A brutal and darkly comedic deconstruction of standard torture porn fare.

Six months after Brent’s father died in a car accident in which Brent was driving, the teen has turned into a burnout who cuts himself with a razor blade to ease his pain. His haggard state, however, doesn’t phase classmate Lola, who asks him to the dance celebrating the end of the school year. When Brent politely declines, saying he’s taking his girlfriend Holly, he unwittingly sets himself up for a world of pain.

The Loved Ones is a breath of fresh air for the so-called “torture porn” sub-genre of horror movies, one that turns the typical scenario of the teen girl being held captive and turns it on its head, turning the standard victim into the atypical assailant. In doing so, it adds a macabre sense of humor to the otherwise disturbing proceedings (perhaps the most brutal cinematic torture in recent memory outside of Martyrs), played up by the wonderfully warped performance of Robin McLeavy as spoiled daddy’s girl Lola.

At its core, though, The Loved Ones can be seen as a heartfelt drama about the loss of, well, loved ones and how family members deal with grief. As such, the mixture of tones can be a bit tricky, but first-time director Sean Byrne handles it all with a steady hand. His only glaring misstep is as a writer, with his B-story about Brent’s friend Jamie going to the dance with goth gal Mia never really impacting the main plot; it could’ve been removed and nothing would’ve changed. That said, I look forward to whatever insanity Byrne has up his sleeve next.