The Loved Ones is a 2009 Australian horror film written and directed by Sean Byrne, making his directorial debut. It stars Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, Victoria Thaine, Jessica McNamee, Richard Wilson, and John Brumpton. The film follows a teenage boy who is murdered by a crazed classmate after turning down an invitation to a school dance. High school student Brent is driving with his father Dan when a bloody man appears in the middle of the road. Swerving to avoid the man, Brent crashes the car into a tree, accidentally killing his father. Six months later, Brent politely declines Lola Stone’s invitation to a school dinner party in order to go with his girlfriend Holly. Lola secretly witnesses the two having s.e.x in Holly’s car.
Feeling guilty over his father’s death, Brent self-harms with a razor blade hidden in a necklace. At home, Brent’s mother, Carla, insists that he take a taxi instead of going with Holly, a young girl. Brent leaves the house and walks to a nearby cliff. He briefly contemplates suicide, but then changes his mind. While listening to music, Brent passes out.
Brent wakes up, tied to a chair. His kidnappers, Lola and her father, Eric, have decorated the house in a formal style. The three sit around a table with a lobotomized woman they call Bright Eyes. Lola injects bleach into Brent’s larynx, destroying his vocal cords and rendering him unable to speak. She begins to humiliate him, feeling extremely excited. Brent frees himself and runs outside, but is captured. While he is tied up, they pin his legs to the floor with knives. Lola shows Brent a scrapbook of photos of her previous victims.
Brent recognizes Timmy Valentine, the bloody man who caused his accident. Timmy turns out to be the brother of Mia Valentine, Brent’s best friend Jamie’s dance partner. Lola then brands Brent by carving her initials into his chest and throwing salt on it. After Eric crowns Lola prom queen, she admits to having incestuous feelings for him. The two dance and almost kiss before Brent interrupts.
Eric opens a trapdoor in the floor, revealing a basement with the previously kidnapped people still alive. Lola drills a hole through Brent’s skull and prepares to lobotomize him by pouring boiling water into the hole. Brent escapes again. He attacks Eric with a hidden razor blade and stabs him with one of the knives he pulled from his leg. He pushes Eric into the basement, where the starved and deranged (and presumably lobotomized) captives begin to eat him. Lola pushes Brent into the basement and throws everything she can reach at him. Brent finds a flashlight and a hammer among the thrown objects and uses them to defend himself against the captives. Lola then smothers Bright Eyes – whom she calls her mother – with a pillow.
When Brent fails to show up for their date, a worried Holly calls Mia’s father, a police officer. He enters Lola’s house, where Lola kills him with a meat cleaver. Lola taunts Brent, saying that she will kill Carla to avenge her father, and kill Holly to avenge Brent for breaking Lola’s heart. After she leaves, Brent climbs out of the hole by piling up the bodies. As Lola walks down the street, she sees Holly driving up. She throws her scrapbook through the windshield and attacks Holly, who flees on foot. Brent arrives in a police car and hits Lola. Holly climbs into the police car and is shocked to see Brent; the two tearfully embrace. A badly injured Lola approaches the car. Brent backs up, hitting Lola in the head, fracturing her skull. Brent and Holly return home, where Carla is shocked
and hugs her son.
