BEREAVEMENT [2010]

The second installment that is the first part of a trilogy [?] written and directed by Stevan Mena. The first film, Malevolence was a lacklustre thriller that tried to emulate '80's slashers, while Bereavement takes a different turn down the horror road and aims for torture porn.
Mena must have gone to film and music school, because his skills vastly improved since the first film six years before this. That's not to say Bereavement is any good...because it's not.
I'll admit there were a few scenes that the gorehound in me grinned and found myself to be very uncomfortable with the disturbingly immoral final ten minutes but apart from that it was a bore. Skip this series. That is unless Mena comes up with something surprisingly original and amazing for the final part but I doubt that, as these two films said everything that could be said about something so inane and shallow.

2 roasted waitresses out of 5

MALEVOLENCE [2004]

Being the first instalment that's the second part of a trilogy [if that makes any sense], would make you think Malevolence would try a little harder to be better than it is.
Writer/director Stevan Mena obviously tried very hard to emulate an '80's slasher flick and in that he succeeded. If you told me I was watching a bad horror movie from 1984 I would have believed you, with it's terrible acting, corny synth music and it's sloppy direction adding to it all. I think Mena tried to pay homage to Halloween, Friday The 13th and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but instead of coming off as that, it comes off as an extremely watered down rip-off of all of the films above. The characters are stupid. I'm talking annoyingly stupid. It's all right when a character is supposed to be stupid but when they're written to be "smart" and do stupid things it's very difficult to enjoy.
I'm hoping the second installment that's the first part [laughs] is the improvement I keep reading about it being.

1 funny synth STINGS out of 5