Film Review: The Tortured

About The Tortured (2010)Craig (Jesse Metcalfe, Desperate Housewives) and Elise (Erika Christensen) had all the ingredients for an ideal life: a great marriage, a wonderful five-year-old son named Ben, a charming home and a bright future. But all that is destroyed when Ben is suddenly abducted and later found dead. Their feelings of guilt tear the couple apart until months later the abductor is apprehended but released on a plea bargain. Outraged, Craig and Elise reunite in their anger and decide to enact their own justice on the murderer of their child. A horrifying decent into the depths of hatred, THE TORTURED shows how even the seemingly gentlest of people can turn violent when pushed too far.

Starring: Erika Christensen, Jesse Metcalfe

Directed by: Robert Lieberman

Runtime: 85 minutes

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

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Review: The Tortured

Directed by Robert Lieberman, The Tortured is a horror thriller centring around Elise (Erika Christensen) and Craig Landry (Jesse Metcalfe) whose lives are thrown into turmoil when their son is kidnapped and murdered. Aggrieved at the leniency that the courts hand out to the killer, John Kozlowski (Bill Moseley), they decide to pursue justice of their own. After a nifty bit of spying, the couple learn Kozlowski is being transported. Craig manages to hijack the van but ends up crashing it, injuring Kozlowski. Craig and Elise then take their captive to a remote cabin where they begin to take their revenge.

The murder of their son tears Elise and Craig apart, with Elise moving out. With justice failing them Elise wants bloody revenge against Kozlowski but Craig disgusts his wife with his hesitation. When he changes his mind they are soon working together again. Craig is a doctor on six month leave from work but he steals some equipment from the hospital and patches up the wounded Kozlowski before leading the torture of the child killer. Injections, cuts, suffocation, pretty much anything their son went through, the couple inflict on their prisoner. The experience begins as one they savour, even heading eagerly to bed at one point! I know, worrying, right?

Although the couple are initially enthusiastic about the torture they inflict it soon begins to wear at them. Their cause isn’t helped by the police trying to track down Kozlowski. The torture scenes are unsurprisingly unpleasant and any satisfaction Kozlowski may have taken in killing the Landry’s son is soon paid back tenfold. The question is how far will the couple go? Will they kill Kozlowski or will the police get to them first?

I found The Tortured to be a flawed experience. There is a good twist at the end but the rest of it didn’t really convince me at all. It’s painfully short as well and could have used more development of the characters and the storyline to add some more substance. While the torture scenes are undoubtedly gruesome it all seems a bit over the top. Interesting emotional dilemma at the heart of the story but badly executed.

Verdict: 2/5

(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)

Film Review: The Tortured | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave