When a Blu-ray includes a mocking Mystery Science Theater 3000 take on a movie, that doesn’t leave me with an immense belief that the original flick will offer a quality product. Nonetheless, I went into 1960’s horror-fantasy Tormented with hopes that it might fare better than anticipated.

Tom Stewart (Richard Carlson) intends to wed Meg Hubbard (Lugene Sanders). However, his former girlfriend Vi Mason (Juli Reding) still wants him for herself and confronts Tom.

When a barrier breaks, Vi falls into the sea and dies, a demise that Tom could’ve possibly prevented if he’d assisted her. The incident that initially gives Tom relief that Vi won’t harass him any longer, but Vi returns as a ghost to continue to hound her former lover.

If nothing else, Tormented boasts an intriguing premise. It feels a bit like a supernatural predecessor of Fatal Attraction and seems like a story that could fare well in the right hands.

Unfortunately, Tormented wound up under the auspices of Bert I. Gordon, a filmmaker known for low-budget horror cheese. As such, the end result fails to live up to its potential.

That said, Tormented could fare worse than it does – much worse. The core story does come with intrigue, and at times, it becomes fairly creepy.

Tormented works best when it concentrates on its Edgar Allan Poe-style narrative of a man potentially wracked with guilt. As much as Tom tries to rationalize his behavior and let himself off the hook, he clearly feels unable to eliminate his mental misgivings.

A better-made film would leave the viewer uncertain about Tom’s sanity for an extended period. Unfortunately, Tormented tends to portray the existence of Ghost Vi seem true too quickly.

Actually, the movie can’t make up its mind in that regard, as it lacks consistency in how it portrays Ghost Vi. While plenty of scenes appear to leave her existence up for grabs, others sure feel like they depict her as a real entity.

For instance, early in the film, we see Vi’s footprints appear in the sand next to those of Tom and Meg. Tormented could have only shown these from Tom’s perspective and given the audience the possible impression he imagined them.

However, we see the footprints appear before Tom does, so that eliminates the possibility they exist in his mind. Thus even though later scenes attempt to communicate the chance that Ghost Vi only resides in Tom’s scrambled brain, shots like those on the beach tell the audience that this isn’t the case.

As the film tries to have it both ways, it just gets goofier and goofier as it goes. It also simply seems less interesting, as it spends too much time with supporting characters and not enough on Tom’s declining mental status.

All of this leaves Tormented as a movie that doesn’t click. Despite some positives, the end result seems too silly and ridiculous to hit the mark.

Tormented appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Given the movie’s age and roots, this turned into a pretty satisfying presentation.

Overall sharpness worked fine. Some dodgy shots appeared on occasion, but the majority of the film seemed fairly well-defined.

The movie lacked jagged edges or moiré effects, and I saw no edge haloes. With a healthy layer of grain, I didn’t suspect onerous noise reduction, and outside of a few vertical lines, the film showed no print flaws, though some shots “warped” a bit, which meant they changed size slightly.

Blacks felt largely appropriate – if a bit inky at times – and shadows usually appeared good, albeit a little murky across a few shots. Despite these minor criticisms, I still thought we got a fine scan.

While not memorable, the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack seemed adequate. Speech could feel somewhat brittle, but the lines remained easily intelligible.

Music usually came across with decent clarity, though louder aspects of the score turned a bit shrill. Effects followed suit, as they seemed reasonably concise but became a little distorted on occasion.

No issues with background noise arose. This seemed like a perfectly competent track for a movie from 1960.

A mix of extras appear here, and we get an audio commentary from film historian Gary Rhodes. He looks at cast and crew, elements of the Tormented production, genre domains and his view of the film.

Rhodes offers a pretty engaging chat, especially when he discusses his friendship with actor Joe Turkel. This means we even get some “dirt”, as we learn why Turkel hated star Richard Carlson.

Filmmaker Larry Blamire shows up late in the film for a separately-taped segment that goes over the use of lighthouses in cinema. He adds some good material, though he doesn’t chat for long.

That leaves this as Rhodes’ track, and he does a fine job. We get a solid examination of the various subjects in this brisk and informative commentary.

As mentioned at the start of the review, the disc includes the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of Tormented. Aired in 1992, it runs one hour, 31 minutes, 42 seconds.

Though I expected the crew to crack on Tormented, they tend to joke around the movie more than at it. This means they toss out attempted witticisms that connect to the on-screen action but don’t really mock it.

Perhaps that became the case because Tormented offers a decent flick that leaves less room for condescension. Whatever the case, this episode of MSTK3K comes with an occasional chuckle but fails to provide much cleverness.

Some featurettes follow, and The Amazing Colossal Filmmaker lasts seven minutes, 52 seconds. It provides an interview with director Burt I. Gordon.

The filmmaker tells us what interested him in a film career and his development as well as aspects of his career. This becomes a short but interesting overview.

Bigger Than Life goes for 39 minutes, 25 seconds. It offers info from film historian C. Courtney Joyner.

“Life” looks at a mix of Gordon films. Joyner creates an involving summary.

Next comes a “visual essay” called The Spirit Is Willing. It occupies 20 minutes, 13 seconds and features “The Flying Maciste Brothers”.

“Spirit” examines the movie’s influences as well as its story/characters/themes. We get some decent thoughts, but too much of the reel just shows movie clips without commentary. That limits its usefulness.

From 1961, we get an unaired pilot for a series called Famous Ghost Stories. Hosted by Vincent Price, this segment lasts four minutes, 14 seconds.

How can a TV pilot be so short? Because the “show” would’ve offered an edited

Two trailers finish the disc. We get a “raw” 35mm 1960 promo as well as a recut 2024 reel.

Finally, the package includes a booklet with photos, credits and essays from film historian Tom Weaver and filmmaker John Wooley. It adds value to the package.

With the inherent vibe of a Poe-like psychological thriller, Tormented comes with positives. However, the final product seems too scattered and silly to take advantage of its potential. The Blu-ray brings generally good picture, mediocre audio and a nice set of bonus materials. Tormented falls short of its goals.