Scorned (2013)
A man takes his girlfriend to a hillside retreat for a romantic weekend. Unbeknown to him, she knows he's been cheating on her with her best friend.
I loved this demented blackly comic thriller. It's so fast paced you won't have time to breath. The script doesn't mess about, it knows you'll have seen films like this before so doesn't sign post everything as some movies do. A simple glance at an object can bring in the next plot device.
Much of my enjoyment of this film came from the sick performance by Annalynn McCord. She doesn't take the idea of being cheated on particularly well and uses everything in her means to extract revenge on cheating boyfriend, Billy Zane and best friend Viva Bianca, who some may remember from the brilliant sandals, slaughter and sex series Spartacus. In fact McCord's performance was one of the most memorable i've seen in a long time - Sinister, sexy and downright disturbed at times. Far better than in the disappointing Excision (2012)
Whilst not taking itself seriously it was decidedly shocking in places. There's a lot of torture involved but not using the usual instruments as seen is Hostel etc. McCord uses things around the home like vices and pliers and electric cables in which she uses to burn Zane's eyes out.
Scorned twists and turns it's way throughout it's slim 80 minutes running time and what some films might have as plot contrivances this film blends them in perfectly even to the point of pointing out it's influences as they happen (Hello Misery)
After some fairly average to miserable horrors recently, Scorned hit back like a bone crushing return to the genre. As far as direct to dvd horror films go, this is in the top tier.
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