Bereavement - Could have been so much better

I watched Bereavement due to it having Michael Biehn in. Despite never quite living up to his potential after the success of Terminator and Aliens, he normally puts in a solid supporting performance in whatever he's in.

Bereavement tells the story of a young boy who's kidnapped by a serial killer and forced to watch as the man executes one girl after another. Nice. After five years, a seventeen year old girl moves to down after her parents were tragically killed in a car crash. She starts to discover the `terrible secret.'
There's nothing too revolutionary about the whole `small town serial killer' premise, but it starts out with reasonable promise. I was quite enjoying it and wondering what all the negative reviews were talking about (and there are many if you care to look online). However, what starts off as possibly an enjoyable serial killer flick, descends into one daft plot hole after the next and soon I found I was actually laughing at how stupid everything turns out to be.

I know you have to suspend your disbelief to watch most horror films, but this one is too much. Here, if you're interested, are a few `spoilers:' the killer drives round the town slowly in the most beat-up distinctive van imaginable, abducts a child and drives off. No one notices this. There appear to be no police in the town who bother to investigate this possibility and look into the loner who's still living in an abandoned slaughter house. This killer then abducts local girls at an alarming rate. No one actually notices or seems to bother investigating. We are told at the very beginning of the film that a child who cannot feel pain due to an illness MUST be checked every hour on the hour for cuts etc that he is unable to notice. Yet, he can then go on to live for five years quite healthily with a serial killer in a grimy old warehouse with no medical attention whatsoever.

Sadly, these plot holes come thick and fast and just become annoying. About the only real thing Bereavement has going for it is the scenery, which is indeed well shot and atmospheric. Unfortunately, it's just too hard to believe to truly enjoy.
Probably best to avoid.

Oh, and if you do decide to give it a go - turn the volume down. Seriously, this film has more women screaming than any other film I think I've watched.

4/10 You can watch this film while you're doing the ironing (you'll still get the general gist of it)