"Malevolence" is a thoroughly disappointing and average slasher effort.
**SPOILERS**
Attempting to get by in life, Marilyn, (Heather Magee) and Julian, (Brandon Johnson) decide to accompany bank-robbers Max, (Keith Chambers) and Kurt, (Richard Glover) on a special mission, only for them to get injured and split up during the process. While one group tends to the wounded, the other kidnaps Samantha Harrison, (Samantha Dark) and her daughter Courtney, (Courtney Bertolone) and takes them to the safe-house in the countryside. When the others get there, they find only the hostages with no explanation of what's going on. As they struggle to understand what's going on, a series of strange events has them convinced something's wrong, and they soon find out that a serial killer is next door to their hideout and is slowly stalking and killing them one-by-one, forcing them to evade him before they all fall victim.
The Good News: There was a few good points to this. One of the main pluses is the exceedingly high-quality of the stalking going on here, as there's a lot to like within them. The first, where the robber walks-through the abandoned house, with its look-of-disuse, dust and general-disrepair effectively selling its abandoned state, the amount of food left-out and the scum-filled bathroom, coupled with the silence combining into a rather entertaining stalking-sequence, and once the killer appears, the scene concludes with a bang. Another big one is the solo-walk-through of the hideout, where the breaking-glass initiates a walk around a darkened house, up a staircase into the blackness, followed by a lot of fun on the second-level. With encounters in several rooms, use of squeaking, closing doors behind them and the conclusion where the killer slowly materializes out-of-the-darkness behind the oblivious victim and the ensuing encounter all makes for big success. The main stalking scene, though, is the later walk-through of the house where the descent into the basement comes complete with a flickering light-bulb that turns off-and-on intermittently, making for some great shadow-play along the walls during the course of the scene, and again it comes complete with a great killer's appearance that works very well overall. That it's not over there, where the discovery of the dead body in the closet for a scare and then comes the shock appearance and their capture is a lot of fun and works well. The basement sequence is really nice, where the escape from the killer is handled well, the tactics used are nice and the setting itself is rather creepy, and the second one, where the discovery of the skeletal remains and eventual bone-altar are superb scenes. The finale is perhaps the best part of the film, with a fantastic confrontation in the car, including seeing the killer sneak-up in the windows behind them, and the race to get the keys in the house results in a getaway and a big confrontation in the house, which is really well-done and features a lot of great stuff to work it over nicely. The last plus to this one is the initial premise, which is an original scenario that could've worked nicely here, with a few minor twists. These are all that work here.
The Bad News: There was some pretty big flaws to this one that keeps it down. One of the main issues is the fact that there's just no way around the fact that the film is just so off-kilter in its pacing that it's hard to get invested in what's going on. Owed mainly to the length of time spent before it actually manages to get to the farmhouse, other issues are still present and really make this stand out. The biggest part of this is that getting-to-the-farm, since the parts before are just so lengthy that it spreads the film out. Taking the family hostage at the gas station is a prime example, going on way longer than necessary, from the fumbling around in the equipment bag to the mother in the store and finally coming back out to the car and realizing what's happened all amounts to a lengthy sequence that is far longer than necessary for the type. Also important is the couple and all of their arguments, from inside the car over the responsibility for the failed robbery and how to take care of the wounded to who got them lost and how to handle the situation, as well as their later bickering once they get there over just about anything. These are irritating to watch and just plains time-consuming so as to really remove just about any time it could have later on. Since the body count is so low to begin with, the fact that only a small amount of time can be spent on the killing that it is an eternity between kills, spreading the time out even more. The kills are even more problematic in that they're just so edited into confusion that it's impossible to determine what's going on during them. Either there's no blood at all other than aftermath shots that aren't graphic at all or the attempts at being graphic are hampered by the decision to make it impossible to see what's going on that they lose their impact. The killer himself is a total joke, with merely a series of bandage-gauze constituting his mask and the lack of information makes it impossible to be fearful of him. The last flaw here is the lack of the bank-robbery on-screen, as the sound-effects and visual-cheats to determine it are a total cheat and just hard to get around. These here are what's wrong with this one.
The Final Verdict: Marred by some big flaws, this one is somewhat lowered by those and really can't bring itself up from the positives it has. Really only recommended for the most discerning slasher completists or those interested, while the majority out there won't find the positives worthwhile enough over the flaws.
Rated R: Graphic Language and Violence
**SPOILERS**
Attempting to get by in life, Marilyn, (Heather Magee) and Julian, (Brandon Johnson) decide to accompany bank-robbers Max, (Keith Chambers) and Kurt, (Richard Glover) on a special mission, only for them to get injured and split up during the process. While one group tends to the wounded, the other kidnaps Samantha Harrison, (Samantha Dark) and her daughter Courtney, (Courtney Bertolone) and takes them to the safe-house in the countryside. When the others get there, they find only the hostages with no explanation of what's going on. As they struggle to understand what's going on, a series of strange events has them convinced something's wrong, and they soon find out that a serial killer is next door to their hideout and is slowly stalking and killing them one-by-one, forcing them to evade him before they all fall victim.
The Good News: There was a few good points to this. One of the main pluses is the exceedingly high-quality of the stalking going on here, as there's a lot to like within them. The first, where the robber walks-through the abandoned house, with its look-of-disuse, dust and general-disrepair effectively selling its abandoned state, the amount of food left-out and the scum-filled bathroom, coupled with the silence combining into a rather entertaining stalking-sequence, and once the killer appears, the scene concludes with a bang. Another big one is the solo-walk-through of the hideout, where the breaking-glass initiates a walk around a darkened house, up a staircase into the blackness, followed by a lot of fun on the second-level. With encounters in several rooms, use of squeaking, closing doors behind them and the conclusion where the killer slowly materializes out-of-the-darkness behind the oblivious victim and the ensuing encounter all makes for big success. The main stalking scene, though, is the later walk-through of the house where the descent into the basement comes complete with a flickering light-bulb that turns off-and-on intermittently, making for some great shadow-play along the walls during the course of the scene, and again it comes complete with a great killer's appearance that works very well overall. That it's not over there, where the discovery of the dead body in the closet for a scare and then comes the shock appearance and their capture is a lot of fun and works well. The basement sequence is really nice, where the escape from the killer is handled well, the tactics used are nice and the setting itself is rather creepy, and the second one, where the discovery of the skeletal remains and eventual bone-altar are superb scenes. The finale is perhaps the best part of the film, with a fantastic confrontation in the car, including seeing the killer sneak-up in the windows behind them, and the race to get the keys in the house results in a getaway and a big confrontation in the house, which is really well-done and features a lot of great stuff to work it over nicely. The last plus to this one is the initial premise, which is an original scenario that could've worked nicely here, with a few minor twists. These are all that work here.
The Bad News: There was some pretty big flaws to this one that keeps it down. One of the main issues is the fact that there's just no way around the fact that the film is just so off-kilter in its pacing that it's hard to get invested in what's going on. Owed mainly to the length of time spent before it actually manages to get to the farmhouse, other issues are still present and really make this stand out. The biggest part of this is that getting-to-the-farm, since the parts before are just so lengthy that it spreads the film out. Taking the family hostage at the gas station is a prime example, going on way longer than necessary, from the fumbling around in the equipment bag to the mother in the store and finally coming back out to the car and realizing what's happened all amounts to a lengthy sequence that is far longer than necessary for the type. Also important is the couple and all of their arguments, from inside the car over the responsibility for the failed robbery and how to take care of the wounded to who got them lost and how to handle the situation, as well as their later bickering once they get there over just about anything. These are irritating to watch and just plains time-consuming so as to really remove just about any time it could have later on. Since the body count is so low to begin with, the fact that only a small amount of time can be spent on the killing that it is an eternity between kills, spreading the time out even more. The kills are even more problematic in that they're just so edited into confusion that it's impossible to determine what's going on during them. Either there's no blood at all other than aftermath shots that aren't graphic at all or the attempts at being graphic are hampered by the decision to make it impossible to see what's going on that they lose their impact. The killer himself is a total joke, with merely a series of bandage-gauze constituting his mask and the lack of information makes it impossible to be fearful of him. The last flaw here is the lack of the bank-robbery on-screen, as the sound-effects and visual-cheats to determine it are a total cheat and just hard to get around. These here are what's wrong with this one.
The Final Verdict: Marred by some big flaws, this one is somewhat lowered by those and really can't bring itself up from the positives it has. Really only recommended for the most discerning slasher completists or those interested, while the majority out there won't find the positives worthwhile enough over the flaws.
Rated R: Graphic Language and Violence