michaelant555 This is about a guy in high school who gets asked to the prom by a girl but he turns her down because he's already seeing someone else. Turns out he turned the wrong girl down.I don't mind gore and I don't mind psycho killer films, though they aren't my favorite horror flavor. I just don't like films that are so, so, slow and drawwwwwn out. I ended up fast forwarding this around the 50-minute mark just to get to the interesting bits and then on to the ending. I couldn't put up with it anymore. There are good bits and funny bits and the acting is okay for the most part, but I found the in-between bits so irritatingly boring and a drawn out snoozefest of artistic and pretentious film-making. In short - it did my head in!I've given this a generous 4/10. I wanted to give it 2/10 but I thought I would have been rating it with my emotions rather than with an objective mind. I honestly think the 6.7 rating for this is far too high, but then, that's only my opinion. A lot of people really seem to like this film.

Mace The Loved Ones was a film that I went into blind. As someone who usually doesn't find too much enjoyment in torture porn-films, I was pleasantly surprised to find an uncommon amount of character and excellent acting, along with the aforementioned merciless barbarism. While the characters aren't anything to write home about, they were realized with a surprising amount of efficiency. We never entirely understand the motives of the characters, but in this case, it doesn't make the film any less enjoyable. All of the characters are quite flawed and all of their imperfections are made clear through interesting, and often disturbing, interactions. The characters were surprisingly dimensional for a movie like this, and that was mostly thanks to the performances. Robin McLeavy, in particular, was uncompromisingly sinister. Despite being a teenage girl, it was not hard to despise her character, which is important for the main villain. The violence is nightmarishly sadistic, and as the film reaches one narrative twist after another, it only grows more intense, as does our thirst for revenge. You never quite know where the plot is going, and each new horrifying development feels like a punch to the gut. The film doesn't waste time either. We're thrust into the nightmare quite early, giving the feeling of sickness in our stomach time to linger. Moments of dark comedy also work to make the experience strangely amusing. Despite the rather polished main plot line, there is a secondary strand of narrative that feels unnecessary and frankly pointless. It never goes anywhere and only seems to be there for something to cut to when the audience needs a break from the cruelty. The Loved Ones repeatedly batters the audience with it's stomach-churning violence. The plot takes many sharp narrative turns, and while it's not always enjoyable to watch a film so unflinchingly deranged, it's certainly invigorating, up until our thirst for revenge is so satisfyingly quenched.

jtindahouse I recently watched writer/director Sean Byrne's latest film 'The Devil's Candy' and enjoyed it so much I thought I better check out his previous film 'The Loved Ones'. I had no idea going in that it was an Australian film. Australian's have done some very fine horror films in their time, 'Wolf Creek' and its sequel being a couple of my favourites. I did enjoy 'The Loved Ones' but it would be fair to say Byrne had not mastered his art quite yet, nor would you expect him to have in his debut film.The movie is very dark and twisted which I liked very much. Sometimes films like this try not to take them self too seriously, and so they try and add an almost humorous layer into the mix, and it always just comes across terribly. There is none of that here from Byrne. Even though there are certain scenes that are certainly out there (and could even be considered funny in a way) they are never intended that way and the film remains very serious in tone.The acting is a little dubious in places, which hurts the film a substantial amount. The reason for this is because there are some truly great characters here just begging to be given the limelight. I read that John Jarratt (from 'Wolf Creek') turned down a role for fear of being typecast. It's a real shame he had to do that though, because he would have been ideal in this type of role and could have been the icing on the cake for the movie. There is enough originality here to make this a worthy watch though. It's certainly not perfect, but if you go in simply looking for a fun time, you're probably going to have one.

SnoopyStyle Brent Mitchell kills his father in a car accident after avoiding a bloody guy in the middle of the road. Six months later, he is haunted into a danger-seeking weed-smoking haze. He is attending the school dance with girlfriend Holly and gently turns down the awkward Lola Stone. His schlubby friend Jamie asks out hot girl with attitude Mia Valentine. Lola's father kidnaps Brent. Lola throws a disturbing private End of School Dance in their den with her father and the lobotomized Bright Eyes. Brent's mother Carla and Holly suspect foulplay while Jamie goes out with Mia.It's bloody. It's torture. It's teen melodrama. Robin McLeavy has a great insanity. The story does meander a bit. I'm not sure if Jamie and Mia are that directly connected to the action but their date is a good break from the torture. Overall, it's a good bloody time.