Bert I. Gordon produced, directed, and wrote numerous horror and sci-fi B-movies from the 50s to the 80s. If Tormented is any indication of the quality of his other works, then I look forward to checking them out.
Tormented is your fairly standard ghost story, about a vengeful spirit haunting the man responsible for her death. The man in question is Tom (Richard Carlson), who is set to be married in the coming days, but he has a problem–the other girl. The other girl is Vi, played wonderfully by Juli Reding. Predictably, she meets her end almost immediately after threatening to tear Tom away from his fiance Meg (Lugene Sanders). And then the hauntings begin.
While there is a lack of originality with the overall plot, the film brings new and exciting elements to the screen. In one bizarre scene, the ghost of Vi’s head is floating in the center of the room. Tom, frightened and angry from near continuous hauntings, decides the best course of action is to snatch the head by the hair, wrap it in a towel, and go running out of the house. Then he accidentally drops the head down the stairs. It’s actually a wonderfully done scene and adds a bit of humor to an otherwise largely humorless flick. The wedding scene was another shot that was expertly executed, and I have no doubt that it was quite frightening to witness in theaters in 1960.
But what really makes this film is the cast.
Richard Carlson as Tom manages to stay somewhat likeable, despite being a real dirtbag. Susan Gordon as the young girl Sandy–who is the one who ultimately discovers Tom’s devious ways, and is forced to face him–delivers a hell of a performance for a kid that couldn’t have been much more than six or seven at the time of filming. Then there is Joe Turkel, who most of you probably know as the bartender in Kubrick’s The Shining. In Tormented he plays a slick boat captain intent on blackmailing Tom over his affairs with Vi. But the real draw has to be Juli Reding as Vi. She is the very definition of a bombshell–blonde, somewhat ditzy, and sporting a pair of tits that can’t help but be the center of attention. I was surprised to discover that Reding’s filmography is relatively short. She certainly has the curves of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, and her acting isn’t bad either. 😉
Check out Tormented: