The Tortured

I also had low expectations after coming to IBMD and seeing some bad reviews about this title. After watching it, I have to say I loved it. At the beginning it seemed like an all too familiar plot, I won't spoil it, but basically its about a family who's child is kidnapped and murdered by a local psychopathic child serial killer. The family decides they want revenge and think that prison is too good for this scumbag.(a suitable part played by Bill Mosley)

I know we have seen this type of movie before and I warn you there is a lot of "uncomfortable" torture scenes going on for quite awhile that may make a few uncomfortable and turn others off. As we move towards the ending and the plot started to unfold I realized why we had to go through all that torture which wasn't mindless at all. We start to feel for this child killer/molester and the pain hes going through and we even have to be reminded that this is the scum of the earth getting what he deserves. The ending definitely is the best part and doesn't let us down in the least. No spoilers here sorry...

More for seasoned Horror fans.Great acting all the way through and each actor gave it their all, great directing, and most importantly great GORE!. Not really a hidden gem per say, but a decent genre flick that makes you think nonetheless.

I gave it a 8 even though its probably only worthy of a solid 7. I think it deserves alittle extra help from us genre fans.

At the first 25 minutes the movie try desperately, with a series of crude flashbacks, to convince the audience of something the actors themselves could not: To believe that they are suffering for the lost of their child. And even that isn't enough to make believable an apple-pie family turning the new Hewitts. An unbelievably long hour later the film was over with a very confusing but mildly interesting 5 minutes ending. One moment you are wondering "how that will turn out?", the other, roll credits. Through out the whole movie, flashbacks continue to appear over and over and over again showing nothing relevant to the plot or the characters psychology. The torture parts are also not terrible enough to please the "Painjunkies" out there, which makes sense if an upper-middle class family would perform it, but the characters most of the time make it looks like its not a big deal to do that to a person. The script is very poorly directed. Even for a TV Series Director. It takes too long to begin, and not long enough to finish. Climax of the story happens in 5 minutes. If the movie was turned into a 15 minutes episode of "Tales from the Crypt", it would be nice enough. But surely not far a movie. To the fans of Twisted Pictures, I advice you to wait for the Next Saw.

Craig and Elise Landry (Jesse Metcalfe and Erika Christensen) have their world torn apart when John Kozlowski (Bill Moseley), a drooling psychopath with deep-seated parent issues and an unrivalled collection of disturbing curios in his basement, abducts and murders their six year old son. When the killer is caught and brought to trial, but only receives a 25 year jail sentence for his heinous crime, the distraught couple decide to take the law into their own hands and exact a far more fitting punishment.

The Tortured is, as the title suggests, yet another in the recent wave of horror films that have (un)popularly been dubbed 'torture porn'; however, rather than try to make the viewer turn away in disgust at gory atrocities inflicted upon innocent victims, as is usually the case with this sub-genre, the intention here is to appeal to the audience's most primal emotions, fulfilling a basic desire for sweet justice by depicting a twisted piece of human garbage on the receiving end of some serious pain and humiliation for a change.

This twist on an already well-worn theme might have worked if it wasn't for an unnecessary and totally unbelievable twist at the end which robs the viewer of any real satisfaction. Add the fact that the violence perpetrated is far from stomach churning (the gore is most unimpressive with the yuckiest scene turning out to be a dream) and the plot requires major suspension of disbelief (for example, one is expected to believe that, after a van has somersaulted off a bridge, sailed through the air, and crashed face-down onto some jagged rocks, those inside have all miraculously survived death), and what you have is a bland and instantly forgettable effort, another nail in the coffin for a horror trend that should have been buried long ago.

In Rutland Country, the six year-old Benjamin Michael Landry is kidnapped by a psychopath in the lawn of his house. His father Craig Landry (Jesse Metcalfe) unsuccessfully runs after the van but the abductor escapes. Sooner the police discovers that John Kozlowski (Bill Moseley) had abducted and killed Benjamin. When the criminal is sentenced to 25 years in prison only, Benjamin's mother Elise Landry (Erika Christensen) presses her husband to kidnap John and torture him. Craig is a doctor and knows exactly how to inflict pain to the psychopath. They succeed to kidnap John from the prison transport, but Craig has an accident and John is hurt. The couple tortures the man until they find the truth about their victim.

"The Tortured" is a film with a promising premise ("What Would You Do with the Killer of Your Son?") that unfortunately has many flaws and holes in the plot and a rushed conclusion. The prison van, for example, would have Craig's finger prints everywhere but the police officers do not find any clue. The truth about the victim is confused and unlikely and difficult to understand. The screenplay is corny in some moments and the torture scenes are very graphic, therefore not recommended for sensitive audiences. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Cegos por Justiça" ("Blind for Justice")

The Tortured (2010)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

After their child is kidnapped, tortured and murdered, the grieving parents (Erika Christensen, Jesse Metcalfe) decide to kidnap the man responsible on his transport to prison and teach him the true meaning of torture. THE TORTURED has a good idea (what would you do to the man who killed your child) but sadly the execution is so bad and so full of plot holes that at times the film becomes rather laughable. I think a lot of the blame has to go towards the director because the film just isn't intense, isn't scary and it's really hard to connect with the parents. As a parent of a three-year-old, what happens to the kid here would be one of the most horrible things you could experience and I understand where the parents would want to seek their own revenge. The problem is that the parents here do so many stupid things that you really have to wonder who the filmmakers were trying to fool. One of the biggest problems is when the parents kidnap the prisoner, they seem to overlook their fingerprints would be all over the stolen car. There's a manhunt for the prisoner and even though the U.S. Marshalls are told where he's at, it takes them forever to actually get there. All of this leads to an eventual twist in the story and I will admit that I found this to be the best thing in the film. Still, with so many other plot holes it was just impossible to take the film serious. The torture scenes are all pretty graphic but I'd say no more so than what you've seen in films like SAW or HOSTEL. This film, however, doesn't work as a drama, a thriller or as a horror movie. It's just too flat all around and it just never comes to life.