PERNICIOUS: ‘tending to cause death or serious injury; causing great harm; destructive.
Synopsis: Three college girls head to Thailand for a summer internship teaching English to children. What was anticipated as a fun easy summer, soon becomes something much more sinister.
Review: The girls rent a house for the summer and find themselves haunted by a vengeful spirit. Does this sound familiar to you? It should. It’s the basic premise of, oh I don’t know, a couple thousand other horror films. But does James Cullen Bressack’s (To Jennifer) Pernicious do anything to set itself apart from the pack? Well…yes and no.
Throw some seen-it-all-before Asian creepiness in, add a dash of torture porn, just a pinch of “the old haunted house”, mix with some ancient foreign mythology, stir until you have a nice bloody froth – and Viola! – We have Pernicious. Except……this is all done with style, a clear love of the genre, some fantastic filming in Thailand, very convincing acting, and a clear direction of simply having fun. No need to reinvent the wheel, just do what you do, and do it well.
What makes it all fun you ask? For starters the girls – Alex (Ciara Hanna) – Julia (Emily O’Brien), and Rachel (Jackie Moore) have a fun, witty, and believable reparte with each other. I totally bought in to these three having known each other (two are sisters) a long time and being very close. Alex is the smarmy, entitled, loud typical American; Rachel is the loose. slutty, fun loving one; and Julia is the more conservative down to earth type. But don’t let what appears to be very cookie cutter characters fool you. They all go through changes, in fact changes I didn’t see coming and thoroughly enjoyed watching.
There is also very nice creep factor going on here – we have a golden statue in the attic/loft area of a little girl; a typical odd Asian girl (in fact there is a GREAT line involving this girl), an old soothsayer/witch, an old man who knows more than he at first lets on, and very effective, but not at all overused, jump scares. It all comes together in a very delightful and smooth fashion.
Is Pernicious the best horror film ever made? Not even close. Is it the best of the year? No. But it is creepy, gooey, mysterious, and bucket loads of fun. Shut down your brain, grab your favorite adult beverage (I recommend Killian’s Irish Red), strap in and enjoy the ride. I know I did, and I think you will too.
Blood and Guts: 7 out of 10, Not Lots Of It, But Enough Blood and Uncomfortable Torture To Appease Any Horror Fan
Nudity: 0 out of 10. Sexy and impossibly gorgeous girls, but they keep their clothes on.
Special FX: 9 out of 10. Well done overall – Even The CGI Is Not Cringe Worthy.
Overall: 8 Out of 10. Derivative and unoriginal, but lots of spirit and very entertaining.
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