Pernicious (2015)

Terrible and pointless story, Which would not be out of place in a soap opera. The only upside is the use of Thailand for a backdrop. The three actresses should of been wearing bikinis that would of made the film more watchable.

Three American fitties, Alex, Julia and Rachel (Ciara Hanna, Emily O'Brien and Jackie Moore), travel to Thailand in order to teach English to children (and to pick up sleazy British guys in bars for casual sex), but find themselves menaced by a Kumari, the vengeful spirit of a young girl who was sacrificed in a bloody ritual.Borrowing heavily from post-millennial horror hits The Grudge and Hostel, James Cullen Bressack's Pernicious is a wholly unoriginal torture porn/creepy girl ghost story that tests the patience from the word go. Its three central girls might look great in a pair of tiny shorts, but they're unsympathetic characters, behaving in an irresponsible manner that is bound to end badly; the torture element is suitably nasty with fine gore effects by Jerami Cruise, but it's nothing we haven't seen many, many times before; and the supernatural scenes are totally predictable and scare free, supposedly nail-biting moments including the old 'it's under the duvet' trick and the tried-and-tested 'bathroom mirror reveal' (yawn!).Just about bearable thanks to the lovely ladies (alas, no nudity!) and the gore (best bit being the shot of a pulsating brain in an old woman's crushed skull), but don't expect Pernicious to deliver anything remotely original.

The idea was an good one. The execution was horrible. The women were totally unbelievable. The blonds equated teaching ESL as saving the world. This might have worked if they were playing ditsy blonds but they seemed to be playing slutty blonds. And it wasn't even the clothing giving this impression. It was the attitude and body language. The dialogue was poorly written and the acting was terrible. The brunette, the 'smart' one, seemed to be the ditsy one. Their interactions with the locals were painful to watch because they were so patronizing. Then they hit the bars and the acting and dialogue get even worse. I actually stopped watching before the movie got gory. It was just so bad that I couldn't continue watching.

What's creepier? A masked man chasing around a bunch of teens in the woods, making lots of noise and leaving no room for jump scares? Or a spooky little girl who wants to silently maim and kill everyone around her because she died? Pretty f*ck-ed up..right? Whatever way you look at it and watch this movie, it will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time! It seems like every 5 minutes I am getting scared or grossed out by some sick twisted scene. If you like this kind of stuff, Well you're going to LOVE Pernicious. It's really gory and really creepy at the same time, leaving for a pleasurable balance of jump-scares, spine-chilling creepiness, and jaw-dropping gore! I loved it!