Tormented Revenge 2023 (Touch the Heart Productions / Uncia Films) Review

All right, I’m back for another round of Big Spence action. If you have been following along, I had a good time with the flawed but charming murder mystery of “A Murder in Oakland: Beauty is Deadly”. But then was almost put to sleep with “Who Needs It?”, a therapy experiment that misfired and missed the mark. So I wasn’t to sure what to expect with Tormented Revenge. But the good news is, the characters are not confined to their chairs and one location for the whole movie, so we’re off to a much better start with this one.

One thing you go to give Big Spence credit for is he knows how to open his movies. This one begins with a quick torture scene hinting at events yet to unfold and then we have the traditional opening credits as we pan slowly over exterior shots of weird facilities. The movie then follows Kendra (Znai Brown) as she decides to take some pictures with a photographer to start her modeling career.

Don’t mind her, she is just out for some crazy revenge.

Now upon entering Bobby’s (Marcus D. Spencer) house, a professional model would run for the hills as he has his photography setup in his living room. Kendra and Bobby do a interview of sorts, and it’s awkward.  The two characters just sit down and for a second, I thought we might be for another “Who Needs It?” exchange of just not doing anything with two people sitting down just chatting it up. Finally, though, Kendra gets to do some modeling, and I’m not to sure if Bobby has a very silent camera or is just pretending to take pictures or just doesn’t know how to use a camera.

Then the film takes an unexpected twist with Kendra smacking Bobby right on the head and tying him up. It turns out Kendra didn’t come here to start her modeling career, but to get revenge on Bobby for what he did to his past clients. Now, this is where things get interesting. Bobby has not been shown yet to do anything wrong other than being an awkward kind of guy. We don’t know if Kendra is just in getting her revenge. It does make for great awkward tension, as you don’t know which side is actually in the right.

Bobby faces the pain, and for most of the runtime we get to hear him whine and beg for mercy.

Out of all the films I’ve watched so far, this is Marcus Spencer’s strongest role, as it fits into his range. He comes across as a pitiful guy who is in pain. His line delivery of “I thought you wanted to be a star?” falls into the so bad it’s good territory. Znai Brown is doing good here. She is clearly having fun with the role and does come across with this psycho bitch energy which was entertain to watch. One way you tell that Kendra is crazy is that when she order’s pizza, she orders pineapple and sausage. 

In terms of the actual torture, most of it is silly slapstick, with Kendra whacking Bobby with papers most of the time. But there is an effective shot when Kendra stomps on Bobby’s foot and that effect was well put together. The only main issue is that the movie drags out it’s scene without enough going on to keep things moving. There is a lot of Marcus Spencer moaning and whining you have to suffer through and the pacing needed to be tighter.

One totally weird part of the film is when a Neighbor comes to check on Bobby as she hears a gunshot Kendra shot off earlier. Kendra answers the door to assure her that everything is okay, but the neighbor is on the phone with 911, and the 911 operator is repeating asking her what is her emergency during this whole conversation. But the neighbor and Kendra just weirdly ignore it. I have to ask, what was the editor smoking when they were cutting this part? Totally bizarre.

The ending of this movies get’s pretty crazy, and it ends in such a wild and weird way that is sort of works. There is actual payoff here from the films earlier setup. It’s not perfect, but compared to the pervious  Out of all the Marcus Spencer films, this is one the one that is must put together technically, still suffering from sound issues here and there. I think I prefer A Murder in Oakland over Tormented Revenge, since there was just more going in that film and it was a funnier vibe, but I was thankful I wasn’t trapped in a therapy room with Tormented Revenge.