Movie Review: Bereavement

Bereavement (2011) 

Directed by Steven Mana

Written by Steven Mana

Starring Alexandra Daddario, Michael Biehn, John Savage, Spencer List

Release Date March 4th, 2011 

Published March 12th, 2011

Nature or nurture? Are killers born or bred? Writer-director Stevan Mana is clearly on the side of nurture as demonstrated by his return to the story of serial killer Martin Bristol, the character he began in the 2005 horror film "Malevolence." "Bereavement" is Martin Bristol’s origin story and accordingly it tells the story of a boy who is twisted into a killer by a madman.

Six year old Martin Bristol suffers from a rare but real disorder that causes him to not feel pain. When he is abducted by a madman named Graham Sutter, the crazed scion of a former slaughterhouse owner, the madman mistakes Martin’s disorder for some type of divine serenity.

Years pass and Martin is made to witness Graham Sutter’s madness. Martin seems at times resistant to the brutality but slowly his grip on right and wrong is slipping away. Meanwhile, another story is unfolding up the road; one of Martin’s neighbors, Jonathan Miller (Michael Biehn), is welcoming a permanent houseguest.

Jonathan’s niece Allison (Alexandra Daddario) is moving in following the death of her parents, Jonathan’s brother and sister in law. Moving from Chicago to rural Pennsylvania is as jarring and unpleasant as you expect. Allison’s finds brief comfort from her grief and boredom in running, she’s former track athlete, and a boy who lives down the road, William (Nolan Gerard Funk).

What we know and Allison doesn’t is that within a few days she will be taken to that rundown old slaughterhouse. Whether she survives her encounter with the delusional Graham Sutter and his frightened young apprentice I won’t say; Bereavement does have a modicum of suspense in the fate of the people targeted by the killer.

Director Stevan Mana is not without wit and style in "Bereavement." The wit comes in Mana’s definitive stance on Nature or Nurture. In both Graham Sutter and Martin Bristol we get definitive arguments on the notion of how killers are not born to be killers they are raised into killers.

The conversation sadly only scratches the surface as the movie has too many other interests such as repeated chase scenes and scenes of family turmoil needed to give Allison her motivation to be in places she shouldn’t. The style of "Bereavement" reveals just the kind of creepy you want in a horror film; the visuals relate directly to the mind of the killer and reveal him.

"Bereavement" isn’t a bad movie but a rather clumsy one. There are these minor flaws in the construction of the film that cannot be reconciled. First, a quibble, and maybe this one is more about my bizarre attention to useless detail but, if Allison is a track athlete then why doesn’t she have a sports bra? Every time she goes for a run in "Bereavement" her breasts are bouncing up and down in a fashion that cannot be comfortable.

Of the bigger and more relevant problems with "Bereavement" is the sloppy manner in which the killer inhabits his community. Graham Sutter is so completely creepy and menacing with his black and rust slaughterhouse truck that when what must be the fiftieth or so young woman goes missing its impossible to believe that he isn't suspect number one.

The abduction occurs in front of the open and brightly lit windows of a diner. Graham pulls his very, very recognizable vehicle into the parking lot and blocks the car of his victim in her parking space. When she gets out complaining he punches her in the face, gets out of the truck and pulls her inside. Keep in mind, her car is left running as he pulls away. Yet, no one apparently witnessed this and no one bothered to notice the girl’s car, still running, in the parking lot or thought it was the least bit suspicious.

"Bereavement" has a few other moments like that one that when taken together combine to trip up the tension that the film needs to really be effective. Like I said before, "Bereavement" isn’t so much a bad film as a clumsy film. Consider it a must see only for fans of the sequel "Malevolent."