Evil Never Dies. It Waits.
"Pernicious" is about three beautiful girls who travel to Thailand to teach English for the summer. They waste little time before they are partying with some guys they just met. Following their night of fun, the girls wake up confused and restless, having had nightmares of heinous events involving their new friends. They discover that the golden statue that was in their house, is now missing, presumed to be stolen by their new friends.
The film is based on Thai folklore. It felt like a, "Hostel" meets typical scary girl from J-horror, mashup. That doesn't necessarily mean it is a bad thing. The trio of girls learn that the thing behind the nightmares and what follows, is the angry spirit of Vanida, an eight year old girl who was sacrificed by her family, many years ago. Vanida has now discovered a way to exact her revenge and that is what she plans to do.
It is only a matter of time before things go downhill and the young ladies dreams of a fun and exciting summer, become a real nightmare. Once most of the story is revealed, the body count, albeit small, starts to rise. Things do not go very well for the girls and they should have just stayed home. But that is almost always the case in horror films. The story overall was not bad. I think the pacing could have used some help. If the deaths in the beginning could have occurred a little farther apart, I think that would have helped stretch the action. The same applies to the end of the film as well. "Pernicious" does feature some decent looking practical effects, especially early on in the film. The blood at times, mainly when it is done heavily flowing, often looks like red water on the characters skin. It does look fairly good though while it is flowing from a sliced throat or gaping wound. 
The film made great use of sound and sound effects. However, they were a bit heavy handed at times, with some things sounding a bit too squishy or like the sound of someone unsheathing a weapon playing while we are watching a person licking a knife. Somewhat minor things, but they can make a difference to some viewers. I thought the main actresses Emily O'Brien (Julia), Ciara Hanna (Alex) and Jackie Moore (Rachel) all did a fine job in their roles. I do wish we had an opportunity to get to know them more as I didn't really connect to them. I feel as though I am really panning the film and that is not my intention. I am just trying to point out where I think some improvements could have been made. The film featured a few jump-scares and a couple moments that make you wince with phantom pain due to what is happening to a character.
If horror fans watch "Pernicious" and give it a chance, I think they can find enough about it, to enjoy the film to some degree. I have seen much better and I have also seen much worse. So for me, this falls somewhere in the middle. If you look at the career of the young director and co-writer, James Cullen Bressack you will see, he is one busy man. Really, click the link in his name and take a look at the number of films and also the number of jobs he has fulfilled in making those films. He's young and obviously ambitious, so he could have a very long career ahead of him. Perhaps if he is given the opportunity to make a film with a larger studio, we'll get to see what he can really do.
RATING: 2.5 / 5
After thrilling audiences in theaters and On Demand earlier this Summer, James Cullen Bressack's bone-chilling horror hit "Pernicious" makes it way to DVD. The title will be exclusive to Redbox on September 8, 2015 and will be available elsewhere on September 29, 2015.
For more information on "Pernicious" visit the official website.
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