New World gets Hitchcockian with the sleeper TORMENT, on Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing.

A killer is stalking the streets of San Francisco, and his name is Bob (William Witt). He has just brutally murdered work colleague Diane (Lisa Ramirez, TERROR ON ALCATRAZ) after she humiliated him by going off with yuppie Barry (Dan Kosloff) but another of his kills has washed up at Line Point and Lieutenant Michael Courtland (Warren Lincoln, THE POWER) becomes the public face of the investigation. Naturally, Bob decides to start stalking Michael's wheelchair-bound mother (Eve Brenner, RAT FINK) who has a habit of crying wolf. Also in the line of fire is Michael's fiancée Jennifer (Taylor Gilbert, TWISTER) who visits her future mother-in-law in her isolated seaside mansion. With Michael constantly called away to investigations of the murders, Jennifer does not know whether to believe Mrs. Courtland's claims about a man trying to get into the house and kill her but… guess who's coming to dinner?

A low-key New World Pictures pick-up of a more modest visual and narrative scope than the same distributor's Bill Condon Southern Gothic thriller SISTER, SISTER, TORMENT is heavy on the Hitchcock borrowings – and has some striking San Francisco backdrops – but it is otherwise somewhat clumsy in execution with generally awkward performances, uncharismatic characters (Lincoln is no more compelling here than in THE POWER), and rough edges that undercut the film's attempts at production value (the mansion has obviously been converted into apartment units with Jennifer's guest bedroom door having a knocker on it). The mid-film twist is novel but the filmmakers obviously know they lack the smarts to draw it out and race towards a more traditional stalk and kill third act. The end result is minor New World, which is sometimes enough for a night in. Directors Samson Aslanian and John Hopkins had served, respectively, as production manager and assistant director on THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD and THE POWER.

Released direct-to-video by New World, TORMENT did not make it to DVD when either Anchor Bay or Image Entertainment had the Lakeshore catalogue, making its debut here in a 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen transfer that shows some heavier grain during the credits and some opticals as well as a couple underexposed shots but generally looks quite strong thanks to some wide-angle mobile photography. The blue lighting of the dark interiors never looks artificial or revisionist, and some minor bloodshed may still be surprising to those of us who have only seen the film on television. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track boasts clear dialogue and some pointed use of sound design, and shows off the varied Christopher Young (HELLRAISER) score to good effect.