Review of Pernicious (2015) by Azoth S — 19 Oct 2015

Just based on the cover of this movie, I was not expecting much at all. It looks like your typical bottom of the bin horror movie. After watching it though, I'm happy to report that I was left very pleasantly surprised. It's starts out with a gruesome torture porn esque scene, and I was hoping the whole movie wouldn't be that way, and it wasn't thankfully. The most gruesome scenes are within the first 15 minutes, and then a creepy, paranormal mystery begins to unfold. I found myself genuinely engaged in the situation of these girls, and interested in the mystery of what is going on. The directing, and pacing of the film were perfect for this story. In fact, the director impressed me several times during the film with the techniques employed. The biggest sore spot of this movie for me was the acting, the leads are not the greatest actresses, but they're passable, and don't totally ruin the movie. Although there was some noticeable cringeworthy acting in places. FX are done well throughout, and the writing is decent.

VERDICT: C+.

A low budget horror movie that exceeds expectations. The story's pacing plays out perfectly in the Thailand setting, and I found myself genuinely engrossed in the mystery of everything. The acting is a little rough around the edges, but it makes up for it's short comings with some genuine scares, and decent writing/directing. Still not a great horror movie, but better than the majority.