Stevieboy666 A bank robbery goes wrong & the offenders plus a couple of hostages find themselves at a country hideaway, only to be stalked by a maniac who looks like the killer from "The Town that Dreaded Sundown", or Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th pre hockey mask. Apart from an horrific opening the first half hour plays like a crime thriller but after that, once the killer starts going about his grisly business the film then turns gradually into an effective slasher. The relatively low body count may not go down with more hardcore slasher fans but this film does pack in a fair amount of suspense. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th & Halloween are obvious influences, but that's no bad thing. No complaints about the acting either. Well worth seeing alongside it's superior prequel "Bereavement" (2010).

eytand94 The slasher genre is filled with clichés and the viewer is often left longing for something new. However, if you can make a horror film that makes up for clichés with genuine fear and dread, audiences will enjoy it. Stevan Mena's 2004 film "Malevolence" is a stand-out among the disreputable rip-offs. It's not without its flaws, but for a low budget film that got the direct-to-DVD treatment, it's much better than one would think. And much more creepy, as well.The plot is fairly simple: after four people rob a town bank and take a mother and daughter hostage, they hide out in a deserted, lifeless house, hoping to figure out how they will handle the money. What they don't know is that a few houses down, a killer is hiding out, and has set his eye on his new targets.Stevan Mena has an obvious love for the more classic horror films of the 70's/early 80's, when such movies as "Halloween," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," and "Friday the 13th" came out. And with that, a low budget, a nifty choice of a photographer, and some eerie music(by Mena himself, who also edited and produced the film, and wrote the script), "Malevolence" scores big on the genre scale.The setting of a little town that is right next to a slaughterhouse sets the tone for a "Texas Chainsaw" style horror film. The film is a lot like Tobe Hooper's film in that it is brutal, but not in the way "Hostel" was brutal. Actually, most of the violence is quite minimal. Mena favors tension and atmosphere over splashes of movie blood.The film's tone is also a highlight. Nothing is particularly fun about "Malevolence," and neither was "Texas Chainsaw." Right from the start, the mood is heavy, and we're in for a frightening ride.Lighting is also key to the horrific experience that "Malevolence" offers. The film mostly takes place at night, and instead of staying in pitch blackness, the movie's moon sends a glowing ray of light onto the scenery, bringing more atmosphere to the film.Mena has crafted an excellent, foreboding score that is not overly used. There are moments when the music will instantly echo John Carpenter's score for "Halloween," and I love that. The music is original and disturbing. More points for Mena.Now, here's where "Malevolence" is flawed. There's only one quirk that can be found here, and that is in the casting. The acting is decent, but nothing particularly special. In such instances of danger or horror, the cast delivers the screams and the struggle for survival. But when it comes to the more dramatic situations, mostly involving the robbery, the cast can be slightly wooden.Otherwise, there's really not much wrong with this film. It is malevolent enough and made well enough to get a good recommendation, and for a film that went straight to DVD, that's rare. For Stevan Mena, "Malevolence" is a very good first impression. It doesn't beg for attention, but it definitely deserves it.

flame466 Where should eye begin........? Well first of all if eye could have gave this movie a lower rating than eye would have given it a -2. Second off this movie had no purpose or meaning at all. There's this one scene where a woman and her daughter are tied up and knelled down in front of a kidnapper and also duct tape around their mouths, when from behind the kidnapper and coming down the stairs is the killer. Now at this point the daughter and the mother can both see the killer and are going out of their way to lean and look around the kidnapper while screaming under their duct taped mouths and the kidnapper never turned around which he ended up killed by the killer. Third thing is he didn't even kill the woman and her daughter the next scene just showed them still tied up and no sign of the killer or the body of the kidnapper. Movies like this is why good slasher flicks have become "extincsolete (obsolete/extinct) ". See this movie has forced me to make up a word that doesn't exist. All eye'm saying is if u watch this movie u will be very, very, very upset. That's if u have good taste in horror/slasher flicks.

sunznc Malevolence is a film that borrows elements of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th. The score is haunting and well done. The movie has it's tense and scary scenes and is well shot however, the acting is mediocre at best and I'm being generous. The dialogue or script is awful. Especially at the end. There is a scene between a so-called FBI agent and a local cop and it's painful sitting through this. For a few minutes my attention was held during some truly haunting and creepy moments and then another scene minutes later had me laughing because it was so awful. Especially one scene between a mother & daughter in a van throwing dialogue back at each other in quick succession. Oh how painful that was. I've seen worse but this was disappointing because some of it is so stupidly done. Don't buy it-just rent it so you can take it back.