When I learn the mocking Mystery Science Theater 3000 series took 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 1.66:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became an erratic and problematic presentation.

Overall sharpness seemed adequate but not consistent. Some dodgy shots appeared on occasion, though most of the movie showed reasonably good delineation.

The movie lacked jagged edges or moiré effects, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain seemed adequate.

Print damage turned into a persistent concern. Some shots “warped” a bit, which meant they changed size slightly, and I also saw pervasive signs of marks and thin vertical lines.

In addition to the warping, I noticed more judder than normal. Though these concerns became less prominent in the movie’s third act, they still created plenty of distractions.

Blacks felt largely appropriate – if a bit inky at times – and shadows usually appeared good, albeit a little murky across a few shots. Contrast could feel too bright. Combine all these issues – especially the print flaws – and this turned into a substandard image.

While not memorable, the movie’s LPCM 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.

How did this 2025 “Special Edition” compare to the 2024 “Special Edition”? Though it featured LPCM mono versus the 2024 disc’s DTS-HD track, both seemed very similar – if not identical – to me.

However, the 2025 BD’s visuals showed an obvious downgrade, as the new scan looked softer, blander and more damaged than its predecessor. The case boasts the image came “newly remastered from archival elements”, but if the print stinks, that doesn’t mean much, so get the 2024 BD for the strongest presentation of the movie.

Despite this disc’s billing as a “Special Edition”, it loses most of the extras from the 2024 release. Oddly, the 2024 release also got called a “Special Edition” but that declaration made more sense there.

From 1961, we get an unaired pilot for a series called Famous Ghost Stories. Hosted by Vincent Price, this segment lasts one hour, 15 minutes, 15 seconds.

This presents Tormented sans opening/closing credits but burnished with newly-shot bumpers from host Vincent Price. The prior Blu-ray simply provided Price’s intro/outro segments and not the film itself.

Which makes sense because I can think of no logical reason anyone would watch the Stories presentation of Tormented. It comes with a cropped 1.33:1 ratio and looks/sounds even worse than the primary presentation of the movie.

The Price bumpers offer the only worthwhile elements here. That means the inclusion of Tormented in its entirely seems like a waste of space.

A Bert I. Gordon Trailer Reel spans 22 minutes, 40 seconds and delivers promos for King Dinosaur, Beginning of the End, The Cyclops, The Amazing Colossal Man, War of the Colossal Beast, Attack of the Puppet People, Earth vs. the Spider, Tormented, Village of the Giants, Picture Mommy Dead, Necromancy, The Police Connection, The Food of the Gods and Empire of the Ants. It seems unclear why the disc presents these as a running collection and not individually, but at least it offers chapter breaks so you can skip from one to the other easily.

A Stills Gallery brings 18 promo elements and seems forgettable. Liner Notes from filmmaker Calvin Jennings offer some thoughts about director Bert I. Gordon and the film itself. They complete the set in a decent way.

As noted, the 2025 BD drops bunches of extras from the 2024 release. We lose an audio commentary, an MST3K episode, three featurettes and a booklet. The “new” components here don’t compensate for the absence of all those elements.

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 flawed picture, mediocre audio and a minor set of bonus materials.

Tormented falls short of its goals, as does this 2025 reissue. Fans should skip this problematic Blu-ray and get the 2024 release instead.