Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Malevolence Blu-ray Movie Review

The Texas Chainsaw Psycho from the Town That Dreaded Sundown.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 23, 2019

Writer, director, composer, co-editor and one assumes craft services provider Stevan Mena mentions in one of the supplements included on this Blu- ray release of Mena’s film Malevolence how a number of horror and/or suspense classics informed his early filmgoing experience and ultimately led to this very outing. Among the films Mena cites are The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Psycho, but based solely on the image of a serial killer with a burlap sack over his head, it might seem that other films like The Town That Dreaded Sundown may have played into Mena’s formative experiences. Malevolence is by Mena’s own admission a micro budgeted affair, and it often looks like it, but it does have a palpably unsettling mood, and it does in fact follow Psycho’s general structural outline of presenting the theft of money in its first half hour or so before darting off into more murderous mayhem.

Unlike Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece, Mena perhaps cheats just a little with a clear indication from the get go that this is going to be a "genre" undertaking, replete with some hapless damsel in distress chained up in what looks like an abandoned basement somewhere. And while some will probably instantly be thinking, "how many times have I seen something like that in a horror film?", Mena himself admits that his film is stuffed full of references to other horror outings, which may make part of the fun of watching Malevolence for some horror fans be discovering those very references.

The film also starts with some text statistics on child abductions, and a facially scarred kid is seen in the first sequence as well, also evidently a captive in this same basement, and so horror fans worth their salt and/or their blood and guts may well be able to put two and two together once a masked killer starts striking some years later. The “victims” in this case are both some robbers who are introduced early on, but also some hostages who are taken by those robbers later in the story. Suffice it to say a number of characters are executed once they all end up at one of the hoariest of all horror tropes, the abandoned farmhouse out in some isolated rural location somewhere.

Malevolence Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Malevolence is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mena Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a decent looking transfer that nonetheless does have some minor signs of haloing as well as a not very noticeable grain field at times, but the back cover states this was sourced from the 35mm negative and supervised by Mena and cinematographer Tsuyoshi Kimoto. As can probably be gleaned from some of the screenshots accompanying this review, huge swaths of the story play out in deep tones of blue, and both fine detail and shadow definition can be lacking. In more brightly lit moments, fine detail perks up considerably, but even here the palette doesn't always really pop with great energy. This was obviously a micro-budgeted feature, and so fans are probably going to come into this with expectations properly set, willing to forgive occasional softness and even elements like momentary focus pulling efforts.

Malevolence Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unfortunately only two lossy Dolby tracks are included on this release, something that continues to kind of chafe at my personal tastes, since I feel Blu- ray discs support lossless audio and should be a requirement on all releases, and so my score above reflects that opinion (your mileage may of course vary). The surround track here is quite effective at times, with good startle effects and nice attention paid to both ambient environmental effects and discrete placement of individual effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout.

Malevolence Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Back to the Slaughterhouse (480i; 31:27) is an appealing featurette that includes Mena reminiscing about his childhood experiences watching horror and suspense films, and his first forays into filmmaking as a youngster.


• The Dark Side of Horror (480i; 12:12) is an interview with Samantha Dark (get it?).


• Leatherface Speaks (1080p; 5:16) is an appreciation of the film by Gunnar Hansen.


• Fundraiser Trailer (1080p; 1:24) was put together for prospective investors.


• Deleted Scenes (480i; 9:59)


• Photo Gallery (720p; 5:23)


• Rehearsal Footage (480i; 1:20)


• TV and Radio Spots (480i; 4:40)


• Audio Commentary featuring Mena and Brandon Johnson is available under the Setup Menu.

Malevolence Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Malevolence is seemingly intentionally derivative, and so horror fans looking for some bright, shiny (bloody?) new object may not find enough here, but for those willing to go with the (bloody?) flow, the film does deliver some jolts. Mena may still be getting a hand on the Blu-ray market, as evidenced by some clunky menu authoring and inclusion of lossy audio, but fans may find this an appealing enough package with some enjoyable supplements.