Horror Movie Review: Pernicious

Starring Ciara Hanna, Emily O’Brien and Jackie Moore as three young ladies who volunteer their summer to educate children in a small town of Thailand on the finer points of the English language, but find themselves thrust into a world full of hate and deceit. After an overly adventurous night out on the town, the girls begin to notice some strange and dark things happening in the home they are staying at, the most distressing event being the theft of a sacred golden statue of a young girl from the residence. The girls find a ride into town in hopes of locating or even replacing the statute, but are distracted by a young child in town that beckons them to follow her (like you do.) The “child” leads the party to an old crone on the outskirts of town, who explains that the child is actually a malicious spirit of Thai folklore that is out for revenge for her own death at the hands of family members, and gives the three ladies each a pendant to protect them from being possessed. One overly confident lass pitches her amulet into the river under the guise that nothing bad will happen. We all know what happens next.

The folklore is interesting, the acting is pretty good, and the special effects are gruesome at times (as they should be) so considering the film isn’t a big budget Hollywood film, it still has a lot to offer. If I had to fuss about anything, it would be that a few of the camera angles were, well, weird (there is a scene where the camera takes you through the house and into the side of a staircase. Not up the stairs, not over the steps, or behind the stairs where the hidden door is, but right into the side of the stairs. It was just a little off for me.) The storyline jumps a little but quickly gets itself back on track , and as for the ending, I’ll let you decide that one. All in all, there is a lot of potential to be seen in this film out of the cast, director, and writing. There are several scenes that will leave you a bit dodgy about leaving your closet door open, among other things, so it certainly does have a good scare factor to it. Pernicious is a movie I’d recommend checking out, but certainly keep your eyes on the lookout for more releases that include this cast and director.

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