Scorned (2014 film)

Scorned
Directed by Mark Jones
Produced by Robert Beaumont
Todd Blatt
Audrey Delaney
Written by Mark Jones
Sadie Katz
Starring AnnaLynne McCord
Billy Zane
Viva Bianca
Sadie Katz
Cinematography Mark Melville
Edited by John Blizek
Production
company
Horse Head Pictures
Distributed by Anchor Bay Films
Release dates
  • February 4, 2014[1]
Running time
 86 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Scorned is a 2014 American psychological thriller directed by Mark Jones and written by Jones and Sadie Katz. The film stars AnnaLynne McCord, Billy Zane and Viva Bianca. The story is about a woman who discovers her boyfriend is having an affair with her best friend. She goes crazy and decides to take revenge on them.

Plot

The film opens with a vision of a young girl seemingly drowning in a pool. Texts in-between two people are also shown, talking about one of them breaking up with their girlfriend over the weekend and instead being with the correspondent. Kevin (Billy Zane) and Sadie (AnnaLynne McCord) have been dating for six months so Sadie decides to confess to her friend Jennifer (Viva Bianca) that she believes Kevin will propose to her on their romantic weekend getaway. While seemingly happy for her friend, Jennifer remains critical of ready her friend is ready to marry a man she has only known for six months, something which Sadie brushes off. Sadie also asks Jennifer to be her maid of honor. Sadie and Kevin head up to his holiday home and the two spend the day together, including having sex in the lake on the property. When drying the clothes of the pair, Sadie finds Kevin's phone and sees a sexual text from another woman. Sadie goes back out to Kevin and asks him whether he loves her and when he replies yes, she asks whether that means he'll never cheat on her. After brushing off her questions and being generally cold, Sadie tells him that she will give him what he wants and begins to unzip his pants. However she becomes quite violent and ends up pepper-spraying Kevin as well as knocking him out with a log from the near by fire. Kevin wakes up and is tied to a chair. At first confused and seemingly believing it to be some sexual fantasy, Kevin is quite calm. However Sadie tells him that she knows about his affair which is between him and her best friend, Jennifer. She also tells Kevin that she invited over Jennifer via his phone, telling her that Sadie and Kevin's relationship had ended and he has the house to himself for the weekend. Sadie takes Kevin upstairs to their bedroom and ties him to the bed as well as gagging him. Sadie lies out candles and rose petals as well as some spiked champagne for Jennifer. Jennifer arrives and follows the petals and drink the champagne and quickly undresses. Getting on top of Kevin, believing his gag and other ties to be a sexual fantasy. Sadie quickly knocks her out. Jennifer wakes up in a bathtub in which Sadie tells her that in the olden days adulterers got their hair cut off, which Sadie proceeds to do. Jennifer and Kevin wake up with Jennifer now tied to the bed and Kevin tied to a chair. Bringing up both a microwave and Jennifer's dog, Bootsie, Sadie threatens to microwave the dog if Kevin doesn't perform oral sex on Jennifer. Sadie justifies this as being a cure for them and saying that now they don't have to do it behind her back, Kevin eventually agrees. After feeding them and fending off a visiting neighbor, Sadie stops Kevin from getting his gun which he makes a run for. In retaliation, Sadie electrocutes the pair as well as putting Jennifer's hand in a machine which breaks all her fingers. She also breaks Kevin's ankle with a sledge hammer. Sadie has a conversation with Jennifer in which she tells her the story of her childhood dog. She loved the dog but the dog fell in love with her sister so Sadie drowned her, the girl from the start of the movie being Sadie's sister. She furthers this by telling Jennifer that she never blamed the dog, hence insinuating that she doesn't blame Kevin but instead blames Jennifer. Going upstairs to tell Kevin the same thing, she however tells him that they need to get rid of his wandering eye and wants to blind him, which she only partially does. Taking Jennifer to the boat where she plans to drown her, Jennifer gets away and manages to intercept a car, only for Sadie to be driving. Once caught and driving with Sadie, Jennifer falsely professes her love for Sadie, saying that the affair was to end their relationship so she could be with Sadie. Jennifer kisses Sadie and then rolls out of the car in an attempt to get away but hurts herself. Sadie gets out of the car and chokes Jennifer to death. Going back to her car, she is pulled over by the police who tell her that a criminal has broken out of jail and that she should keep an eye out. Jennifer however is still alive and stumbles towards the police only to be hit by an oncoming truck. Sadie drives away and driving past the criminal and lets him into the car. She proceeds to have sex with him and then kills him, thanking him for being her alibi. Driving back to the house, she finds Kevin has broken free and chases him. Kevin dodges the bullets she fires and manages to make it down to the boat however dies in the ensuing fight. Sadie sets up the scene as if the criminal raped her and killed her boyfriend and tells this to the police, using her fingers which she also put in the machine as evidence, getting away with it. The film then flashes to a few months later where Sadie has a new boyfriend, who is revealed to be cheating on her too.

Cast

Reception

Influx Magazine's Nav Qateel graded the film C+ and said, "The core audience this film is aimed at will find the cruelty doled out by Sadie rather satisfying."[2] William Harrison of DVD Talk rated it 1/5 stars and wrote, "Neither scary nor funny enough to entertain, this one is dead on arrival."[3] Mac McEntire of DVD Verdict called it "light on thrills and even lighter on sex".[4] Patrick Cooper of Bloody Disgusting rated it 1.5/5 stars and wrote, "It seems like Scorned is grasping to be an edgy revenge flick, but its delivery simply falls flat."[5] Anthony Arrigo of Dread Central rated it 1/5 stars and wrote, "Writer & director Mark Jones' utterly banal tale of cheating and revenge is so by-the-numbers you'd swear it was written using a Mad Libs for Scripts book."[6] Staci Layne Wilson, also of Dread Central, rated it 3/5 stars and called it "a well-paced, briskly-written and well-acted indie which keeps on topping itself in terms of twists and turns."[7]

References

  1. ↑ Miska, Brad (January 14, 2014). "Exclusive: AnnaLynne McCord Gets 'Scorned,' Microwaves A Dog!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  2. ↑ Qateel, Nav (January 8, 2014). "Scorned (Review)". Influx Magazine. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  3. ↑ Harrison, William (February 4, 2014). "Scorned (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  4. ↑ McEntire, Mac (February 21, 2014). "Scorned (Blu-ray)". DVD Verdict. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  5. ↑ Cooper, Patrick (January 31, 2014). "[BD Review] Your Eyeballs May Feel 'Scorned' After Watching This Flat Thriller". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  6. ↑ Arrigo, Anthony (March 18, 2014). "Scorned (Blu-ray / DVD)". Dread Central. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  7. ↑ Wilson, Staci Layne (February 3, 2014). "Scorned (Blu-ray / DVD)". Dread Central. Retrieved July 26, 2014.

External links