The Loved Ones is a 2009 Australian horror film written and directed by Sean Byrne and starring Xavier Samuel and Robin McLeavy.
Brent (Xavier Samuel) is driving with his father in the passenger seat, when a bloodied man appears in the middle of the road. Swerving to avoid hitting the man, Brent’s vehicle collides with a tree. Six months later, Brent is planning to attend a high school dance with girlfriend Holly (Victoria Thaine), having refused an offer by Lola Stone (Robin McLeavy). Holly drives the pair on account of the car crash: it is revealed that Brent’s father died in the accident. Wracked with guilt, Brent has turned to recreational cannabis use and self-mutilation with a razor blade he keeps on a necklace.
While listening to music, Brent is attacked from behind. Bound to a chair, he wakes up at Lola’s house sitting at a table with Lola, her father (John Brumpton), and a lobotomized woman they call Bright Eyes (Anne Scott-Pendlebury). Lola’s father has turned his house into a dance for his daughter. Lola takes a syringe and fills it with bleach and injects it into Brent’s voice box making him unable to scream or talk…
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Related Aussie horror: The Last Wave | Rogue | Storm Warning | The Long Weekend | Bait 3D | Turkey Shoot | The Tunnel | Snowtown | Roadgames | Body Melt | Razorback | Patrick | Fair Game | Lake Mungo | Thirst | Wolf Creek
Buy The Loved Ones on DVD at Amazon.com or on Blu-ray at Amazon.co.uk
Slant Magazine review
HorrorNews.net review
Categories: 2000s, Australian & New Zealand horror
Decent and disturbing, nothing too original but slick shooting gives it an edge; also the front cover meant at a glance I could pass it off as a quirky indie number to the missus and get some covert horror in between the wave of drama and drudgery I usually have to endure. “Wow I didn’t know it would be like this!” WEEEEEEEE!