Tormented

Released by: Well Go USA
Released on: April 2, 2013.
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Cast: Hikari Mitsushima, Takeru Shibuya, Tamaki Ogawa, Nao Ohmori, Teruyuki Kagawa
Year: 2011
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The Movie:

Takashi Shimizu has made some pretty scary movies, chief amongst those being the fairly classic Ju-On: The Grudge films. He's also responsible for Shock Labyrinth, a hokey cash in on the 3D craze currently doing horrible things to the art of storytelling in various mainstream cinemas around the world. When Tormented came about, the fact that it too was to be made in 3D almost guaranteed that Shimizu would repeat the same mistakes that made his last picture as problematic as it was. And sometimes he does… but thankfully, not always. When judged on its own merits, Tormented is an interesting movie even when it doesn't completely work.

The film follows a young boy named Daigo (Takeru Shibuya) who, when we meet him, is busy smashing a rabbit to death with a big rock, much to the horror of his older sister, a mute named Kiriko (Hikari Mitsushima), who fails to stop him. They live together with their father (Teruyuki Kagawa), a reclusive type who hides from the world since their mother died some time ago and a man who makes a living creating children's pop-up books. When Daigo's birthday rolls around, their father doesn't seem to remember but Kiriko gives him some flowers and takes him to the theater where they watch a movie that might as well be Shock Labyrinth 3D.

During the movie, a stuffed rabbit floats off the screen and it lands in Daigo's hands. The two form a bond and the rabbit takes on the form of a full sized man in a rabbit costume, at which point he and Daigo troll around like best friends. From here, things get odd.

Shot by famed cinematography Christopher Doyle, Tormented features some really interesting camera work that goes a long way towards making this odd picture work better than it probably has any right to. Though the use of color in the film could have been better at times, the framing and strange choice of eclectic angles help to enhance the absurdity of the different situations that play out in the movie. How much you get out of this particular movie is going to depend a lot on your interpretation of the man in the rabbit costume. If you see this tactic as goofy, and many will, then you're not likely going to react to the atmosphere or find any of this particularly unsettling. With that said, if you find the concept of a grown man in a rabbit costumer bizarre and unsettling, what Shimizu has done here might just get under your skin enough to work.

There's quite a bit of atmosphere, a few decent jump scares complete with loud musical stingers and even a nice twist or two before the end credits hit. The storyline doesn't always make sense, at least not initially, and the movie goes into some decidedly strange territory seemingly simply because it can, but Tormented is perfectly watchable and fairly entertaining. The acting is good, the score compliments things rather well and moves quickly at just over eighty minutes. It's a bizarre and creative film that, if not always completely effective, is just weird enough to be worth watch.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Tormented is presented on Blu-ray in both 2-D and 3-D versions on the same 50GB Blu-ray disc. Both versions are given the AVC encoded 1080p high definition treatment and are framed at 1.78.1 widescreen. There are some mild compression artifacts in some of the darker scenes on the 2D version but outside of that the image is alright. Detail is nice if sometimes just a bit hazy looking. Colors are reproduced very well and skin tones look good though it's not hard to spot some mosquito noise here and there and crush can be an issue from time to time resulting in very mediocre shadow detail. Without a 3D TV handy, it's impossible to say what the 3D version looks like, but the 2-D version looks good - though not great.

Japanese language options are provided in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with optional subtitles available in English only. The lossless track is fairly aggressive and sound pretty solid. There are some nice directional effects used throughout the movie and bass response is tight and strong. The film makes frequent use of stings and jump scares to get some cheap reactions out of viewers but the mix handles these moments well and will take you by surprise.

There are a few promos for other Well Go USA titles that play before the main menu loads, but outside of chapter selection and audio set up options, there's nothing else included on the disc in terms of extras outside of a trailer for the feature itself.

The Final Word:

Tormented should have been a scary film. It's not. Instead, it's a weird film, and there's nothing wrong with that. Attempts to generate scares in the picture are sometimes just patently bizarre more than anything else, but you've got to give Shimizu credit for trying. Not his best film by any stretch but, if you're a fan of his work, this is worth seeing. This turns out to be a partial return to form after the fairly horrible Shock Labyrinth.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!