The Loved Ones is a 2009 Australian horror that I’ve been meaning to watch for a while now. It’s presented as a yandere situation where, after spurning an invitation from a girl called Lola, protagonist Brent ends up in her twisted version of a school dance. One description I read called it Misery meets Carrie meets Audition. In reality there’s a little more to it.
The first half hour or so didn’t particularly grab my attention, as it was primarily made up of slow motion shots of Xavier Samuel’s face and general angst. It’s definitely a film that requires some patience at the beginning. However once it gets going, it’s a very intriguing film. While a lot of horrors involving torture are very in your face, The Loved Ones maintains its subdued tone. It’s also not a film that relishes in drawn out screams or pointless gore, instead focusing more on the layers of the characters.
2009 Screen Australia
Samuel’s Brent is actually rather secondary to the action, merely providing an audience surrogate to bear witness to the twisted world of Lola and her father. The understated performance of her father, coupled with the more emotional adolescent Lola are fascinating to watch and they truly make a nightmarish pair, particularly the unassuming teen. While she initially comes across as the shy girl, perhaps spurned one too many times, as events unfold the reality is a lot darker and we’re presented with a manipulative psychopath who has been abducting, torturing and lobotomizing boys since she was a child. It’s unclear exactly how old she was when she started but during a stroll down memory lane, there’s a photo of her in a fairy costume when she couldn’t have been older than ten. The torture methods they use in the film set it apart as well as not only are they actions not usually seen in horror films, the process Lola uses for lobotomizing her victims is the same one employed by real life serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
2009 Screen Australia
While Lola and her father really steal the show (there's a reason they made my top ten horror families list), Xavier Samuel’s performance as Brent is truly great. It’s especially notable since for most of the film he’s tied to a chair and can’t speak. He conveys a lot with just his expressions.
To go along with the more down to earth actions of the antagonist, there’s also a secondary plot surrounding the search for the missing Brent by the sheriff (whose son went missing and was one of Lola’s previous victims). We get to see a lot of side characters during these scenes, Brent’s girlfriend, his mother, his best friend who is out with the sheriff’s daughter. They’re the more plot driven scenes and in any other film they might have dragged things down but for the most part they definitely fitted with the slower pace. I’ll admit, not all of these scenes really worked, the ones with the best friend were particularly obnoxious in my opinion.
2009 Screen Australia
Overall, The Loved Ones is worth a watch if only for the acting. If you go in expecting a gore fest, you will be disappointed. If you want a character driven indie horror with a remarkably sinister female antagonist, I would recommend you check it out.