Steven Mena’s Bereavement is a psychological thriller that promises a chilling descent into madness. With Michael Biehn and Alexandra Daddario in the lead, the film aims to unsettle audiences with a twisted tale of serial killing. Unfortunately, despite its slow-burn atmosphere and eerie undertones, Bereavement ultimately falls short of its potential. Daddario, while competent in her usual roles, is miscast in this demanding part. The film’s lackluster script provides little opportunity for her to shine, leaving her performance feeling flat. While the premise is intriguing, the execution is marred by a dearth of compelling characters and plot twists.
Let’s dive into the story without further delay. After all, you’ve already invested over two hours of your life in this cinematic misstep.
Spoilers Ahead
Bereavement (2010) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“Bereavement” opens with Graham Sutter walking to his car. He follows a kid roaming around the neighborhood alone. The scene builds tension as Sutter’s intentions become ambiguous. A moment of uncertainty grips the audience as it seems he might snatch the child, but the presence of another boy quickly defuses the situation. Later, we see Martin, a kid, sitting outside his house on the lawn. His mother explains his condition to the newly appointed babysitter. Martin’s mother tells her that he has CIPA and that persons with CIPA do not respond to intense wounds. They will answer to normal touches. But they will not understand the pain, which for a moment seems pretty Deadpool-ish.
When they are busy talking inside, on the outside, Sutter stops his car as he sees Martin sitting alone outside the house. Sutter comes near him and lures him close to his car. Later, when Martin’s mother looks outside, Martin is not there. Later, we are introduced to Allison Miller. She has recently moved to this place to live with her uncle, Jonathan Miller. Allison’s parents suddenly died in an accident, and overnight, she was required to move from Chicago as she did not have many people left to call family. Allison is into running as she is trying to cope with this new environment.
Why does Graham Keep Martin Alive?
Over the next few days, Allison meets with William. They soon establish an intimate relationship. While running in the morning, Allison sees Martin in a forbidden building. When she asks about Jonathan, he says that the building has been abandoned for ages. A guy named Graham Sutter sometimes lives there. He is almost the same age as Allison’s uncle. While all of this is going on, in the backdrop, we witness the heinous murders Graham is committing by kidnapping random women around the town, regardless of the age group.
Sometimes, we see Graham talking to a particular shadow with an animal’s skull placed on its head. It seems like Graham is being told to kill the women. But he has kept Martin close to himself. He nurtures him like his own child. However, whenever Martin does not comply with his words, he punishes him by cutting his skin. But, since Martin can not feel the pain, he only sees that he is being tortured by this man, but he does not feel anything. Graham’s father always tortured him when he was a little boy. Now, it is perhaps his father’s haunting presence that is making him do stuff that Graham eventually regrets doing.
One of Allison’s teachers explains during the class that the children eventually behave the same way as their parents. So, it can be assumed that Graham has learned everything from his father, who used to torture him and kill people in their meat shop. Now, since Martin is staying with Graham and seeing what he is doing, he is also learning each and every detail closely. Graham keeps Martin with him because he wants to be a better father than his father ever was to him. Eventually, he turns into something he has hated for so long: Graham becomes his father, and Martin is on his way to becoming another Graham.
How does Allison Get Trapped Inside Sutter’s House?
Allison and William start meeting on a regular basis, which Jonathan does not receive well. Allison learns that William has lied about her mother being dead because of pneumonia, whereas the actual reason was that she had killed herself. William had found her body, and since his father is a drunk and physically challenged, Jonathan finds William just like his father. He thinks that Jonathan does not make much money like his father, which is why he does not want Allison to go near him as, according to him, William is a bad influence.
Allison sees how hardworking William is as he repairs automobiles and takes care of his father at the same time. He is nothing like what Jonathan thinks of him. So, one night, when Allison and William are making out inside a car, Jonathan catches them red-handed and takes Allison with him right at that moment. The pair engage in a terse, heated moment of disagreement. The following morning, Allison leaves the house to run. She sees Martin again at the window, and this time, she enters the building.
Fortunately, Graham has just left, so she is able to go inside and meet with Martin. She finds blood around the slaughterhouse, but when she meets with Martin, she tries to make him understand that she can help him get out of there. Meanwhile, Graham arrives and catches Allison. When Allison does not return the whole night, the following morning, Jonathan goes to find her and sees William standing in front of the door. He, too, does not have any clue about Allison as Jonathan pushes him away, blaming him for the situation.
Are Jonathan and Willam Able to Rescue Allison?
Unable to find Allison anywhere, Jonathan heads toward the route she once said she took for running. He comes across Sutter’s house and decides to ask Graham whether he has seen her or not. When he comes shouting Allison’s name, Allison hears that and starts screaming. By the time Jonathan can do something, Graham comes with a gun and shoots him right through his belly. Jonathan lies dead outside the house as Graham takes Allison and forces her inside the fridger. Allison sees all the dead bodies are kept there as she continues screaming for help.
Later, when William sees Jonathan’s car outside Sutter’s house, he also tries to find out what is going on. Unlike Jonathan, William directly enters the house and finds a way to reach the fridger. He sees Allison kept inside the fridger as he tries to open the door of it. Meanwhile, Allison sees Graham coming from behind to attack William, and she screams as hard as possible. But William fails to hear anything. By the time he looks behind, Graham has already attacked him with the shovel. Graham kills Jonathan as well, letting Allison stay inside the fridger for the time being.
Bereavement (2010) Movie Ending Explained:
How does Martin Turn Into a Killer?
Allison manages to escape by pushing a metal rod through a hole in the fridge door. She finds Martin with his hand pinned to the kitchen table by a knife. Graham has left him this way because he starts fearing him as he does not feel any pain at all. Allison removes the knife and carries him out of the farmhouse, trying to save him. Meanwhile, Graham takes Jonathan’s body to his home and attacks Karen, his wife. We see Graham talking to the shadow once again before deciding to kill Jonathan’s family. Anyway, Karen fails to outsmart Graham, eventually being stabbed by him as she asks her daughter Wendy to run away.
Wendy runs to her room, holding her puppy, and locks herself inside. Right at this moment, Allison arrives at the house just as Graham sets it on fire. Graham has decided that he needs to replace Martin because he knows Martin has started becoming more like him or his father. But, before he can do anything to Wendy, Allison stabs him twice as Graham runs away from the house. Later, when Allison tries to call 911, Martin comes out from the closet and stabs her to death. The fire finally spreads all over the house. The following morning, the police confirms the deaths. Only the puppy is the survivor of the horrifying night, as after killing Allison, Martin went to kill Wendy as well.
Later that same night, Martin returns to the farmhouse and confronts the injured Graham with an axe, ending his life once and for all. As life ebbed from his body, Graham managed a grateful nod to Martin, acknowledging his mercy. Later, we see Martin constructing a new skeletal shrine using a bull’s skull. The cycle is now complete as Martin has completely surrendered himself to being the killer. Even Graham’s motive fails near him as he is already building the shrine from which Graham has always tried to escape.
In other terms, Graham feared that Martin started worshiping it, which made him more vicious than Graham. Martin stares out the window as he waits for his next victim. In a post-credit scene, we see five years have passed. A girl named Courtney Harrison is seen running away from someone or something. She ends up entering the farmhouse and seeks help from an older version of Martin, who is sitting at the same table where his hand was pinned on that night. The way Martin slowly looks at her suggests that the woman is never going to see the outside world ever again.
