Pernicious

Director - James Cullen Bressack (Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys)
Starring - Ciara Hanna (Power Rangers Megaforce), Emily O'Brien (Project Bigfoot), and Jackie Moore (Atlantic Rim)
Release Date - 2015
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Evil never dies, it waits"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Ghost films are gaining in popularity and we have the found footage film Paranormal Activity to thank for the sub-genre's revival.  Personally, I find this to be a sub-genre that has so much potential but it is wasted on boring films that would rather hit you with a jump scare than give the viewer anything worth a damn.  However, I am always open to check out any film but I always have my expectations set before hand.  Last year director James Cullen Bressack announced he was working on a supernatural horror flick titled Pernicious and he would be flying to Thailand to film.  I like most of Bressack's films and was curious to see how this one would turn out after his hit Blood Lake.  About a week or so ago he reached out to me to check out the film and I graciously accepted.  Thanks for hooking me up James!

     The film follows three American girls that travel to Thailand to teach for the summer and have a good time away from mommy and daddy.  The home they moved into has a gold statue of a little girl that they pay no mind to at first.  However, they noticed that it is missing the morning after they invite three British guys over for the night.  They assume they were drugged after they wake and find their belongings gone along with the statue.  They panic and call the people they are renting the home from and learn that the home never had a statue like the one they are describing.  They try to recollect if the statue was ever there and then they all tell stories about the horrible dreams they had the night they were drugged.  They all tell chilling stories in which they brutally murdered the British men.  They try to track the statue down and learn that it is called a kumari which is a statue of a small child that has died and was dipped in gold.  These are usually a sign of good luck and used for necromancy.  They also learn that the family that lived there turned their daughter into one after the mother, who was pregnant at the time, commits suicide.  Now, the little girl is possessing the three women and killing at random.  

     Supernatural films can be fun and rich in story but very few are done in a way that it can hold the viewer's attention.  Most just try to make the viewer jump and not take advantage of the the sub-genre that can have some amazing stories.  However, Bressack is able to combine a great story with horror giving the viewer a great supernatural flick.  The acting in this one is great.  The three female leads are beautiful and talented.  They all bring different personalities that work well at creating different characters.  I have seen so many films with a female cast where all the women act the same making it hard for the viewer to take them seriously.  However, these three set themselves apart instantly and they all have great on screen chemistry.  The story for this one is your typical supernatural/haunted house type film with a very unique and disturbing back story.  This one goes above and beyond what most supernatural tales spin as their back story and when it is all said and done, you will have some chills running along your spine.  The film also starts out with a lot of action and carnage unlike most supernatural flicks and continues on the same path but somewhere around the three quarter mark the film does get a little bland until picking up again.  Finally, one would not expect to see some real death scenes in a supernatural flick but this one hits your hard with some blood and gore.  We get some real brutal deaths and some great practical effects.  Overall, Pernicious is a film for the real horror fans.  If you are looking for a movie theater and popcorn flick then you are in the wrong place.  However, if you want something sexy, bloody, and heinous then check this one out!