Brent was once a happy teenager, until the day he accidentally drove his father’s car into a tree to avoid killing a man in the road. Unfortunately, the accident killed his father who sat in the passenger seat. Now, six months later, Brent is a shell of his former self; he mopes and broods, even when his girlfriend Holly is around.
One day after school, a shy girl nobody seems to like, named Lola, asks Brent to the end of school year dance, and he declines because he’s taking Holly. The only thing is that Lola doesn’t take well to rejection from boys she has crushes on…
The writing and directing debut of filmmaker Sean Byrne, The Loved Ones is an intense drama about a small band of outsiders in an Australian high school. The simple story uses at its core an interesting inversion of the usual population of high school students, with the popular students picking on the less liked, or some obvious variation of the norm. Byrne concentrates solely on the outcasts, and digs an even deeper and darker hole for them to exist in. A scene early on with Brent and his best friend Jamie (Richard Wilson) at their school shows just how isolated these kids are. When Byrne shows where these kids live, everyone is seemingly miles from anyone else in this rural town. And there doesn't seem to even be any town to speak of, because we never see it. It's really unnerving.
Xavier Samuel and Robin McLeavy as the two leads are fantastic. They are able to make their characters completely believable and sympathetic in insane situations. McLeavy is able to sell Lola’s isolation so well, that I found myself feeling for her plight although I know I have no reason to rationally. Samuel proves he is more than just a pretty face and gives the role his all, and it’s grueling. The rest of the cast turn in fine performances, especially John Brumpton as Lola’s father and “mentor”.
Paramount has released The Loved Ones on a fine looking disc. The transfer is clean; colors really pop nicely against some pretty grubby sets at times and the detail level is solid. The audio on this disc is impressive as well. Much of the soundtrack is heavy metal music and really aggressive instrumental music, but the dialogue never gets buried in the din. Sadly, Paramount has dropped the ball on bonus features for this release. A few brief interviews with Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy and the film’s FX supervisor Justin Dix make up the extra content.
Australia has become an interesting breeding ground for genre talent. With the likes of James Wan and Leigh Whannell and the phenomenon that was the Saw franchise to Wolf Creek and its horrifying performance from John Jarratt, and all the way back to the 1970’s with Long Weekend, it’s a country whose film industry is full of unexpected surprises. Showcasing two great central performances from Xavier Samuel and Robin McLeavy, The Loved Ones is not for everyone, and definitely not for the faint of heart. However, if you like your drama/horror films really dark and exceedingly nasty, you’ll have a great time at this dance of death in the middle of nowhere.
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