Tormented (1960) by Bert I. Gordon

Director: Bert I. Gordon

Year: 1960

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Ghosts

Plot:

After his inactivity caused his mistress's death, a jazz pianist about to be married finds that the series of strange incidents and encounters following the incident is a dead woman's ghost haunting him wherever he goes and forcing him to resort to increasingly violent means to keep his actions a secret.

Review:

This was a pretty disappointing and disjointed effort. The film's only real bright spot is the strong setup involving the ghosts’ return and how he becomes haunted by the incident. Since the incident in question that starts everything is a shocking enough incident that he should feel guilty for considering how he let her fall to her death, it creates a potentially enjoyable setup that is formed around his guilty conscience, forcing him into a series of encounters with her trying to get revenge. The fact that the ghost constantly attempts to turn up the heat in these sequences with the decent special effects to showcase the apparition in the situation, including suddenly disappearing and reappearing in various areas around them, but these features are all that’s really worthwhile here.

There are quite a few issues to be had here. One of the biggest issues present in the film is the rather banal efforts used in the haunting scenes that, while effective in continuing a present storyline, fail to really provide anything worth getting scared over. The scares are a never-ending series of floating voices only he can hear, disappearing appendages only he can see, and whenever he goes to apprehend it finds it's not what he went after but something else entirely, and all the while this generates some lame scenes due to their repeating nature. This keeps everything wrapped up in the same generally lackluster format over and over again, which stays in the same format without deviating all that much to a different style or format, making everything come off the same.

The other issue with this one is the rather dull pace of the haunting scenes, which make this a rather bland setup. With the lack of danger to the others around him, this makes it all pretty clear that this might be simply a guilty conscience rather than a traditional ghost haunting, so the attempts at scenes here, including the wet footprints in the carpet or the drastic alterations to the wedding dress, are rather weak. While the idea is fine enough and the film does remarkably well at incorporating elements to make it seem that's the case here, that doesn't make for an exciting effort when sandwiched around the banal wedding preparations or bonding with the daughter. As well, the fact that he’s so sketchy and obvious about something doesn't help much either, and overall drags this one down enough.

Overview: **/5

Decidedly dull ghost movie without a lot of positives, this is a disappointing and generally lackluster genre effort that doesn’t have a lot going on and manages to be only somewhat watchable. Those with an interest in this style or who are curious about it will have the only reason to give this a shot, as most others out there should heed caution.