The Haunted Lighthouse: ‘Tormented’ Reviewed

Outside of the films of Jean Rollin, it’s not too often you see horror films set at the beach. Not only is Burt I. Gordon‘s Tormented an exception to that rule, but it’s an excellent ghost story to boot about a guy named Tom (Richard Carlson) who wants to call things off with Vi (Juli Reading) so he can marry the lovely (if conveniently rich) Meg (Lugene Sanders). Unfortunately for Vi – who threatens to blackmail Tom right before the railing of the lighthouse gives way behind her – this makes Tom less inclined to save her and she ends up falling to her death below. Even in death, though, Vi isn’t going to let Tom move on and it doesn’t take long for her to start haunting him.

Not unlike David Lean’s Blithe Spirit, Tormented is full of amazing special effects by Gordon and his wife, Flora (their daughter, Susan Gordon, plays Tom’s future sister-in-law, Sandy) and George Worthing Yates’ screenplay (based on a story by Gordon) comes up with some great, beach-specific ghost mythology. I also appreciated how Yates wrote Meg. Usually when the privileged girlfriend says she can handle being told about the other woman it’s an outright lie, but Meg stays true to her word.

As far as bonus features go, this was my first Film Masters Blu-ray and, let it be known, it has one of the best curated bonus feature sections I’ve encountered on disc in a while. If you’re on the fence about one of their titles, go for it, because if this is representative of how their products are going to be, top marks. We’re talking new (not just ported over), multiple (not just one great but lonely) featurettes, and the real rarity: all of them have subtitles! Even the commentary! While I’ve seen that done before, it’s far from the norm and I really applaud Film Masters for going that extra mile.

First up is the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of Tormented. While I’m familiar with how the series works, I wouldn’t say I’ve watched it too often and I liked Tormented, so I feel the format would be better suited to a film that’s cheesier or more of a mess (which maybe to some Tormented qualifies).

Next is an archival interview with Bert I. Gordon that makes for a nice opening act to a new documentary on him that’s included. After hearing Gordon talk (and how much he had to ignore the doubters), you want to learn more about the films he made and that’s exactly what film historian C. Courtney Joyner provides with the documentary (first on my list to watch: Attack of the Puppet People).

“The Spirit Is Willing’ is a visual essay by The Flying Maciste Brothers (aka Kevin Marr and Howard S. Berger), who make comparisons between Tormented and Play Misty for Me, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, and the films of Luis Buñuel. They also draw attention to the fact that while Tom is the only who can see Vi, her presence is noted by other people in other ways.

The Untold Ghost Stories episode is a bit misleading, in that the unaired pilot would’ve been an edited version of Tormented. What this bonus feature is, then, is the intro and outro by host Vincent Price – a nice inclusion but disappointing if you’re expecting a whole episode.

For the commentary, film historian Gary Rhodes talks about his friendship with Joseph Turkel, who has a small role in Tormented and apparently hated Carlson. He also digs up all the articles he can about the production, considers how Tormented doesn’t fit with the sci-fi horror films of the fifties or the Gothic horror films of the sixties, and explains how Gordon got away with not having to film the cast on location for the lighthouse scenes.

Larry Blamire also makes a guest appearance to talk about lighthouses in horror movies. Not all of my questions were answered — I’d love to know more about the artwork that was chosen to hang on the walls at Tom’s place and the character of Tom’s landlady (Lillian Adams) — but it’s a strong commentary.

Last is a booklet with two essays. The first is by Tom Weaver, who makes a cool observation about the record Tom plays (but didn’t have to include Juli Reding’s measurements in the cast bios), while novelist-filmmaker John Wooley shares an amazing story about writing a fan letter to Susan Gordon and later finding out she kept it.

Tormented is available on Blu-ray from Film Masters.