Malevolence (film)

Synopsis

A woman and her daughter have been kidnapped by a bunch of bank robbers who have decided to stay the night in a house in the middle of nowhere. When the daughter manages to escape to a nearby house, she has no idea that she's just escaped into the house of a serial killing psychopath, putting not only herself but also her mother and the robbers in fatal danger.

Cast

Prequel and unfinished sequel

On February 2, 2010 Steven Mena announced that he planned a prequel to his film. Bereavement stars Michael Biehn and John Savage as well as Nolan Gerard Funk and Alexandra Daddario.

In April 2013 a sequel titled Killer: Malevolence 3 was announced. However, in February 2016 Steven Mena revealed that the film had been cancelled after only shooting 75% of it, which was due to budgeting problems and the death of their lead actor, which would mean a big majority of the movie would need to be reshot if a replacement was brought in. He released screencaps from the film.

Reception

Malevolence currently has an overall approval rating of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The New York Times said the film "will lead Halloween-inspired viewers into this dark place for some palpitations, but the thrills will come from sheer density of gruesome images, not from frightfully new ideas." Variety said of the film: "The mark of a good horror director is seldom in onscreen gore, but rather the ability to make every anticipatory moment tingle with dread. On that level, Stevan Mena’s first feature Malevolence scores well, building a grim atmosphere sans Scream-style winking to tell its tale of bank robbers who choose the wrong abandoned rural house to hide out in."

Malevolence won 3 best feature film awards at the 2003 International Film Expo. Director Stevan Mena won in a separate category for best director in the same year.