Features

In a world of jump-scaring sequels the discerning horror fan has long since embraced intense foreign imports. European, Japanese, and Korean films have all hit the mainstream while Australia remains overlooked. The Loved Ones (2009), directed by Sean Byrne, has had little recognition outside its country of origin. But we should pay attention to it. Byrne’s feature-length debut challenges the way we look at the whole ‘Torture Porn’ sub-genre.

In the post-Scream horror movie landscape, so many films are mired in references. The Loved Ones is no different. Set on prom night, the film has inevitably been compared to Carrie, but spoiled psychopath Lola bears no resemblance to the timid telekinetic. More accurate is a likening to Kathy Bates in Misery. There are some directorial homages too, choices of shots and cuts that could be taken straight from a Tarantino flick. Outside the hall of mirrors which is film history, Sean Byrne has stated he drew upon the real-life Jeffrey Dahmer murders when writing and directing. Unless you’re already ghoulishly familiar with the crimes you probably won’t spot this inspiration. This source material does bring a mundane explanation to one of the film’s few tired elements, however, making it fresh and frightening. This is not the first time the actions of an infamous serial killer have been exploited by horror films. Ed Gein infamously provided inspiration for horror greats including Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The last of these is coincidently the biggest cinematic reference in the Loved Ones.

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In the beginning of 2016, Robert Eggers’ The Witch confounded audiences with its slow, not particularly scary take on “a New England Folktale.” In that film, a young woman faces the tyranny of religious and familial oppression in early Puritan New England while also trying to avoid the very-real menace from the film’s title. Different in almost every way, Anna Rose Holmer’s The Fits (2015) seems at first like a sports movie, as it follows a young woman who switches from boxing training to a competitive dance squad housed in the same community center in modern day Cincinnati. Soon, though, the film’s real genre takes hold as women in the crew start to experience mysterious seizures that scare the other members of the squad. Neither film will inspire any screams of terror nor will any viewers’ hearts likely start racing except in appreciation for excellent filmmaking, though both films have terrifically creepy scores and feature some standard horror scenes. What patient audiences will discover, especially if they watch the two films as a double feature, is their shared examination of puberty’s perils for young women when they grow up in places where they are not allowed to be their full selves.

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