Bereavement (2010)

The horrific account of 6 year old Martin Bristol, abducted from his backyard swing and forced to witness the brutal crimes of a deranged madman.

Director:

Stevan Mena

Writer:

Stevan Mena

Stars:

Michael Biehn, Alexandra Daddario, Brett Rickaby

4 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Biehn	...	Jonathan Miller
Alexandra Daddario	...	Allison Miller
Brett Rickaby	...	Graham Sutter
Nolan Gerard Funk	...	William
Spencer List	...	Martin Bristol
John Savage	...	Ted
Peyton List	...	Wendy Miller
Kathryn Meisle	...	Karen Miller
Valentina de Angelis	...	Melissa
Greg Wood	...	Teacher
Ashley Wolfe	...	Katherine Bristol
Chase Pechacek	...	Martin Age 6
Andrea Havens	...	Agatha
Miriam A. Hyman	...	Waitress
Tom McNutt	...	Clerk in Store

Storyline

In 1989, the boy Martin Bristol has congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), a rare neural disorder, in which the patient does not feel pain, heat or cold. He is abducted by the deranged serial-killer Graham Sutter (Brett Rickaby) and brought to the Sutter Meat & Poultry, an abandoned meat-packing plant in Minersville, Pennsylvania, where Graham slaughters young women that he kidnaps. Five years later, the stubborn seventeen year-old teenager Allison Miller loses her parents and moves to her uncle Jonathan Miller's house near the decrepit plant. Jonathan, his wife Karen and their little daughter Wendy welcome Allison, but the teenager does not give much attention to her new family. Allison likes to run alone on the road and she passes by the meat-packing plant and then she meets the mechanic William "Billy" and has a crush on him. Jonathan advises Allison to avoid running near the old factory and Billy, who is a problematic teenager. Allison does not listen to her ...

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Plot Keywords:

chain | child | kidnapping | meat packing plant | jogging | 

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Taglines:

There are some evils...so unspeakable...they will scar you forever.

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Genres:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sadistic bloody violence, torture, brief language and nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Stevan Mena's initial cut of the film was three hours long. Post production work on film in order to cut it down to its final length involved some re-shoots and cutting back the gore scenes in the film. Mena said in interview for Fangoria, "The original cut was extraordinarily bloody, and we just felt there was no way we were going to get it to any kind of a wide audience with that amount in it. So we toned it down a bit-not to the detriment of gore fans, it's still a very violent movie, it's just a little more watchable now. There were also certain story elements that I felt needed a bit more attention, and I had the opportunity to go out and make it better, which I did." Director's cut of the film was released in October of 2018.

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Goofs

When Allison is locked in the freezer, she doesn't bother to cover up with the blanket.

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Quotes

[about the slaughterhouse]
Jonathan Miller: Graham's a pack rat. That place should be condemned.
Allison Miller: Somebody lives there?
Jonathan Miller: Yeah, he keeps mostly to himself.
Allison Miller: You know him?
Jonathan Miller: We're about the same age. He never went to school. His dad made him work that place day and night. It was a meat-packing plant till they couldn't afford to upgrade their equipment to code. I'll tell you one thing: I don't miss the smell.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits, there is an additional scene that actually begins as a scene taken from Malevolence, tying the two movies together. The scene is updated with Courtney's introduction to Martin after running for help.

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Connections

Referenced in Making of 'Bereavement' (2011)

User Reviews

No epic but it's cool to see Michael Biehn in anything!

'BEREAVEMENT': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Director Steven Mena wrote, directed, produced and did the music for this horror prequel to the cult slasher film that got him his start 'MALEVOLENCE'. This film shows the origins of the main villain of 'MALEVOLENCE', as a child, when he himself was abducted by a psychopath and held captive in a farmhouse, where he was forced to not only witness but take part in the madman's brutal killings. The filmmaker says this film was intended to be more of a psychological character study horror film than the more routine slasher film that the original was. I don't see a difference; in my opinion this is a pretty standard B horror film. I haven't seen the original to compare it to but this one is mediocre at best.

The film begins with it's central character Martin Bristol (Spencer List) swinging alone on a swing in his front yard when he's kidnapped by a man named Graham Sutter (Brett Rickaby). It's explained that Martin has no physical feelings in his body, by his mother right before he's taken, so the killer continues to cut and abuse him, as he feels no pain, while also making him bare witness to the killings of other innocent victims he kidnaps. He's held captive in a farmhouse for quite some time while the movie changes focus to a family in the same town where a young woman named Allison (Alexandra Daddario) comes to live with her aunt and uncle after her parents die. Her uncle Jonathan (Michale Biehn, one of my old favorite actors) made a promise to his brother that he'd watch over her if anything happened to him. While dealing with her new situation Allison meets a young man in the area named William (Nolan Gerard Funk) who she develops feelings for. Of course her path eventually crosses with that of the killer and the young boy and things get complicated.

I've read that the original cut was 3 hours long and Mena wanted the film to be an epic horror film. Even at 103 minutes the movie could have used some better editing and I think a longer cut would be excruciatingly dull and unnecessary. The film as it is is barely worth it's time to watch. It does have a nice 80's feel to it though and fans of gore will definitely get what they're looking for. I also love seeing Michael Biehn in anything (especially the sci-fi/horror genres) so getting to see him in action again was a treat in itself (he is underused though). As a whole I'd say the film is pretty average, nothing more and nothing less, just you're average routine horror film; which is not of course how the filmmaker describes it but that's what it is.

Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGWqCYOhcJs

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 July 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Malevolence: Bereavement

Filming Locations:

Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,600,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,744, 6 March 2011

Gross USA:

$43,712

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$43,712

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aurilia Arts Productions, Crimson Films, Mena Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min 109 min (director's cut)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1