Pernicious

The word “pernicious” means “harmful” or “damaging” and that is how I felt about this film. I can never take back the 93 minutes I suffered. The film is classified as a horror and thriller from Thailand. Judging from films I have seen in the past, Thailand has the ability to produce impressive, horror films that can haunt you for days but they are also capable of producing extremely cheesy and low-quality movies that needs to stay in Thailand. Pernicious is the latter. Actually it needs to be burned, drained of blood, and buried in a far away place. 

Pernicious is about three American girls who take up a volunteering gig in Thailand. For their stay, they rent out a sketchy house and notice a gold statue in the shape of a little girl. After a night of partying, they realize their gold jewelry is missing and have a hunch that something is off.

I tried to be open-mind about this film because it had the premise of any typical horror film. I should have left when I had the chance because every aspect of this film was terrible, unbelievable, and I nearly wanted to go up to the person trying to sell this film and yell “NO”.

The actors and actresses in this film have no skill. I guess they were so desperate and needed experience, so they settled for this. The three main actresses are Julia, Rachel, and Alex. Julia is the brunette, who had some sense and is the least bothersome of the three. Rachel is the provocative sister and Alex is the annoying one. Rachel and Alex are suppose to be sisters, but I felt like Julia and Alex looked more like sisters. The casting director needs to step up and do a better job.

At one point of the film, after a rough night of partying and the murdering of some British guys they met at a club, they wake up and complain about how they felt so shitty and hungover. How can you feel that way when you wake up and your smokey eye is on point? It makes no sense to me.

The murder scenes were also a total mess. I am all for horror films with gory and sickening murders like Hostel and the Saw series, but this was an exception. The blood looked like ketchup mixed with barbecue sauce. As the blood squirted onto the faces of the girls, I wanted them to choke because that would give the film some entertainment value. Overall, the torture was not exciting and did not make me cringe a bit. 

The script was elementary. It made me feel some type of way, which is not the way I like to feel. It was so horrible, I actually took the time to write down stupid quotes from this film. For example, one of the girls said “we will be even” and the other replies “Even Stevens”. I get that they are American and they grew up watching the Disney show, but that was unnecessary. 

Another quote that the annoying Alex, the younger sister, said was “I’m not stupid. I’ve seen antique road shows.” I do not know if the director, James Cullen Bressack, was just making fun of Americans and our so-called television knowledge, but this is just embarrassing. I watch a lot of simpleminded shows on television from time to time, but I would not bring up an “antique road show” when I am in a situation where my jewelry is missing, I blacked out with some random British guys, and the creepy, little golden girl statue relocated.

After the girls realize they murdered the Brits, Rachel says “honesty is not the best policy”. That is an unethical message and having it in placed in the film makes me dislike it even more. The writer probably added this quote in because he did not want to hear or read about the responses to this film because he knew deep in his soul, that it would fail.

Pernicious is poorly-made and planned. Maybe if the acting was better, the script possessed more depth, and the editing and effects were seamless, it might be bearable. At this point, the film needs to be hidden and shown only to pester people you hate. Watching the film itself is more torturous then its murder scenes.