The Tortured Review

• 12th Nov 2010

At first glance Robert Lieberman’s The Tortured looks like yet another in a recent spate of torture horror thrillers following in the wake of the Hostel and Saw films. Its fate is also to go direct to DVD following its rounds on the horror and fantasy film festivals. It premiered here in the UK at this year’s Frightfest, yet despite its flaws, like any decent horror thriller worth its salt it’s not just going down the exploitation of a cycle route, but instead taps into moral ethics and asks the question: what would you do?

The plot revolves around a middle-class couple, Craig and Elise Landry. It opens with Craig, the frantic father having lost the pursuit of a man who has kidnapped his 6-year-old son. After a period of time, police carrying out a routine investigation hear cries coming from the home of a strange loner, John Kieslowski. Suspecting this is the man they’ve been looking for, they raid his house to find the mutilated boy amongst other bizarre ‘souvenirs’. Following a court trial Kieslowski is given a sentence of just ten years for offering to give details of other corpses found in his back yard. Traumatised, the couple’s relationship falls under a great deal of strain, to the point that they break up. Craig attempts suicide by overdose, then he decides that he is not going to be beaten and goes to the home of his wife, Elise and the murder that she demands is not enough. As a result the pair plot an elaborate plan to take Kieslowski, while he is being transported to a high security prison, to a remote spot and torture him until they are ready to dispose of him. What follows is a series of graphic and lengthy tortures to inflict maximum pain on the psycho.

This creates some interesting dilemmas as we begin to question our own ethical and moral call on this. However, without giving the ending away, the twist may leave the viewer confused more than anything else. As a parent I not only found this film incredibly difficult viewing, but questioned myself about what I would do in their situation. In all honesty I would, as a thoroughly ordinary, intelligent individual fantasise about carrying out such tortures myself. This is the key, they are such a normal middle-class American couple who have had to face the stress regarding the trauma and ultimate loss of morals. At the same time, one must also question the morals of the filmmakers too. Particularly revealing, held in one of the extras on the DVD, are that the cast and crew are asked that very question: what would you do? They range from the minority view that they would show no moral restraint and do the same thing to the majority that she the same view as me.

As for Lieberman’s directing style, it ranges from slick gripping armchair thriller to potboiler. This includes a noisy, often intrusive soundtrack that is unnerving at the moments of tension, yet a little too intrusive during the scenes of drama. The use of the nursery rhyme, ‘Hush Little Baby’ is very haunting and effectively used (I also sing this to my daughter!)  Lieberman’s previous credentials come from TV, having directed episodes of Dexter and The X-Files. Lead, Jesse Metcalfe, is better known for his role as John Rowland in Desperate Housewives and, therefore, he will certainly be a familiar face to many viewers. Erika Christensen’s performance (having previously appeared in other thrillers such as Swimfan [2002] and Flightplan [2005]), however, is perhaps the weakest as her more dramatic moments seemed to have stepped straight out of a soap opera and give the mis-guided view that the drama here is somewhat on the soapy side. Given the cast and crew, I’m lead to the impression that an ideal target audience is perhaps someone who likes extreme thrillers whilst not being adverse to the odd soap opera or is something of a TV addict. The editing is rather heavy handed and bombastic in style as the opening scene made me think I was actually watching the trailer until it moved onto the next scene. To say it lacks any subtle nuances would be an understatement. Where it works somewhat more powerfully is when Craig and Elise’s worst fears are confirmed and they must identify their son, Benji’s body in the mortuary. This is edited together with a montage of home video footage of his birth, him as a baby and scenes of happy family life, as well as the last moments Craig spent with his son before he was abducted. This is where both the editing and Lieberman’s direction work at their best. Scenes like this permeate the film as constant reminders of the existence of memory and conscience and where this has led the couple today.

Bill Moseley as John Kieslowski, the psychotic schizophrenic is a performance filled with bathos and he is something of a monster, exactly how we expect all psychotic schizophrenics to be. In other areas, the script and performances of the two leads seem amateurish with some rather lazy dialogue to the slick thriller that it has aspirations to be, swinging pendulum like between soapy potboiler to powerful drama. The presentation of the two characters are heavy handed too, with Metcalfe’s Craig rather obviously the emasculated male, stay at home dad and a voice of reason and Christensen’s Elise being driven by her motherly emotions. These roles, however, alter after they kidnap the killer. Craig takes control and is blinded by the task in hand to the point of madness. He reasserts his masculinity and testosterone. The couple’s sex life also returns once the violence against their victim commences. Recent high profile stories in the UK such as the Baby P. case and that of Madeleine McCann are not far away from the thoughts of the viewer. Particularly in the case of the latter, parents in such a position may view this film as wish fulfillment, as it with the parents here. Ultimately, the film makes a curious diversion and study about morals and ethics. For those who like their thrillers extreme, it will certainly tap into the fears of any parent but for anyone else the film is neither accessible nor particularly well acted. Extras include the aforementioned opinions of the cast and crew and an over long behind the scenes documentary.

Chris Hick