Night 2 - The Loved Ones
“Torture porn” horror is officially a thing of the past. We may be getting a new installment in the seemingly undying Saw franchise this month, but the nadir of horror filmmaking ushered in by the first couple of Saw and Hostel movies is behind us for good. Only the French ever seemed to get it right, with A’linterieur, Frontier(s), and especially Martyrs nearly legitimizing the style, but there have been few heirs to their thrones since--except, of course, for The Loves Ones.
Whether you love or hate torture-porn horror, Sean Byrne’s debut film is just a hell of a movie, one of those wildly auspicious works that seems to have been created in a vacuum. Like The Guest, The Loved Ones works from a familiar premise with endless possibilities: it’s the story of a girl taking vengeance on the boy who turned down her invitation to prom, and it may bear the hallmarks of torture-porn with its escalating scenes of violence and depravity, but there’s a weird pathos running parallel to the gore, and a more satirical edge of humor than you might expect. The movie’s prominent use of “Not Pretty Enough” by Kasey Chambers, an extraordinary cheesy pop ballad, had my friends and I singing it amongst ourselves for weeks after. There’s a hilarious “get laid” high school subplot like something out of Superbad that’s actually consistent with the movie’s thematic ambitions; and in Lola, the movie drops a brand new horror icon in our laps, one that could go toe-to-toe with the greats--it just can’t be overstated how sublime it is to watch Robin McLeavey’s insane, over-the-top performance, somewhere between Annie Wilkes and Freddy Krueger on the scale of awe-inspiring villainy, but solely occupying her own niche of ghoulish insanity.
The Loved Ones is quintessential 21st century horror, pulling from the same well of imagination and scrappy, low-budget energy as the original The Evil Dead: it’s brutal, unrelenting, frequently hilarious, and full of interesting, multi-dimensional characters with tangible motivations and distinct personalities. Watch it for McLeavey; watch it for director Sean Byrne, one of the most promising directors I can think of in horror, and who we’ll be seeing again before our 31 Nights of Horror are up; but most of all, watch it for that Kasey Chambers song. It’s fingah-lickin' good.
Whether you love or hate torture-porn horror, Sean Byrne’s debut film is just a hell of a movie, one of those wildly auspicious works that seems to have been created in a vacuum. Like The Guest, The Loved Ones works from a familiar premise with endless possibilities: it’s the story of a girl taking vengeance on the boy who turned down her invitation to prom, and it may bear the hallmarks of torture-porn with its escalating scenes of violence and depravity, but there’s a weird pathos running parallel to the gore, and a more satirical edge of humor than you might expect. The movie’s prominent use of “Not Pretty Enough” by Kasey Chambers, an extraordinary cheesy pop ballad, had my friends and I singing it amongst ourselves for weeks after. There’s a hilarious “get laid” high school subplot like something out of Superbad that’s actually consistent with the movie’s thematic ambitions; and in Lola, the movie drops a brand new horror icon in our laps, one that could go toe-to-toe with the greats--it just can’t be overstated how sublime it is to watch Robin McLeavey’s insane, over-the-top performance, somewhere between Annie Wilkes and Freddy Krueger on the scale of awe-inspiring villainy, but solely occupying her own niche of ghoulish insanity.
The Loved Ones is quintessential 21st century horror, pulling from the same well of imagination and scrappy, low-budget energy as the original The Evil Dead: it’s brutal, unrelenting, frequently hilarious, and full of interesting, multi-dimensional characters with tangible motivations and distinct personalities. Watch it for McLeavey; watch it for director Sean Byrne, one of the most promising directors I can think of in horror, and who we’ll be seeing again before our 31 Nights of Horror are up; but most of all, watch it for that Kasey Chambers song. It’s fingah-lickin' good.
Archival details
- Original URL
- https://metallifestyle.weebly.com/curtains-movie--tv-reviews/31-nights-of-horror-night-2-the-loved-ones
- Recovery source
- live-weebly
- Recovery date
- 2026-07-22
- Stewardship polish
- 2026-07-22
- Preservation status
- restored
- Missing assets
- None recorded
Preserved by Bloodsoaked Media · The Archives