User Reviews

Most Snuff-simulated films like August Underground, Snuff 102, Guinea Pig, The Butcher, and necro films like Nekromantik and Aftermath have no meaning or reason, it's shocking for the sake of being shocking. None of the films I listed have any depth or purpose, this movie tops all of them, with its story.

The movie seems to me at least to have a very deep meaning inside of it. She clearly does not see human beings as humans, just as we do not see murderers/serial killers as human beings either. She clearly murders her victims because of grief of losing her loved one, (The corpse) and because of the "Angels" and "The God Creature", that I think wrapped around her life after the loved one died.

I have two negatives for this movie: The audio mix in it is really bad, and when the "God" creature is speaking, I could not understand what he was saying at all, he said something along the lines of I Took your Face, but I could not understand a word. They really should have put subtitles for that scene in question.

I would put this movie in the same boat as Martyrs and Eyes of My Mother, as it really is a movie to think about, and it's not shocking for the sake of being shocking. : Thumbs up".

Her Name Was Torment is the latest release from Dustin Mills, one of the most talented and hardworking horror directors. Having started with the ambitious and entertaining The Puppet Monster Massacre, Mills has built his reputation around his unique style. There's been a gradual shift to darker material in his movies, with less puppets and more psychological (and physical) pain on display. With Kill That Bitch, Mills entered a whole new territory but the setting up of his sister studio, Crumpleshack Films, is a bold flag in the sand. Crumpleshack is Mills' label for tough, unflinching offerings. There's little, if any, elements of his traditional "comfortable" horror films contained here.

Her Name, then, is the first title under the Crumpleshack Films label and it's strong stuff. Mills had warned fans that this production may not be to everybody's taste. It's not cute or amusing; there's no relief from the madness that swiftly descends.

Mills' regular, Brandon Salkil, delivers a tremendous performance as Torment's latest victim. He's a very physical performer and is perfectly cast here. The viewer is an unwilling spectator as Salkil is tortured slowly and methodically by the masked female psycho. You know in your heart from the start that this isn't going to end happily ever after.

Allison Fitzgerald is another Mills regular. Here, she plays her most memorable role to date as Torment. Despite the fact that we never see her face, Fitzgerald delivers an absolutely terrifying performance in her bizarre mask. She's a brave lady - this film required an actor that wasn't afraid of nudity and sexual situations and it's quite obvious that she threw herself into the movie; mind, body and soul.

The Doctor, whose chilling commentary is genuinely riveting, is played by none other than Mills himself. His questioning of Torment is the stuff of nightmares.

In a lesser director's hands, this could have been just "torture porn". There are many scenes of physical abuse that will make many viewers look away from the screen but Mills' direction steers away from cheap hardcore insert shots or scenes of castration, instead concentrating on other forms of unpleasantness. The special effects will not disappoint gorehounds but this is only one layer of the proceedings.

For me, the actual graphic horror was not what seated this film at the table of horror greats. Having viewed thousands of horror movies, graphic violence is now no longer of interest (although it can be conspicuous by its absence and there's a difficult balance to maintain) but Her Name is more than an exhibition of physical insults delivered to a bound young man. What the film delivers is an audial and visual assault on the senses. You may note I mention the audio side of things before the visual and there's a reason for this. The film hits you with a wall of inventive sound from the very beginning and manages to do something I've never experienced before outside demonstrations of spacial sound effects. The movie delivers what can only be described as an audio hallucination.

The film's soundtrack is in good old fashioned stereo and, as a purist, I viewed Her Name in its intended state, without applying any additional sound processing bells and whistles. There's one scene, I won't give it away, where the sound field generated became genuinely three dimensional and I felt I was sat in the centre of a pulsating hailstorm of electronic noise. It was nightmarish stuff but exhilarating at the same time, the cacophony of auditory madness matched by the bizarre inkblot-like image on the screen.

The inventive use of colour in Her Name Was Torment is another layer of bloody icing on this perverse cake. Like Spielberg in Schindler's List, colour is used sparingly and jolts the viewer's attention to the many ghastly spectacles unveiled by a gleeful Mills (who's clearly had the time of his life making this indie gem). It's clever stuff, very effective and the style ensures the viewer is kept on edge for the duration of the film's 50 minute running time. It could be argued that the film is an extended short but this doesn't matter. Quality is always more welcome than quantity and anything longer than this would have been exhausting.

I have only a minor criticism of the film and I may need to revisit it as the viewing experience is still sinking in. The mysterious Overlord (arguably the only element of "old" Mills) feels slightly out of kilter with the rest of the production and I struggled to hear his dialogue. However, I think I would miss this character if his presence was not seen and I may well feel differently on a second viewing. In no way does this deter me from giving this movie 10 out of 10. Jackie McKown's Angel is one of the scariest creations I've ever witnessed and the film's vibe occasionally feels like The Bunny Game meets Boy Meets Girl crossed with Hellraiser, with a mild sprinkling of A Field in England and Paranormal Activity. Oh, and there's a head shaking scene that makes Jacob's Ladder look positively tame by comparison. My gods, that's a fine cocktail of horror and Her Name is a sharp kick in the balls for those who are expecting something safe from this unpredictable director.

KTB remains my favourite Mills movie, However, Her Name is hot on its paws with its blend of the strange, the surreal and the downright petrifying. I have fingers and toes firmly crossed that we see Her Name Was Agony in the not too distant future. This film has threads that are begging to be unwound and exploited. It would be a shame to provide any real, substantial answers to some of the film's mysteries but there's a mine of terror just waiting to be explored.

A low budget masterpiece to dissect, disassemble, dispose...place in a bucket or bin...