An Australian movie, about a teenage boy and the girl he chose not to attend the high school dance with. Brent (our protagonist) is a troubled sort of guy who has recently lost his father, and after declining Lola’s offer to take her to the dance he finds himself kidnapped, and tied to a chair in her house. With the help of her ‘Daddy’, she then proceeds to preform any number of weird, cruel and sexual acts on him. This movie is primarily a torture flick, but it has a few stomach churning plot twists beyond the usual gore and cringe inducting stuff and definitely, there is no torture flick out there quite like this. The actress who plays Lola plays ‘crazy’ perfectly, and in a sick way the desperation that she gives off throughout the whole film kind of makes you feel sorry for her in her impossible quest to find her prince charming. The creepy incestuous undertones really makes this movie uncomfortable to watch at times as well. Overall, The Loved Ones is a pretty solid watch. Not scary so much as extremely discomforting, it’s great for anyone who cant handle jump scares or supernatural horror.
"Byrne's confident feature debut takes the coming-of-age tropes of John Hughes, and adds a hefty dose of campy psychosis, creating a tale of small-town adolescent horror where the growing pains really do hurt."
— Anton Bitel
"It's a terrifying masterpiece that turns high school drama into a literal dead zone."
— Eric Kohn
When Brent turns down his classmate Lola's invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge.