospherically spooky fun, capped off poorly by a huge and clunky expository/revelation dumperoo near the end...

This Anchor Bay Entertainment Divimax Special Edition DVD features a very sharp and detailed widescreen (1.85:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, picture along with matching Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 audio. One thing with regards to the audio...I noticed at points where the musical scoring (which was very strong) would drown out the dialog at certain points. There are bunches of extra features including a commentary track with the director, one of the actors (Johnson), and associate producer Eddie Akmal, rehearsal footage (1:19), a featurette titled Back to the Slaughterhouse (31:33), deleted scenes, trailers, TV and radio spots, a still gallery, the original screenplay on DVD-ROM, and previews for other Anchor Bay DVD releases like Evil Dead (1981), Halloween (1978), Hellraiser (1987), Dead & Breakfast (2004), and The Card Player (2004). All in all an excellent release of a mediocre movie.

Cookieman108

By the way, I heard rumors about a possible sequel and even a prequel...