The Loved Ones

Starring: Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, John Brumpton, & Jessica McNamee

Director: Sean Byrne - Rating: R - Score: 2 Stars

I love Independent films, especially in the genre of horror. A good independent horror film is better than anything you will ever see in theaters. Unfortunately, in order to find the good ones, you need to weed through a lot of strange and terrible movies first. The Loved Ones is an Australian film that had an interesting premise. Lola (Robin McLeavy) is far from the popular girl in school, and she knows that he crush on the most popular kid in school, Brent (Xavier Samuel), likely won't go anywhere. With prom coming up, Lola only has eyes for Brent, who is planning to attend with his girlfriend, but before that happens, Lola and her father kidnap Brent and bring him to their homemade version of the prom. I loved how twisted this film was, from the corny jokes to the extreme gore, but The Loved Ones was extremely predictable and really doesn't go far beyond the description. The film moves at a snails pace and is an absolute cliche. There is a formula that you always find in horror film like this one, they include, a lack of character development, insanely good looking people who manage to find their way out of their cloths, and a lot of blood. This film has all that and it's a good story, but about twenty minutes in, Brent is kidnapped and the film just stalls. I had high hopes for this film, but ultimately it's just another boring film that tries to use shock and sex in order to sell itself.