The Loved Ones: Toronto International Film Festival Premiere + Q&A

The Loved Ones: Toronto International Film Festival Premiere and Q&A

Why does Lola go after Brent in the first place?

Carrie, Hobo With A Shotgun and Martyrs had a baby:

Béatrice Dalle and Alysson Paradis in Inside (2007)

Jocelin Donahue in The House of the Devil (2009)

I'm gonna go to your house now and stab your mummy just like you did my Daddy. Then I'm gonna go find Holly and stab her in the heart just like you did to me.

Xavier Samuel and Robin McLeavy in The Loved Ones (2009)

Xavier Samuel

Robin McLeavy

John Brumpton

Sean Byrne

When Brent turns down his classmate Lola&apos;s invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge.

The Loved Ones

Well acted and sadistic, but nothing special.

&quot;The Loved Ones&quot; is an adequate example of the now well-worn &quot;torture&quot; genre, but for the most part it&apos;s likely to give viewers a feeling of deja vu. It gets more interesting &amp; amusing as it goes along, but doesn&apos;t have very much plot - or much point to it at all. It&apos;s likely to delight the hardcore horror crowd who favour cruelty and plenty of gore, in any event. The main asset is a memorable antagonist who&apos;s cute but deadly. We don&apos;t ever get to know the victim that well, but it&apos;s not exactly hard to feel bad for him. (One thing must be said: he has a lot of fight in him!) Also, there&apos;s a subplot with two characters that never really goes anywhere.

Lola, a.k.a. &quot;Princess&quot; (Robin McLeavy, &quot;Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter&quot;), doesn&apos;t take rejection well at all. When Brent (Xavier Samuel, &quot;Road Train&quot;) declines to take her to the prom, she gets back at him in a major way, by having her dear old daddy (John Brumpton, &quot;Storm Warning&quot;) abduct Brent so they can spend the night tormenting him at their own private gathering. Soon he learns just how utterly demented this duo is; meanwhile, people notice he&apos;s missing and try to track him down.

If it weren&apos;t for a squirm-inducing scene involving a power drill - it&apos;s the sound effects that really sell it - and the tour de force acting by McLeavy, there wouldn&apos;t be much to recommend this. That is, of course, unless one is partial to this sort of material to begin with. Unfortunately, even for a movie running a scant 85 minutes long, it feels longer than it is. And it&apos;s ultimately pretty damn predictable.

Good soundtrack, though.

Six out of 10.

U.S. Version

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTA4NzkxNDU0Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTA3NDIzMzE@._V1_.jpg

"The Loved Ones" is an adequate example of the now well-worn "torture" genre, but for the most part it's likely to give viewers a feeling of deja vu. It gets more interesting & amusing as it goes along, but doesn't have very much plot - or much point to it at all. It's likely to delight the hardcore horror crowd who favour cruelty and plenty of gore, in any event. The main asset is a memorable antagonist who's cute but deadly. We don't ever get to know the victim that well, but it's not exactly hard to feel bad for him. (One thing must be said: he has a lot of fight in him!) Also, there's a subplot with two characters that never really goes anywhere.

Lola, a.k.a. "Princess" (Robin McLeavy, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"), doesn't take rejection well at all. When Brent (Xavier Samuel, "Road Train") declines to take her to the prom, she gets back at him in a major way, by having her dear old daddy (John Brumpton, "Storm Warning") abduct Brent so they can spend the night tormenting him at their own private gathering. Soon he learns just how utterly demented this duo is; meanwhile, people notice he's missing and try to track him down.

If it weren't for a squirm-inducing scene involving a power drill - it's the sound effects that really sell it - and the tour de force acting by McLeavy, there wouldn't be much to recommend this. That is, of course, unless one is partial to this sort of material to begin with. Unfortunately, even for a movie running a scant 85 minutes long, it feels longer than it is. And it's ultimately pretty damn predictable.

Good soundtrack, though.

Six out of 10.

When Brent turns down his classmate Lola's invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge.

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