Review of The Tortured (2010) by Carl N — 01 Nov 2010

With the tag line "From the producers of the Saw" splashed all over the DVD front cover. It is clear that the makers of this film were trying to attract the torture porn crowd. I must admit to only watching this because I'm a big fan of Bill Moseley.

But sadly yet again Moseley's acting talent is wasted. This had the pretence to be a really deep and meaningful psychological thriller. If it had a totally different cast that is. The story revolves around a couple whose young son is kidnapped and murdered by a paedophile (played by Moseley) and after a deal with the DA he subsequently gets a rather lenient prison sentence.

So the couple come up with the plan to kidnap him and take revenge. After conveniently knowing when Moseley's character is being transferred from prison they easily get to him and take him off to a house in the woods for some torture.

You are supposed to believe and feel the hurt and torment that the couple are going through after the murder of their son. I'm sorry but Jesse Metcalfe and his blinding white teeth just don't work for me.

His acting is abysmal and at no time is he convincing. Erika Christensen does okay with her role as the grieving mother. But it never rises above TV series acting. Over syrupy flashbacks are laughable and sadly the set up for the shock twist ending is clear very early on and takes away any suspense from the film.

But okay a torture porn film doesn't really need a believable plot. Yes it's true but the film never delivers on its promise of gore or torture. Most the film time is taken up with talk by the couple about all the horrible things they are going to do to their victim.

But they never live up to the talk. Horror/thriller fans will be bored and torture porn fans will feel short changed. I'm just left with the feeling of what an awesome film this could have been.