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.