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'The Tortured' Movie Review

About.com Rating 2.5 Star Rating
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By , About.com Guide

'The Tortured' movie poster. © IFC
Twisted Pictures, the production company best known for the Saw franchise, is in full post-Saw mode with The Tortured, but while it doesn't feature serial killer Jigsaw and his progeny, this cinematic apple -- as the title implies -- doesn't fall far from the "torture porn" tree.

The Plot

One day, while playing with his five-year-old son Ben in the front yard of their upper-middle class home, Craig Landry (Jesse Metcalfe) goes inside for a minute, allowing a brief window for a madman to swoop in and snatch the boy. Craig gives chase but it unable to catch up with the pickup that takes Ben to dingy house miles away. The kidnapper, it turns out, is a serial killer named John Kozlowski (Bill Moseley), and by the time police are alerted to sounds of crying coming from his basement, it's too late to save the boy.

The strain of the tragedy takes a toll on Craig's marriage to Elise (Erika Christensen), and the couple are all the more disturbed when Kozlowski cuts a deal to avoid life in prison. Infuriated and thirsting for revenge, they hatch a plot to kidnap and torture the killer, utilizing Craig's medical training to inflict as much pain as possible while keeping Kozlowski alive and awake long enough to feel everything. But how long can they stay one step ahead of the police in order to exact their revenge?

The End Result

Jesse Metcalfe, Erika Christensen in 'The Tortured'.

Jesse Metcalfe and Erika Christensen in 'The Tortured'.

Photo by Bob Akester © IFC
The Tortured is sort of like reverse torture porn, with the serial killer on the receiving end of the captivity-and-torment scenario. It strives for a more dramatic spin than Saw and its ilk, delving into the emotional upheaval that comes with losing a child, and while the film should strike a chord with parents, the impact is more from the circumstances in the plot than from its execution. The cast comes off as a bit too soap opera-ish, and the portrayal of the child's plight lacks a certain amount of tact (Do we really need to see a pre-schooler's corpse?).

Although the script is thin and feels like its only purpose is to build to the twist ending, that twist is a doozy, tying together some loose ends and putting a thought-provoking, moralistic spin on the tale. With its moral climax and brief running time -- only 75 minutes (minus credits) -- The Tortured feels like it should be a 30-minute entry in an anthology. If it were, we could more easily excuse the lack of character depth; i.e., a stereotypical psycho killer with mommy issues and protagonists with no personality other than reacting to the events around them. A further indication of the minimal attention paid to the characters is the fact that they flip-flop personalities, with Craig and Elise each alternating between the sympathetic softie who's unsure about the plan and the tough cookie who's dead-set on vengeance at any cost.

That said, torture porn fans should get a sadistic thrill out of seeing a guy get burned, injected, suffocated, crunched and more, and for once, their conscience should be clear, since he theoretically "deserves" it.

The Skinny

  • Acting: C (A solid cast, but they don't fully deliver the emotional goods.)
  • Direction: C (Competent but safe and sterile; it's apparent that Lieberman is a TV veteran.)
  • Script: C- (A nice twist ending helps offset flat characters and some dubious plot elements.)
  • Gore/Effects: B- (Solid gore but not too over the top.)
  • Overall: C (Is a good climactic twist worth sitting through 75 minutes of mediocrity? I guess so.)

The Tortured is directed by Robert Lieberman and is not rated by the MPAA. Release date: June 15, 2012 (on demand May 11).

Disclosure: The distributor provided free access to this movie for review purposes. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

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