Bert I. Gordon - cleverly shortened as B.I.G - is a notorious director/producer/writer whose films are too often automatically categorized as 'awful' and textbook material for spoof-shows as MST3K. Even 'Tormented' featured in the legendary show and I, for one, think this was really unjustified. Underneath all the cheapness and inferior production values of this project homes a modestly grim and slick thriller. The plot handles about a successful piano player (Tom) who lives on a remote island community. He's all set to wed a rich high society girl but first he has to get rid of his Marilyn Monroe-like mistress Vi. Things seem to turn out fine when she falls off the lighthouse but Vi comes back to haunt Tom; body part by body part. This thriller with obvious Freudian influences is quite atmospheric and features interesting sub-plots and a few genuine frights. It only suffers from too many scenes in which the protagonist (Richard Carlson) wanders around the beach talking to himself. It's not a bad film at all and most people probably just refer to it as a turkey because Gordon directed it. Whether his films feature giant fake mutated animals (Empire of the Ants, Food of the Gods) or not, they all get labeled the same way. Cinema is a hypocrite industry, my friends. It's up to you to give this 'Tormented' a look and realize it should be rated slightly higher.
