Director: Jon Wright

Cast: Alex Pettyfer, April Pearson, Dimitri Leonidas

Synopsis: A bullied teenager comes back from the dead to take revenge on his classmates.

I was quite impressed with this low budget horror effort. While it adds nothing new to the overfilled horror genre it holds its own against comparable product and possesses an energy and sense of humour that eludes many mainstream Hollywood flicks.

The story is as hokey as they come: a bullied school-kid returns from the dead after committing suicide to gain revenge on those who hounded him to his death. The dead schoolboy is suitably memorable (and looks worryingly like my brother-in-law) and his dependence on an inhaler from beyond the grave is a typically quirky touch. His victims are the usual bunch of obnoxious teens, and there’s no real regret at seeing them meet their fate in various imaginative ways. Of these potential victims it is Alex Pettyfer who makes the biggest impression; with his winning demeanour and vaguely Cruise-like features he looks as though he could go far. The film’s attempt to blend humour, horror and social conscience isn’t always successful but, for the most part it should manage to generate enough goodwill on the part of the audience to see it through.

It’s a shame, however, that there isn’t more support for low-budget domestically produced films like Tormented. I saw this with my girlfriend and we made up one-third of the entire audience…