The Loved Ones

Overview

Want to see what glitter and blood look like combined? Inventive Aussie horror The Loved Ones has recently scooped a handful of film festival prizes, so it's being released to some hype. The points of difference to the average slasher are its investment in character (so you care when someone has a cordless drill pointed at their head), its reverence to Australian film history and its female baddie.

Never fear, the character development doesn't stop the lead, deep and dero high-schooler Brent (Xavier Samuel), being kidnapped a mere 10 minutes in. He's made the mistake of politely declining an invitation to the school formal from the quiet, childish Lola Stone (Robin McLeavy). Now Lola and her too-devoted father (John Brumpton) are determined that she and her quarry have the perfect night — a perverted prom where her dress is too shocking a pink, Kasey Chambers features too heavily on the soundtrack and an array of household tools are used contrary to their instructions.

Tuxedoed, trussed up and tormented, Brent will have to decide whether he cares more for life or death, and, robbed of his voice early in the game, Samuel does a great job communicating this journey through scrabbles and cries alone. That said, there's a reason we call this genre 'torture porn', and although its great to see the gender roles reversed, it may also be the reason you really feel every squick of this grotesquery.