FrightFest 2010 Film Review: The Tortured
The Tortured (2010)
Directed by: Robert Lieberman
Starring: Erica Christensen, Jesse Metcalfe, Bill Moseley
Review by: Ben Bussey
Craig and Elise are a handsome, well-to-do professional couple with a comfortable married life and a beloved six year old child, who find themselves faced with the situation that every parent lives in fear of: their son is abducted by a deranged paedophile, and not long thereafter found dead. It should go without saying that these leaves them broken people. Even though the killer is in short order caught, tried and convicted for twenty to life, Craig and Elise cannot find peace, knowing that the man who took their child still lives and may eventually walk free. Soon, they decide on their course of action. They will capture the killer during a prison transfer, steal him away to a remote location, and then, using Craig’s expertise as a doctor, they will subject him to the most slow and painful death they possibly can.
Or, failing that, they will subject the audience to one of the most jaw-dropping displays of cinematic ineptitude that I have ever witnessed in my entire life.
My first thought on seeing The Tortured was that there was no way in hell I’d give it a full write-up; that it belonged as little more than a funny footnote in a wrap-up of Frightfest 2010, as I will indeed be doing for some of the festival’s less notable movies. But then I recognised the wonderful challenge this presented critically; to see if it is possible to do justice in words to how completely and utterly this movie fails on every concieveable level.
For starters, the script. That this is storytelling at its most crass and manipulative, most of the first half hour comprising of repetitive flashbacks to the couple and happy days spent with their child, just to make sure we get the point of how much the child meant to them. The intent is clear; to make us feel a sense of injustice so we will welcome the torture they inflict on the killer. It’s much the same tactic employed by the I Spit On Your Grave remake; but in Steven R Monroe’s movie, it works because aside any pretence of depth is cast aside and the audience is allowed to simply whoop and cheer the spectacle of bloody retribution. The Tortured, however, has delusions of depth and sophistication at every turn, which is simply laughable because – and I say this with no exaggeration whatsoever – this is surely one of the most badly written films I have seen produced on this kind of scale (I don’t know what the budget on this was, but I would assume given the cast and production values that it’s in the low millions). How badly written, you ask? Try every lame cliche, every feeble contrivance you’ve ever seen in a movie, then see if you can squeeze them all in. Then convince all concerned that they’re making something deep, meaningful and intelligent, in spite of the fact that they’re delivering the most horrendous dialogue your ears have ever had to endure.
Example: at one point while addressing Bill Moseley’s paedophile, Jesse Metcalfe says – and so nearly as I can recall these are his exact words – “Think of the worst pain you’ve ever experienced. This is going to hurt more than that.”
Seriously.
Oh, Jesse Metcalfe. One almost feels pity for the man. His determination to be serious and be taken seriously practically oozes from the screen. And I’m not about to let Erica Christensen off the hook there, either. If we were to be sympathetic, we might say they are just doing the best with what’s been given to them, which – as I think should be clear now – is complete dogshit. Whether the viewer will be in a sympathetic mood whilst watching this is another matter altogether. The more the performances and direction strive to come off deep and meaningful, the more mind-numbingly awful the whole enterprise becomes.
And Bill Moseley… between this and The Graves, he really needs a new agent.
If Edward D Wood Jr came back from the grave and made a Saw movie, this would be it. Or, to put it another way, if Brain Damage films suddenly got access to a budget of several million dollars, this would be the end result. As such, perhaps this will wind up a classic of sorts; perhaps there is a place for The Tortured in the pantheon of the most breathtakingly terrible films of horror history, alongside the likes of Lifeforce and Dreamcatcher. Maybe this will eventually be embraced as a so-bad-it’s-good classic. But as of right now, my only hope for The Tortured is that it never makes its money back, that director Robert Lieberman is never again allowed within a thousand yards of a film set unless he’s delivering coffee, and that writer Marek Posival gets legally barred from touching a keyboard in much the way Johnny Lee Miller was in Hackers (but let’s make it a lifetime ban rather than ten years, just to be on the safe side). As for the cast; well, I’d say there fate in TV movie limbo is pretty much sealed so I won’t wish anything worse on them. Yes, The Tortured really is that bad, and in this instance I must urge you – DO take my word for it. Do NOT seek this movie out. Do NOT throw away a penny of your own money on this iredeemable abomination of a movie.
Okay… I think I’m done now.
