Cast from the horror film, Tormented _460

TORMENTED (Cert. 15, 91 mins)
Stars: Tuppence Middleton, Alex Pettyfer, Tom Hopper, Dimitri Leonidas, Larissa Wilson, Georgia King, April Pearson, Calvin Dean
Directed by Jon Wright

JON WRIGHT directs a tongue-in-cheek horror set in a British comprehensive school where a gang of abusive students gets its just deserts at the hands of a most unlikely avenger – the spectre of a bullied boy, who skulks in classrooms, toilets and corridors, picking off his prey one at a time.

Unfortunately, the gore – and there is plenty, including some bloodthirsty dismemberment – sits uncomfortably next to the largely intentional giggles.

Screenwriter Stephen Prentice fails to seamlessly meld the two strands, spinning a familiar and predictable yarn in which characters of dubious morals are marked for death before the first clumsy line of dialogue trips off their tongues.

The truth emerges, little by little, when teenager charmer Alexis makes romantic overtures to head girl Justine and introduces her to the other members of his gang. They soon let their guard down and Justine surmises that Bradley, Marcus and Co taunted and teased their overweight class- mate, Darren, to his grave.

Unrealistic prosthetics and an absence of any scares dull the horror strand of Prentice’s screenplay, while humour settles for the puerile.

The title of Wright’s film is a misnomer – when the end credits roll, we’re not remotely disturbed.