Daddy's Princess
6 months earlier everything had been great but then whilst driving the car with his dad next to him Brent Mitchell (Xavier Samuel) crashed into a tree as he swerved to hit a boy in the road, killing his father and altering his life for ever. Now withdrawn Brent gets through each day by smoking dope, cutting himself with a razor he hangs around his neck and trying to avoid being at home with his mother. Even his girlfriend Holly (Victoria Thaine) fears that he will never be able to get over what happened to him. But with prom night coming up things are going to change as after turning down the sweet request of seemingly shy Lola Stone (Robin McLeavy) Brent is kidnapped by her father who spoils her rotten and sets about giving her what ever she wants including her own sadistic prom with Brent.
"The Loved Ones" is an attention grabbing movie, a strange movie which like when you drive past a road accident you can't but help look at and keep looking at to find out where this is going to go. Now part of this is down to the various things going on because whilst we have the central storyline of Lola and her father taking Brent hostage we have the knock on effects of this and also the crash. We have Brent's mother fearful that she will lose him, his girlfriend knowing that Brent is screwed up, and his friend dating the school's goth who is the daughter of the cop who has become withdrawn. There is even a link which brings things full circle to the car crash 6 months earlier which I will let you discover for yourself.
But of course what dominates the movie is the prom from hell for Brent as he suffers the torture which Lola's father performs on him because his little princess demands it. As such some of the suggested horror involves a steak knife being hammered through a foot, a syringe full of drain cleaner and plenty more including one involving a threat to Brent of having his penis nailed to a chair. As I said it is suggested and whilst we see the knife through a foot you don't see it going through thanks to the editing which may disappoint some people but is still highly effective.
Now I won't say how this ends up but I will say that Robin McLeavy and John Brumpton as Lola and her dad make for a terrifying double act. From the wild eyes to the way daddy looks at Lola it is uncomfortable but also comically dark with the whole sadistic daddy's little princess vibe going on.
What this all boils down to is that "The Loved Ones" is a breath of fresh air in the horror movie market but at the same time it is not amazing, just a very well crafted and different sort of horror and a very different sort of prom night.
