The Loved Ones - 2009

The Loved Ones - 2009 - Director - Sean Byrne


Ugly duckling is snubbed and gets revenge.  That's the basic story behind the 2009 indie horror film The Loved Ones.  It's easy to classify this as another Australian torture porn film much like the Wolf Creek movies, but The Loved Ones stands out mostly because of the great pairing of Robin McLeavy and John Brumpton who play the "not pretty enough" daughter and the father with lots of daddy daughter issues. 

Xavier Samuel plays Bret who in the beginning of the movie has a car accident that kills his father.  Brett is never the same again and neither is his alcoholic mother since his fathers death.  He slips into an angry marijuana induced heavy metal rebellious teen mood; that doesn't phase his high school sweetheart who appears ready to save him from the path of self destruction.

Its the last dance of the school year and Brett is  going with Holly (Victoria Thaine) but when the "Ugly Duckling" Lola asks Bret to go with her; he tries to let her down easy by saying he already has a date.  This flips the switch in Lola and we can see she's already plotting her revenge.  Her Daddy played by John Brumpton drugs Brett and takes him back their house.  Brett wakes up tied to a chair and Lola is in her prom dress along with a disco ball hanging in the dining room.  This is Lola's prom and she always gets what she wants...

The Loved Ones has its moments of gore and squirm, especially when daddy is teaching his little princess how to lobotomize their new victim.  If you like the sub genre "torture porn" films like Hostel and Wolf Creek then The Loved Ones should be on your radar.  It has all of the typical torture "love me or I'll chop this off" stuff but its done in a fresh new way that a lot of this sub genre seems to miss.

"'It's just a flesh wound!"