Pernicious

For the last 2 years I've sprinkled in horror movie reviews as part of the month long celebration of Halloween in the month of October. This year I won't be posting a review every day, but I'd like to get in as many as time allows. 

To kick things off we'll browse through Netflix's current Horror movie selection and see if we can find something new. Hmm. Pernicious. Looks interesting. Kinda. Well let's give it a try.

per·ni·cious

/pərˈniSHəs/

adjective

1. having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way.
2. 
   

Growing up if I wanted to watch a "new" horror movie we had to drive down to the video store and rent a movie. Now all I have to do is fire up Netflix and I have plenty of low budget, never heard of before, horrible, yet entertaining horror movies to choose from. Trying to find a decent horror movie on Netflix isn't easy. I'll randomly choose a movie based on the thumb nail image and short description, but usually the end result is I chose poorly. Will this movie, Pernicious, change my streak of choosing sub-par horror movies?

This movie was released earlier this year in February, I'm assuming straight to video on demand and is classified as supernatural horror. Now I usually don't go for this sub-genre of horror, opting for zombie, slasher or B level movies. However I was tired of cycling through the Netflix stream and this is the movie I ended up choosing.

Set in Thailand (at least the setting is different), 3 American girls travel there for a summer of teaching English to under privileged Thai children. Arriving about a week before their work with the children would begin, the girls decide to see the sights and discover what the night life will bring. Hooking up w/ 3 British guys at a bar, they go back to girls summer home only to wake up after having some very vivid, brutal and bloody dreams.

Not knowing what happened to them or where the guys disappeared to the next morning, the girls stumble across a very dark secret about the house they are staying in, and what happened in the house long before their arrival.

This movie and it's plot reminded me a lot of The Ring in a few ways. First of all the both movies involve some old folklore, a dead little girl haunting people and revenge. This isn't a bad thing as I really enjoyed The Ring. However this movie can't hold a candle to the latter. 

The story, script and acting are just average. For a supernatural horror movie, there are a few really gory scenes that were great. They are kind of in the Hostel vein. Pernicious isn't bad though. Netflix viewers had given this movie at the time 1 1/2 stars. I'd at least give it 2 stars. I can think of worse movies to waste 1 1/2 hours of your life watching. 

If you are a fan of Japanese horror, supernatural horror or just want to watch a horror movie that takes place in Thailand, then give Pernicious a try.