The Loved Ones

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly, Glen and all those other guys.

Yay, a great Australian horror film! It's hilarious. Lola will surly go down in history as one of the most delightfully evil girls in horror film history.

It was a lot of fun watching this with a bigger group of people again like the first time I saw it at the cinema. This is a film that lives and dies on crowd reaction. There are certainly a lot of squirm inducing scenes that can provoke great vocal responses. And some bizarre turns that push the boundaries of believability but are a lot of fun to watch unfold.

There is a subplot that never quite connects back to the main events of the film except perhaps tangentially in theme, which is quite frustrating. What ever the directors intentions were with these scenes at the prom, they were lost on me, It wasn't clear enough. Which is a shame because I love the rest of the film and every time we cut away from the main action it feels like idle time just waiting to get back to the story.

They actually get quite serious performances out of those dealing with the loss of loved ones, the realistic drama of these scenes is strangely paired by the over the top violence of what is going on in Lola's house. It was not much of a problem for me though, I was more invested in the outlandish violence because of it.

It looks great, shot on Red, the gore is neat, the sounds are horrific and I have always hated that "Am I not pretty enough" song but it's wonderfully used through the film.

Probably not for everyone, but those of you that love a screwed up Texas Chainsaw Massacre type of family dinner will appreciate a lot of this.