The Tortured (2010)

Quite a different turn for Jessie Metcalfe best known for his beefcake and eyecandy roles. Here he and Erika Christensen play the parents of a young boy who is abducted and murdered by a local psychopath (Bill Mosley who is perfect for the role!).  They manage to get their hands on him and set about exacting a parents revenge for a lost child.

The brutality of the subject matter alone makes it a tough film. The first half hour is spent setting the situation up, including the abduction and murder of the child. The actors are both strong enough to carry this kind of grief on screen and do a great job of putting you through the ringer before the movie even gets going.

The scenes of torture are fairly short lived and compared to other movies on my blog, relatively tame. But by the standard movie goer they will come off harsh and unforgiving. I actually did turn away at one point.

However the ending comes on strong and the twist is nothing short of jaw dropping. This is a well scripted and well filmed piece of film. It's not strictly a horror movie and does play more like a Crime Drama or Thriller, but with the few scenes of mutilation it's elevated to Horror, but just barely. Either way there are much worse ways to spend an hour and 11 minutes.

***Eyecandy***
If you aren't a fan of Jessie Metcalfe, there's not much eyecandy here. And even if you are, he's clothed and fairly dirty through most of the film. Kind of hard to find him sexy when he's covered in tears, snot and blood.

Burning Bright (2010)

What sounds like the worst set up for a thriller/horror film ever actually ends up being a rather enjoyable and tense little film. A young girl and her autistic brother are trapped in the house with a man killer tiger in the middle of a hurricane in back woods Florida. With a script that doesn't take itself completely seriously (The man who sells the tiger in the opening scene is an uncredited Meatloaf...), manages to weave a tale that makes sense and at times has you hanging on the edge of your seat.

There are a spoiler or two that I will avoid, but the set up and how these things come together is a pretty big plot point. But once the chase starts it's well filmed (for the most part) and very well acted.

Briana Evigan (Step Up 2 The Streets) manages to carry most of the film even though Charlie Tahan (Charlie St Cloud) does a more than decent job of playing someone completely removed from the world around him even while sharing the screen with a hungry tiger.

Over all this is a "Family Friendly" thriller with very little gore and much suspense. It's rated PG-13 for the small bits there are, but it proves that you CAN make a good, tense film without showing someone's insides. Really enjoyed this one.