The Loved Ones (2012)
Starring Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, John Brumpton, Victoria Thane (Holly), Richard Wilson, and Jessica McNamee (last two are the two people at the dance)
Directed by Sean Byrne
***This film is currently available for free on the FearNet Channel for Verizon OnDemand customers.***
***This film is currently available for free on the FearNet Channel for Verizon OnDemand customers.***
At the very least, the horror movie The Loved Ones made me incredibly uncomfortable. Squirming in my seat happened often in this one and there was even a moment where I covered my eyes in typical little kid fashion. While I'm certainly making up for the lack of viewing horror movies in my teenage years, I haven't really ever found myself "enjoying" the subgenre of torture porn brought on by the likes of Saw in the early aughts. And I certainly didn't "enjoy" watching The Loved Ones, but I absolutely appreciate that this is probably as good as it gets when it comes to this type of movie with some pretty great acting, an interesting (and sometimes humorous) story, and a first-time director that certainly knows how to create a frighteningly uncomfortable vibe.
The premise is incredibly simple and doesn't waste any time getting started. Set in Australia, the film opens with Brent (Xavier Samuel) being asked by the soft spoken and presumably unpopular Lola (Robin McLeavy) to go to prom with her. Brent doesn't ridicule her in the slightest (as we'd perhaps expect in movies like this), but tells her very politely that he's already going with Holly (the incredibly attractive Victoria Thane). A few days later when he's out, Brent finds himself drugged, kidnapped, and dragged to Lola's house where she and her father (John Brumpton) have set up their own prom where they'll enact a series of heinously painful and psychologically disturbed acts of torture on the poor guy.
In his first film, writer-director Sean Byrne certainly displays a keen eye for horror, but he also rather adeptly mixes in just the right amounts of humor which, while creating laughs, also manages to make the disturbing moments even more distressing. Oddly enough, thinking back on things, we hardly ever "see" the torture happening. We know it's going on, but Byrne creates much of the macabre moments simply by insinuating them.
Byrne also gets some great performances from his cast. Xavier Samuel is entirely convincing as the poor sap who has some of the worst possible acts inflicted upon him. [I'll never look at salt and an open wound the same way again.] Because of an initial torturous moment, his Brent is unable to speak, but Samuel still manages to convey everything needed for the movie to succeed. John Brumpton as Lola's father is disturbingly creepy thanks to the typical suburban dad façade he puts on even as he wields a hammer willy nilly around Brent's head. While he sometimes seems to be a bit more comic simply for "comedy's sake," he's a perfect counter to Robin McLeavy's Lola who is just terrifying. The child-like mannerisms and tone that Lola often presents can turn on a dime to something infinitely more diabolical -- and that distinct change in image could've been laughable, but McLeavy sells it.
The film does falter a bit with an inane subplot involving Brent's buddy Jamie out on a mission to get laid on prom night. His storyline goes nowhere and doesn't even interact with the main arc so I'm flabbergasted as to why it's even in the flick to begin with. We all know what the "Hollywood ideal" of a normal prom night is -- we don't need it as a counterpoint to the hell Brent is experiencing with Lola. Still, despite that fault, The Loved Ones is a good horror pic. Granted, it's one I'd never want to watch again and one I can't necessarily recommend simply because of the fact that it made me cringe a bit too much...but I recognize that's what it was going for and it certainly achieved that goal
The premise is incredibly simple and doesn't waste any time getting started. Set in Australia, the film opens with Brent (Xavier Samuel) being asked by the soft spoken and presumably unpopular Lola (Robin McLeavy) to go to prom with her. Brent doesn't ridicule her in the slightest (as we'd perhaps expect in movies like this), but tells her very politely that he's already going with Holly (the incredibly attractive Victoria Thane). A few days later when he's out, Brent finds himself drugged, kidnapped, and dragged to Lola's house where she and her father (John Brumpton) have set up their own prom where they'll enact a series of heinously painful and psychologically disturbed acts of torture on the poor guy.
In his first film, writer-director Sean Byrne certainly displays a keen eye for horror, but he also rather adeptly mixes in just the right amounts of humor which, while creating laughs, also manages to make the disturbing moments even more distressing. Oddly enough, thinking back on things, we hardly ever "see" the torture happening. We know it's going on, but Byrne creates much of the macabre moments simply by insinuating them.
Byrne also gets some great performances from his cast. Xavier Samuel is entirely convincing as the poor sap who has some of the worst possible acts inflicted upon him. [I'll never look at salt and an open wound the same way again.] Because of an initial torturous moment, his Brent is unable to speak, but Samuel still manages to convey everything needed for the movie to succeed. John Brumpton as Lola's father is disturbingly creepy thanks to the typical suburban dad façade he puts on even as he wields a hammer willy nilly around Brent's head. While he sometimes seems to be a bit more comic simply for "comedy's sake," he's a perfect counter to Robin McLeavy's Lola who is just terrifying. The child-like mannerisms and tone that Lola often presents can turn on a dime to something infinitely more diabolical -- and that distinct change in image could've been laughable, but McLeavy sells it.
The film does falter a bit with an inane subplot involving Brent's buddy Jamie out on a mission to get laid on prom night. His storyline goes nowhere and doesn't even interact with the main arc so I'm flabbergasted as to why it's even in the flick to begin with. We all know what the "Hollywood ideal" of a normal prom night is -- we don't need it as a counterpoint to the hell Brent is experiencing with Lola. Still, despite that fault, The Loved Ones is a good horror pic. Granted, it's one I'd never want to watch again and one I can't necessarily recommend simply because of the fact that it made me cringe a bit too much...but I recognize that's what it was going for and it certainly achieved that goal
The RyMickey Rating: B
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