Verdict
Summary
Shot on a low budget, but managing to be quite effective in its simplicity, Tormented from director Bert I. Gordon still works thanks to good, convincing performances and a weird atmosphere.
Plot:
A man’s mistress is killed in an accident right in front of him, with no witnesses, and the woman haunts him as he prepares to marry someone else.
Review:
Tom Stewart (Richard Carlson) is with his lover Vi (Juli Reding) on top of a lighthouse when he breaks up with her, telling her that it’s over and that he’s planning to marry another woman. Vi won’t take the news lying down and vows to ruin his nuptials and his entire life if he doesn’t marry her instead. In a stroke of good (or bad, depending on your perspective) luck, Vi leans out over the railing and the rail breaks, and she falls to her death in the rocky crags below, her body washing out to the ocean. Tom did nothing: He neither pushed her nor tried to save her, and for that he will live to regret it. Soon, he’s getting ready to marry his sweetheart (played by Susan Gordon) who has a very young sister who looks up to Tom and asks a lot of questions, which he tends to be cagey about, and because Tom’s sanity teeters with startling visions of Vi haunting him, he becomes cagier than ever. A man (played by Joe Turkel) shows up, claiming that Vi owed him five bucks, but it’s a ruse: This person seems to realize that Vi is dead and that Tom had something to do with it, which leads to a blackmail offer that Tom at first refuses, but then is all but forced to cooperate with. Vi’s ghost manages to push Tom over the edge, and he murders the blackmailer, all but sealing his fate in the grand scheme of things. On the day of his wedding, Tom’s world comes crashing down when Vi’s vengeful spirit destroys the ceremony (the film’s best scene, which has all the flowers in the chapel wilting as her ghost passes by) and has one final act to reveal to Tom, whose life is all but destroyed now that Vi’s promise to ruin his life comes to pass.
Shot on a low budget, but managing to be quite effective in its simplicity, Tormented from director Bert I. Gordon still works thanks to good, convincing performances and a weird atmosphere. Buxom and gorgeous co-star Reding makes a great villain, while Turkel’s sleazy blackmailer really helps the movie out with his disrespectful turn as a young buck looking to make a buck. While the movie has a very downbeat ending, the movie should still please fans of classic spookers.
Film Masters recently released a restored Blu-ray edition of Tormented that has a slew of bonus features and a brand new 4K transfer that looks and sounds sharp and clear as a black and white nightmare.
Bonus Materials
- Full Commentary track done by Gary Rhodes
- Inserted full color booklet with essay by Tom Weaver
- ‘Bert I. Gordon: The Amazing Colossal Filmmaker’ – archival interview with writer/director/producer Bert I. Gordon
- Unaired pilot episode of ‘Untold Ghost Stories,’ with Vincent Price
- ‘Bigger Than Life: Bert I. Gordon in the 1950’s and 1960’s’ – New Ballyhoo Motion Pictures documentary featuring C. Courtney Joyner
- MST3K Bonus Film of Tormented
