So well acted, directed, and composed. This film has a campy feel and an experts touch. Haunts you emotionally, thrills you with sadistic gore and torture, and sticks with you when it's over. Sean Byrne was well prepared for this to be his first full length picture. Was very surprised I missed this one 8 years ago. Not going to give away a single scene here, just my opinion. This movie, in a nutshell, is about dealing with trauma and loss. There are scenes that take me back to campy teen flicks from my teens and of the past ten years, but the meat of the story is the kidnapping, torture, shocking and hard to watch material, and the insanely brilliant performance by Robin McLeavy. Definitely worth an hour and 24 minutes of your time when you want to get into a good horror movie.

I recently watched writer/director Sean Byrne's latest film 'The Devil's Candy' and enjoyed it so much I thought I better check out his previous film 'The Loved Ones'. I had no idea going in that it was an Australian film. Australian's have done some very fine horror films in their time, 'Wolf Creek' and its sequel being a couple of my favourites. I did enjoy 'The Loved Ones' but it would be fair to say Byrne had not mastered his art quite yet, nor would you expect him to have in his debut film.The movie is very dark and twisted which I liked very much. Sometimes films like this try not to take them self too seriously, and so they try and add an almost humorous layer into the mix, and it always just comes across terribly. There is none of that here from Byrne. Even though there are certain scenes that are certainly out there (and could even be considered funny in a way) they are never intended that way and the film remains very serious in tone.The acting is a little dubious in places, which hurts the film a substantial amount. The reason for this is because there are some truly great characters here just begging to be given the limelight. I read that John Jarratt (from 'Wolf Creek') turned down a role for fear of being typecast. It's a real shame he had to do that though, because he would have been ideal in this type of role and could have been the icing on the cake for the movie. There is enough originality here to make this a worthy watch though. It's certainly not perfect, but if you go in simply looking for a fun time, you're probably going to have one.

Brent Mitchell kills his father in a car accident after avoiding a bloody guy in the middle of the road. Six months later, he is haunted into a danger-seeking weed-smoking haze. He is attending the school dance with girlfriend Holly and gently turns down the awkward Lola Stone. His schlubby friend Jamie asks out hot girl with attitude Mia Valentine. Lola's father kidnaps Brent. Lola throws a disturbing private End of School Dance in their den with her father and the lobotomized Bright Eyes. Brent's mother Carla and Holly suspect foulplay while Jamie goes out with Mia.It's bloody. It's torture. It's teen melodrama. Robin McLeavy has a great insanity. The story does meander a bit. I'm not sure if Jamie and Mia are that directly connected to the action but their date is a good break from the torture. Overall, it's a good bloody time.

I don't remember the last time I've felt so intensely while watching a movie. Pain, fear, horror, anguish,disgust, anger, suspense - everything you'd hope for in a horror movie is there. The acting is superb, the characters are all believable. Just wait until you witness the two main villains interacting with each other. It's so f******* creepy, and it succeeds because you can believe in their performances. The two are seriously the creepiest, most frightening, most disturbing and disgusting villains I can recall. The violence - Oh my god. I'm not sensitive to violence at all, but I was squirming throughout this film. They do a really good job with it, and the lead does a great job with displays of pain and suffering. And a really nice touch, is that everything adds up in the end, some minor plot points are tied up, which gives the story a nice bit of closure. There is one slight plot hole with the cop (I won't tell you what it is - you might not even notice), but it barely detracts from the story and certainly doesn't even come close to ruining any of it. Edit: I forgot to mention the soundtrack, which is incredible. Songs perfectly to the scene, whether they be angry or deceptively, sickly pretty. If you can handle an unbelievably brutal movie - then watch this and love it.