Bereavement (film)

Bereavement
Directed by	Stevan Mena
Produced by	Steven Mena
Written by	Stevan Mena
Starring	Michael Biehn Alexandra Daddario John Savage Nolan Gerard Funk
Music by	Steven Mena
Cinematography	Marco Cappeta
Editing by	Steven Mena
Studio	Crimson Film
Distributed by	Anchor Bay Entertainment
Release date(s)	July 16, 2010 (2010-07-16) (Long Island Expo) March 4, 2011 (2011-03-04) (United States)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2 million

Bereavement is a 2010 American Slasher film starring Michael Biehn, Alexandra Daddario, John Savage and Nolan Gerard Funk. It is a prequel to director Steven Mena's previous film Malevolence, and centers on a child who is abducted and forced to bear witness to a madman's crimes.

Plot

The film begins with a psychotic maniac named Graham Sutter who asks a little boy named Martin Bristol to help him search for his nephew's bike and kidnaps him. Graham cuts Martin's cheek then proceeds to butcher a young woman in front of Martin. Martin attempts to escape and makes a run for freedom, but Graham catches him and returns him to the farmhouse, where he continues to hold him and future female victims captive.

Over the next few weeks, Graham brutally butchers several young women with Martin forced to witness the horrific acts of violence. Graham is seen throughout the film talking and arguing with a the skull of a fierce bull hung on his wall of the farmhouse.

The story then shifts perspective to Allison, a young woman who comes to live with relatives (aunt, uncle and cousin) in the same town Graham is committing his crimes. While out for a run, she sees Martin from the window of a supposedly abandoned farmhouse. During her run she is almost hit by a truck and falls along the road. There she meet local teenager named William, and the two bond and form a relationship of sorts. One night, Jonathan, her uncle, discovers her about to have sex with William and intervenes. The next day, upset, Allison goes to the farmhouse after she sees Martin in the window. She is captured by Graham. The following day, Johnathan gets concerned, since she never returned home. He drives to the farmhouse in search for her where he is shot dead in broad daylight by Graham. William drives by and sees Jonathan's abandoned car and becomes curious. He investigates the area and discovers Allison trapped inside a tightly locked meat room, but he is soon horribly killed by Graham. Allison manages to escape and rescue a mute, blood-covered Martin. Meanwhile, Graham takes Jonathan's body to his home where he stabs and kills Jonathan's wife, while their young daughter hides upstairs. Allison arrives at the house just as it has been set on fire by Graham. She stabs Graham twice as he was about to kidnap her young cousin, he stumbles and runs off. She runs downstairs and calls the police when suddenly she is horribly stabbed in the stomach repeatedly by Martin, who has now inherited Graham's psychopathic behavior. Martin goes upstairs to Alison's niece, where the screen fades black and her scream is heard. The house burns down. Martin returns to the farmhouse and kills Graham with an ax. The next day, the authorities arrive at the smoldering ruins of the house, where the owner's beagle is the only survivor and is picked up a by a local fireman.

Martin is seen staring out the window with a mentally deranged look, waiting for his next victim. In a post credit scene the movie jumps several year later, where a young girl is shown running away from something or someone, enters the farmhouse and discovers an adult Martin sitting at the table. She asks, "Can you help me?" and Martin turns around with a psychopathic stare and the film ends.

Cast

• Michael Biehn as Jonathan Miller
• Alexandra Daddario as Allison
• John Savage as Ted
• Nolan Gerard Funk as William
• Brett Rickaby as Graham Sutter
• Spencer List as Martin Bristol
• Peyton Roi List as Wendy
• Kathryn Meisle as Karen
• Andrea Havens as Agatha
• Ashley Wolfe as Katherine

Reception

Bereavement has received mixed to positive reviews from critics and audience. The film currently holds a 40% "rotten" rating on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 4.9/10 based on 15 reviews, and an 51% from the user community. Dread Central's Uncle Creepy gave the film a 3 out of 5 knives and said "Fans of Malevolence will most likely eat this one up because it truly plays like one person's nightmarish descent into a world of total madness. It gives you a feel for who Martin Bristol is and why he's so lethal. On that level the film is a complete success. We just wish there was an equally as successful editor to go along with it."

Production

During post-production, director Stevan Mena initial cut of the film was three hours long. Things cut from the film included overtly gory scenes. The film is a prequel to Malevolence, stating "The only way to describe it is like an epic horror story. It's more in the vein of The Shining, whereas the original was kind of like Halloween or Friday the 13th. Bereavement is more of a character study".

Release

The film was shown at the Long Island International Film Expo on July 16, 2010. The film was released in theaters March 4, 2011.

External links

• Official website
• Bereavement at AllRovi
• Bereavement at the Internet Movie Database
• Bereavement at Rotten Tomatoes