The Tortured (2010) User Reviews

Good twist but too many plot holes.

[Fella_shibby · 5/10 · 17 January 2022]

I saw this for the first time recently inspite of the dvd lying in my drawer for more than a decade.

I still remember buying the dvd cos of the poster of that of a man upside down in a mask n letters written boldly, from the producers of Saw.

I never got interested in playing the dvd aft reading some bad reviews stating that it is another torture porn n i hate torture porns.

Well, this movie has a good story n a bit similar to Seven Days.

Coincidentally I revisited Babysitter Wanted jus a day back which has Bill Moseley in a tiny role n this movie too has Moseley in a tiny role.

The bothering stuff is that the movie is filled with too many plot holes.

The couple's plan is ridiculous n it is not at all a good plan.

Leaving fingerprints all over the van, surviving a van tumbling down, can't recognise a face just cos it's blood stained, not getting cautious when a man with a dog enters the cabin, cops taking hell lottuva time to locate a cabin inspite of the instructions given by the man with a dog, cops never bother to check the cabin or search for the other missing convict, cops never bother to take the man with the dog n ask the details about the couple holding the convict in the cabin, the list goes on..

Nothing special about this torture

[gregsrants · 5/10 · 2 December 2010]

How far would you go? That's a question asked by the filmmakers of The Tortured, a film from the producers of the Saw franchise that has the parents of a murdered child extracting their revenge on the killer who plea bargains his way to lighter sentence.

Erika Christensen and Jesse Matcalfe play Elise and Craig Landry, two loving parents whose child is abducted and murdered by John Kozlowski (Bill Mosley). Haunted by the events that unfold in court and repulsed by the lenient sentence suggested by the court, the Landry's hatch an plan to nab Kozlowski from a Correctional Facility transfer van in an attempt to dole out their own brand of fitting justice.

Unfortunately for John Kozlowski, their plan works and even more unfortunate for John is that Craig Landry just happens to be a physician which will give him the knowledge and the means in which to keep John alive and in pain for hours and days on end.

Being that The Tortured is from the producers of Saw, you can expect some gory and prolonged torture. They start us off simple enough. A small burn on John's chest. Soon, needles are being used to cause all kinds of pain. Some of the tactics result in John's untimely death, but with Craig being a doctor, resuscitation only adds to John's torment.

At only 78 minutes, there isn't much development in The Tortured. We breeze through the child abduction and the trial right into the torturous basement in an abandoned home that will be the setting for the majority of the film. We do get to watch as the police follow clues to try and find out what happened to their prisoner, but it is hardly engaging and is likely there just to keep extend the running time further than a simple hour.

Everything seemed to be going according to the Landry's master plan and to the audience's expectation until the final chapter of the film that veers drastically into a WTF moment leaving you scratching your head and going back a few chapters to piece it together.

Normally this would be a good thing, but in the hands of director Rob Lieberman, The Tortured just peters out towards the end and then slaps us in the face before abruptly revealing the end credits.

We can't write on behalf of the acting in the film. People are more reacting than they are acting. And we can't give kudos to the plot which has been done before (ironically we screened the superior Canadian film 7 Days that same evening). There was some gore by way of the torture scenes, but we never turned our heads away in disgust or saw something outside of what the Saw and Hostel franchises have brought us over the last 10 years.

You can do a lot worse than The Tortured. And at barely over one hour's length, you wouldn't be putting yourself out to use this as a time filler between other more worthy films of your time. But for us, it was just average.

www.killerreviews.com

Mediocre torture film ruined by ending.

[Matt_Layden · 4/10 · 11 April 2011]

A couple's son is kidnapped and murdered. The killer only receives 25 years to life, so they decide to take the law into their own hands. They kidnap the killer and torture him to death.

If that plot sounds familiar it's because The Tortured is a mix of several different films. Think Seven Days, Law Abiding Citizen and the Maters of Horror piece Family. I'd mention Saw, but since this film boasts "From the creators of Saw", I figured I'd side step that obvious comparison. The parents in the film are played by Jesse Metcalfe and Erika Christensen, both in roles that demand emotion and recklessness. They both deliver their scenes as best they could, but not once did I ever really feel anything towards them. We never are given a chance to connect to the family, the first thing we see is the aftermath of the kidnapping. Had we spent a little bit more time with them, not in flashback, then the connection to the audience would have been greater.

Bill Moseley, who usually pops up in Rob Zombie films, plays the man who kills their son. He's a freak who wears make-up and yells at the boy as if he's several different people. Again, bits and pieces used from other films, he comes off as a very poor Buffalo Bill type character. He's being transported to, I'm assuming prison, when the parents come up with a plan that in retrospect, was pretty inane. They manage to steal the van he's being transported in, and accidentally crash it. They take the clearly beaten and almost unrecognizable killer to a secure location, where they can torture and eventually kill the man who took their son's life. The mother is a real estate agent, so she knows the perfect location to use. The father is a doctor, so he has the medical expertise to keep him alive and feel all the pain they will inflict.

The torture scenes are nice, and since the film is called The Tortured, they would have to be. The best part about the torture scenes, are how minimal they are. No over the top gadgets that are used in Saw films, instead we have simple burnings, suffocation, needles to the jugular, breaking of toes, etc. Enough to make people cringe and not overly aggressive with it either.

The ending I mentioned is what will make or break the film for a lot of people. Some people dig it, others find it insulting towards the audience. Meaning they felt cheated. In theory, I like it, in execution, I didn't. As a horror fan, I know who Bill Moseley is, as will most of the people expecting to watch this. So when the ending pops up, it's not that much of a surprise. What the film needed for a final conclusion, were the reaction of the parents to the news, leaving the audience knowing information and the characters not is a cop out. Especially when you know that they will eventually find out.

The tortured is decent enough for those looking for some torture fun. It's definitely a genre specific film. I hated how the characters would flip flop all the time and it tries to be a film that raises important questions. For example, how far would you go to punish those who hurt you, but it never reaches those depths to ask. The second half is more fixated on the torture aspect and not the morality aspect. The film poorly juggles drama and horror. It's as if the film set up a question to be asked, but forgot to ask it.

Atrocious

[wegg66 · 1/10 · 30 May 2014]

This shambling mess of a film is a true disgrace - to use the torture murder of a 6 year old boy in such a glib, throw-away entertainment driven way is a parlous utter travesty and these film-makers should be lambasted high and low.

These tragedies do happen - to use them for such low brow entertainment is so utterly disrespectful I wonder how the film makers sleep at night.

No exploration of the moral dilemma of inadequate justice, no development of the main characters, no meaningful examination of the impact of this behaviour on the torturers. Plot device garbage that contrives at every turn and then the obligatory 'twist'.

I really enjoy extreme films that are well done but this heap of dung fails at every turn - bad lighting, jump moments, blood letting - is it too much to ask to actually make a film as opposed to a lame excuse in which to appease gore-hounds' desire for unmitigated torture.

For a complex and truthful exploration of this harrowing subject of extreme loss through murder of the innocent, please watch the wonderful French film 7 Days that at least tries to convey some of the emotional struggle, the uselessness, the folly and the inadequacy of revenge in the face of incalculable grief and loss.

Excellent Little horror movie!

[Indifferent_Observer · 7/10 · 18 October 2010]

I also had low expectations after coming to IBMD and seeing some bad reviews about this title. After watching it, I have to say I loved it. At the beginning it seemed like an all too familiar plot, I won't spoil it, but basically its about a family who's child is kidnapped and murdered by a local psychopathic child serial killer. The family decides they want revenge and think that prison is too good for this scumbag.(a suitable part played by Bill Mosley)

I know we have seen this type of movie before and I warn you there is a lot of "uncomfortable" torture scenes going on for quite awhile that may make a few uncomfortable and turn others off. As we move towards the ending and the plot started to unfold I realized why we had to go through all that torture which wasn't mindless at all. We start to feel for this child killer/molester and the pain hes going through and we even have to be reminded that this is the scum of the earth getting what he deserves. The ending definitely is the best part and doesn't let us down in the least. No spoilers here sorry...

More for seasoned Horror fans.Great acting all the way through and each actor gave it their all, great directing, and most importantly great GORE!. Not really a hidden gem per say, but a decent genre flick that makes you think nonetheless.

I gave it a 8 even though its probably only worthy of a solid 7. I think it deserves alittle extra help from us genre fans.

Wannabe torture porn leaves no cliché untapped

[Boris_Day · 3/10 · 31 August 2010]

I saw this at Frightfest over the weekend and Tortured is a laughably bad attempt at a "torture porn" film. It starts with a frantically edited sequence of pointless flash-backs and flash- forwards in a vain attempt to lend some interest to the trite set up. The filmmakers then go hilariously over the top in making the villain's lair creepy, with old dolls, stuffed animals and clown masks all over the place. The two leads look and act like something out of a US daytime soap and almost every line they say can be anticipated seconds before they open their mouths. The plot and it's "twists" are equally predictable. Ultimately the film never really delivers on its promise of gruesome retribution. The vengeful protagonists talk and talk about all the horrible things they are going to do to their victim, but what they come up with is really rather lame.

Tortured is good for some unintentional laughs, but otherwise don't waste your time on this one.

I don't remember anything...

[drnrg35 · 11 December 2012]

My summary title has nothing to do about how I feel about the movie. I actually enjoyed it. The premise is as follows.(cut and paste)In Rutland Country, the six year-old Benjamin Michael Landry is kidnapped by a psychopath in the lawn of his house. His father Craig Landry unsuccessfully runs after the truck but the abductor escapes. Sooner the police discovers that John Kozlowski had abducted and killed Benjamin. When the criminal is sentenced to 25 years in prison only, Benjamin's mother Elise Landry presses her husband to kidnap John and torture him. Craig is a doctor and knows exactly how to inflict pain to the psychopath. They succeed to kidnap John from the prison transport, but Craig has an accident and John is hurt. The couple tortures the man until they find the truth about their victim.

I actually enjoyed this film; as I viewed it entirely from the parents point of view. I have no sentiments for murdered and Bill Mosley plays one of his most diabolical and sinister yet. I would have loved to have see more of his performance, but I guess it would break away from the actual plot. I was thinking if he played one of the parents doing the torturing, but that would probably make the parent look to maniac-ish.

I didn't find many flaws. Both Jessie Metcalfe and Erika Christensen play solid roles as a young couple who have been tortured by the premature murder of their only child. One flaw I did find was how brainless the jury could have been to only give Bill Mosley's character 20 to life. Excuse me? Didn't the prosecutors present pictures in this case or did the defendant's lawyer go the "They entered his house without a warrant" plea. Either way, it shows how "Broken" the judicial system really is.

I have both love and hate for the story's ending as well. I love the twist, but I feel the last scene itself was weak as ever. I wanted to know what happened when the couple went home and turned on the news. What went on through their heads knowing that 20 to life isn't that long and someday.... To me the ending was inconclusive and could have been much better.

I give it a seven, because I love all kinds of horror and suspense...and would someone please torture those who still use the term "Torture Porn". That's a nasty word dreamed up by haters of the horror genre and should never be used by an actual fan.

A disturbing yet somewhat satisfying look at what happens when you push parents too far. Graphic but should be seen. I say B+

[cosmo_tiger · 7/10 · 16 August 2012]

"Killing him isn't punishment enough." Elise (Christensen) hugs her son goodbye and goes to work. Craig (Metcalfe) is going to play soccer with him but goes in the house to get sunscreen for him. He looks out the window and sees a man grab him and run off. Unable to catch up to the truck he calls the police but the don't find the boy in time. When they hear the the kidnappers punishment is only 25 years to life they take it upon themselves to give him the sentence he deserves. My disclaimer for this is the same I had for "God Bless America". I am in no way advocating what is in this movie but it's something that almost everyone would agree with. The parents find a way to kidnap the kidnapper and proceed to torture him in a way that is both disturbing and satisfying in order to make him feel what he did to their son. While not quite to the level of "Saw" or "Hostel" there are still some pretty graphic scenes in this that make you want to turn away a couple times. There really isn't that much to this movie except the torture, but if you liked movies like "Death Sentence" then you will love this one as well. I did. Overall, a disturbing, graphic and satisfying movie that actually has a neat ending that shows you why you shouldn't take the law into your own hands. I give it a B+.

Spoiler! Do not read if u don't want to know the bad ending

[josephsuh · 1/10 · 15 June 2012]

This is absolutely the worst waste of time of my movie-watching life. I wanted to watch a good revenge-horror film. But I wish I could rewind my life & not watch this film. To save others from similar fate, I will summarize the movie's ending.

***** Spoiler below ***

The incompetent couple capture and torture the wrong guy (who looks very different from their son's real killer) despite the fact that the killer was tried and convicted at a trial that the couple attended. So despite the fact that everyone, including the audience, knows that they have the wrong guy, the oblivious ex-parents brutally torture him. This is such unbelievably incompetence that you wonder if they are the actual parents of the murdered child or crazy idiots whose child is at a summer camp but believes that the murdered child is theirs. The real killer meanwhile escapes but is recaptured by the police.

Brutal and hard to watch, lives up to its title

[robertemerald · 7/10 · 7 April 2020]

The story of The Tortured is put together well, with two really good actors, and a crisis of grief and retribution. As horror movies go it delivers the goods. I found exception with the ending. I just didn't see why they needed a twist. Maybe American audiences still demand a level of good guys don't become bad guys, for whatever reason, without consequences. I get that. I found the ending less food for thought though, and more sadness for tragedy. If you think about it, you could still achieve the same with, say, an escape, a double pursuit by the cops, and three wicked deaths or something. If they ever remake this movie I hope they consider going that way. You have to buy into a hell of a co-incidence and a hell of a circumstance to believe the ending of this movie the way it is.

I fell pretty "Tortured" right now

[guilionakyy · 3/10 · 2 November 2010]

At the first 25 minutes the movie try desperately, with a series of crude flashbacks, to convince the audience of something the actors themselves could not: To believe that they are suffering for the lost of their child. And even that isn't enough to make believable an apple-pie family turning the new Hewitts. An unbelievably long hour later the film was over with a very confusing but mildly interesting 5 minutes ending. One moment you are wondering "how that will turn out?", the other, roll credits. Through out the whole movie, flashbacks continue to appear over and over and over again showing nothing relevant to the plot or the characters psychology. The torture parts are also not terrible enough to please the "Painjunkies" out there, which makes sense if an upper-middle class family would perform it, but the characters most of the time make it looks like its not a big deal to do that to a person. The script is very poorly directed. Even for a TV Series Director. It takes too long to begin, and not long enough to finish. Climax of the story happens in 5 minutes. If the movie was turned into a 15 minutes episode of "Tales from the Crypt", it would be nice enough. But surely not far a movie. To the fans of Twisted Pictures, I advice you to wait for the Next Saw.

Harsh but powerful ride

[TRussellMorris · 8/10 · 26 July 2021]

At only 81 minutes, this is a short but powerful film, the length is my only problem with it as another good 20-30 minutes of character development would have been excellent. From the producers of SAW you need not worry about what the tortuous scenes could (And do) entail, The film revolves around the mental breakdown of a couple who's 6 year old child was kidnapped and murdered by serial killer. After receiving what too many cases these days deliver, the man gets 25 to life, a sentence unsatisfactory to the couple. As both their relationship and mental states begin to hit bottom they resort to a rather interesting plan to kidnap, torture and execute the killer, They manage the first 2 parts with gusto only to then bring us to the inevitable twist ending, a twist that gives you both a double take and a few WTFs and OMGs in the process as that twist kicks in and we are left to wonder as to the mental aftermath that will follow (The movie ends with US knowing the whole truth but not the couple, we can only imagine what impact it will have on them when they do. The movie is tough to watch, which is no surprise as the torture scenes leave little to the imagination, befitting the participation of SAW producers and the subject matter. It's a fantastic movie, though a bit too short for me.

As to the other reviews, I've said before, I thought IMDB was the epitome of armchair trolls who think themselves "Critics' but I've found more of them here than there, something I didn't think possible...lol This movie is tough, well filmed, well acted, with a disturbing premise and I enjoyed every turn of the screw minute, very glad I searched far and wide for the DVD to buy and get into my collection. (As a Jesse Metcalfe fan it was a must, and I've always loved Erika Christensen as an actress, both are excellent in this film). Ignore the salty "critics" and get this hidden gem.

It is worth the watch!

[IVIiichal · 7/10 · 24 October 2010]

A case of 'Don't judge a book by its cover' I fell for that… It has a similar feel to 'Law Abiding Citizen' if you have seen that.

Basically, it is couple seeking revenge on the man who destroyed their lives. They 'achieve'this in brutal circumstances so be warned.

I would seriously recommend viewing this movie. You might think it isn't cutting it for you but watch until the end, I will predict that 8/10 people will say at the end 'Actually, that was quite good' However, it felt like it was missing something to give it that extra quality… maybe the timing, it was relatively short which may have been the missing part for me.

All in all, a good watch and worth the time.

Torture Porn on the Cheap

[thirteenprime · 2/10 · 3 June 2013]

Somebody wanted to make a movie about two nice people torturing a guy to death, and this thing is what they came up with. There's nothing clever about The Tortured, and nothing in it is so over-the-top that you can at least admire this film for its audacity. It's just screaming and pain and nonsense. There's even a disemboweling sequence halfway through, but since that would have killed the victim with much of the film left to go, the film presents it as an hallucination so you can see it anyway. The hole-card ending is cut-rate Shamaylan. I haven't seen a film this bad in a long, long time. Two stars instead of one, though, because of the cast, which is far better than this awful little film deserves.

It's the audience that suffers.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 17 September 2011]

Craig and Elise Landry (Jesse Metcalfe and Erika Christensen) have their world torn apart when John Kozlowski (Bill Moseley), a drooling psychopath with deep-seated parent issues and an unrivalled collection of disturbing curios in his basement, abducts and murders their six year old son. When the killer is caught and brought to trial, but only receives a 25 year jail sentence for his heinous crime, the distraught couple decide to take the law into their own hands and exact a far more fitting punishment.

The Tortured is, as the title suggests, yet another in the recent wave of horror films that have (un)popularly been dubbed 'torture porn'; however, rather than try to make the viewer turn away in disgust at gory atrocities inflicted upon innocent victims, as is usually the case with this sub-genre, the intention here is to appeal to the audience's most primal emotions, fulfilling a basic desire for sweet justice by depicting a twisted piece of human garbage on the receiving end of some serious pain and humiliation for a change.

This twist on an already well-worn theme might have worked if it wasn't for an unnecessary and totally unbelievable twist at the end which robs the viewer of any real satisfaction. Add the fact that the violence perpetrated is far from stomach churning (the gore is most unimpressive with the yuckiest scene turning out to be a dream) and the plot requires major suspension of disbelief (for example, one is expected to believe that, after a van has somersaulted off a bridge, sailed through the air, and crashed face-down onto some jagged rocks, those inside have all miraculously survived death), and what you have is a bland and instantly forgettable effort, another nail in the coffin for a horror trend that should have been buried long ago.

Were the Editor and Audio Synchronizer High????

[Mhenegan26 · 5 August 2013]

For a movie called "The Tortured", I feel pretty tortured from watching it. I would've given it 0 stars if it was possible.

This wannabe horror-movie thriller is badly acted, coarsely edited, the audio is unsynchronized, the list goes on and on. Oh, and of course it's disgustingly graphic, which can be justified and work in some movies (i.e. Se7en), but it was just unbearable and gross in this movie.

To start off, this movie's plot just screams cliché. In fact, a good way to describe this movie is just one big horror movie cliché. The horrible plot is this: A psychotic man kidnaps a couple's son while the dad is distracted and the wife is at work. The police can't find sh*t, and of course the mom, being emotionally vulnerable as she should be, blames the cops for not finding her son. Screw logic! I mean seriously, investigations take a long time, and if the killer left no clues or evidence, then it will be harder. But, the mom just "needs someone to blame", as she says later, and of course she has to stick it on the hard-working, low-paid officers. Then, the police find the man, illegally enter his home, only to discover the son is already dead. Wow. Then, as the clichés roll on, the couple decide to get revenge on the man. Nothing in this movie ever deviates from formula. In fact, I'm not even sure if there IS a formula to this movie, as it seems like a jumbled mess.

Besides the formulaic, cliché plot line, the editing is horrible. Many times, a character might be saying something but their mouth isn't moving, or it's unsynchronized. Hence, the title of my review. Whoever edited this movie needs to go back to film school immediately.

Another thing is the picture and cinematography. The whole movie, save the flashbacks, is all washed out in color. This is a misconception with horror film directors that by washing out your film, it makes it scarier. All it does is make you look desperate and your film look amateurish. On another note, the cinematography was also abysmal, scoring no points for this otherwise dismal film. The shots were rough, almost feeling like a montage. They would have the same shot just moved a couple of inches over. Why they felt the need to do that is beyond me. Also, the shots had no style or feel to them, as if the editor and cinematographer just said "screw it" and slapped together the shots to make this movie.

Moreover, the movie is disgustingly graphic. What was once fresh and gripping in Se7en is now overall gross and appalling here. The couple shows no mercy as they torture their sons killer. At least John Doe had SOME shred of human decency! Additionally,it was horribly acted. I cannot fathom how these actors made it into Hollywood. They cannot act! I am half confident that I could do a better job then they did! Jesse Metcalf just sulked and sat there while Erika Christensen blathered on about how they would move on and find a better life. That was the whole first half of the movie.

Also, the script was disappointing. The dialogue was-- yes, you guessed it!-- all clichés! Jesse Metcalf says to Erika Christensen, "Killing (our sons killer) isn't going to change anything." Wow, the screenwriters couldn't come up with anything more original? That's sad.

To close, this was an abysmal, depressing, disgustingly graphic D movie with D list stars. I leave you with one thing: You'd be hard-pressed to find a worse horror movie then this.

HandHStudios Rating: 0/10

One of the worst twists

[mary-179-677383 · 6/10 · 5 December 2015]

A loving couple have one little boy named Benjamin. He is 6 years old and adorable. Now the little boy is kidnapped from his own yard. The dad witnesses the kidnapping and desperately tries to follow him and save his son. Unfortunately, he can't find him. Police are called to a house when neighbours called when they heard noises from the basement. The man ends up being the killer and apparently his yard is filled with other corpses (funny how the neighbours only started complaining when Ben was screaming).

The police charged the man over Bens death and he was sentenced to 25yrs in jail. Now, the parents of Ben are not happy about him being in jail and exercising and watching TV and decide he needs punishment. He must be tortured as the killer had tortured their only son.

SPOILER ALERT They devise a plan and it actually seems good. The steal the van carrying the prisoner and when driving away, flips the car and has an accident. They all survive and they take the "murderer" away for torture. Now movie was going on okay, then the major twist and major flaw. They had kidnapped the wrong prisoner. The prisoner they had kidnapped was in jail for fraud and was sentenced to 18 months. However this prisoner had some opportunity to explain himself and then says. "I don't remember anything before the car accident". The couple believe he is lying. They torture him and demand they say his sons name, but he yells "Ben" to stop the torture, but they said Benjamin around him a lot..so asking him to say that name was pointless. Anyways, the guy actually did have memory loss and wasn't the killer, but couldn't remember so he calls out Benjamin because well that was they name the repeated throughout the movie. He escapes but because he thought he was a child killer, he kills himself and writes the couple an apologetic message.

The real killer is caught by police, but it was just an unsatisfying ending. I would have liked to see the couples face when the realised the real killer was still alive.

Flaws 1.)They only see one prisoner get into the van when the TV camera shows both men going in at the time. 2.) They say their sons name a million times after kidnapping the prisoner but to prove he hasn't lost his memory they ask him to say the name of the their son...maybe asking something else would have been better 3.) I know he was injured and had bloody, but considering they were planning on killing him, they didn't think to double check it was the right guy 4.) They didn't check the van for possible other prisoners in there when it crashed.. 5.) The accident the husband had was fairly major, how did anyone survive. And the prisoner they kidnapped was thrown far from the Van.. how?

What Would You Do with the Killer of Your Son?

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 1 December 2010]

In Rutland Country, the six year-old Benjamin Michael Landry is kidnapped by a psychopath in the lawn of his house. His father Craig Landry (Jesse Metcalfe) unsuccessfully runs after the van but the abductor escapes. Sooner the police discovers that John Kozlowski (Bill Moseley) had abducted and killed Benjamin. When the criminal is sentenced to 25 years in prison only, Benjamin's mother Elise Landry (Erika Christensen) presses her husband to kidnap John and torture him. Craig is a doctor and knows exactly how to inflict pain to the psychopath. They succeed to kidnap John from the prison transport, but Craig has an accident and John is hurt. The couple tortures the man until they find the truth about their victim.

"The Tortured" is a film with a promising premise ("What Would You Do with the Killer of Your Son?") that unfortunately has many flaws and holes in the plot and a rushed conclusion. The prison van, for example, would have Craig's finger prints everywhere but the police officers do not find any clue. The truth about the victim is confused and unlikely and difficult to understand. The screenplay is corny in some moments and the torture scenes are very graphic, therefore not recommended for sensitive audiences. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Cegos por Justiça" ("Blind for Justice")

Good Enough

[IMDBer100575 · 7/10 · 30 October 2010]

I decided to watch this movie on a day off from work, out of boredom. It sounded like a good movie from the description here on IMDb and with a title like "The Tortured", how bad could it be? This was a really well done movie. The lighting was terrific. Sound was great. And acting superb. The dark scenes were lit well enough so that the view doesn't need to change the contrast on their TV (I really dislike when horror movies make their scenes too dark and you can't see what is really happening). The music in this movie helped set up the scenes perfectly. The sound effects were good too. I don't know what it would sound like to cut open someone's stomach or to break their toes and stuff but it sure sounded real. Lastly, the three main characters did a fine job.

The plot, though not original, was great. It's psychologically intriguing. What would you do to someone who murdered your child. In this movie, the process by which the parents captured their child's murder was a little far fetched, but it was believable enough. The torture scenes were okay, though not too gory. The ending was also well done and quite believable...however, there is a small flaw.

If you're bored, as was I, then watch this movie. It was entertaining enough for me. Hopefully, nobody will ever have to endure what any of these characters had to endure.

What a stupid movie

[amidalasky · 1/10 · 18 August 2014]

This is bad even for torture porn. It starts out promisingly enough, with Jesse Metcalfe understandably freaking out about the abduction of his small son, but once Erika Christensen shows up, she promptly drains any semblance of liveliness that this outing may have had (which, admittedly, wasn't much). Christensen is, with rare exceptions, simply a lousy actress. And she's uncommonly awful here. Neither she nor Metcalfe -- who isn't bad, just bland -- is even slightly believable as parents so vengeful that they'd kidnap and torture the man (they think) murdered their son.

Oh yeah, that parenthetical means that at the end there's a shocking twist. Not. As others have noted, you see it coming from a mile away: the boy's parents may have seized the wrong guy, because there were TWO prisoners on the transport van they are able to hijack with idiotic ease (a fact they apparently weren't aware of -- yeah, right), and somehow we're supposed to think they might mistake the guy they abduct with the man they saw for months on end during his trial.

Matters aren't helped by a truly stupid script and mostly lifeless direction. Of course, people aren't going to watch something like this for the script, acting or direction: they want to see a revenge fantasy played out, which the movie doesn't even deliver due to the aforementioned "twist." The movie swiftly becomes quite boring, and yes, I am including the torture scenes in that assessment.

This is not guilty-pleasure bad. It's just bad.

Worth it for the ending.....

[FlashCallahan · 7/10 · 30 May 2011]

Benjamin Michael Landry is kidnapped by a psychopath in the lawn of his house.

His father Craig Landry unsuccessfully runs after the truck but the abductor escapes.

Soon, the police discovers that John Kozlowski had abducted and killed Benjamin. When the criminal is sentenced to 25 years in prison only, Benjamin's mother Elise presses her husband to kidnap John and torture him.

Craig is a doctor and knows exactly how to inflict pain to the psychopath.

They succeed to kidnap John from the prison transport, but Craig has an accident and John is hurt.

The couple torture the man until they find the truth about their victim..

A film from the studio that brought you Saw, you know what to expect from this, and the fact that the majority of the film consists of a young couple anda man tied to a table in the basement.

Sounds bland? well it is for a while, and then there is the obligatory twist, that really shocks to be fair, although in hindsight, it's a little on the silly side, but i didn't watch this for logic.

It's short, the cast are good, and there is a little suspense in the whole proceedings.

you could do a lot worse.

Torture was a torture to audience!

[alexstephen · 2/10 · 11 July 2011]

When I'm feeling bored, I like to relax at a movie....today's choice, this one, was a poor choice. "z grade" movies are often fun, in their awfulness; This was just plain bad without the fun.

The movie moves very slow, the torture sequence are okay, overall its just a waste of time, I do not recommend anyone to watch this movie.

The end had a twist, which spoils the whole effort of the couple in the movie.Bad acting with cheap story, have never seen a B movie with such polish or talent. If you have 1 and half hours to kill and you are not likely to walk out of the theater because it sucks, then you should see it. This is by far one of the worst movies that i have ever seen.

Great Movie! Very Intense, Good Acting

[jguidoevans · 10/10 · 16 October 2010]

I wasn't too sure about watching this movie because I read one review here on IMDb saying that wasn't so good but my instinct told me to watch it.

Jesse Metcalfe acting was great, after watching and following desperate housewives I wasn't aware that he was going after the big screen, I'm amazed in how well he play his character, I hope to see him more often in other movies; same for Erika Christensen, her acting was great too, very intense and real from my point of view.

The movie take you on a ride of emotions from the beginning to the end, I was able to feel the pain of the characters.

The ending is totally unexpected, I was really surprised, good to know that we can still be surprised after all that junk that is realized daily, great ending.

I was right!, this movie was amazing, if you enjoyed Law Abiding Citizen or similar movies about revenge this movie is for you.

Great movie, it deserve a 10!

Not What You'd Think

[SusieSalmonLikeTheFish · 6/10 · 23 September 2014]

The plot of this film honestly seemed amazing and intrigued me; so many films such as The Lovely Bones and Never Let Me Go are always against getting justice for the unfair loss of a loved one, but what about two grieving parents who lose their son to a crazed pedophile, only to see him get possible parole? How far will they go to avenge their son? Pretty far, as it turns out when they turn their basement into a torture chamber and kidnap the guy, tying him up and slowly killing him through torture methods, very bizarre ones such as one involving a Soviet gas mask. The trouble is, they caught the wrong criminal, and are torturing just a harmless guy charged with fraud who has no idea who they are.

While the story itself was interesting and disturbing enough to be a truly messed up horror film, the acting was terrible, the soundtrack boring and unmemorable and the film itself could do with some serious length reduction. Unless you're a masochist or sadist, chances are you won't want to sit through over an hour of watching a supposed pedophile get violently tortured. It's actually rather sick, if you think about it. I can see using torture as a horror element but over an hour of it? Holy cow, that's way too far. And the gas mask scene was very frightening.

I wouldn't recommend The Tortured, although it did have potential. It was really lacking many things and was incredibly disturbing. You'll have to watch it yourself to see what I mean.

Married couples young son is kidnapped and murdered. So they kidnap the murderer and torture him for a few days in their basement.

[kipeavenson · 3/10 · 16 February 2011]

It's garbage like this keeps people from seeing GOOD movies like "SAW". The only thing that saved this film for me was the company I was with while watching it. Had I been by myself, I would have turned it off halfway though. Really dumb. Don't waste your time. The only reason it gets 3 stars from me is because the ending actually surprised me a little bit. But not enough to recommend it to anyone. So here it is: A young couple lose their very young son to a killer who kidnaps and seemingly beats him to death. (It doesn't really get into HOW the boy dies.) Anyways, the guy gets caught, and while he is being transported to prison, the van driver gets sick (because the boys parents poisoned him) And pulls off to the side of the road. The boy's dad then jumps in the still running van and takes off to kidnap the killer and get his revenge for killing his son. The guy crashes the van, tossing the killer out onto the road. They pick him up and take him to a special lair where the sad parents proceed to torture the guy for a couple days. The ending WAS a little surprising, which helped a little. But all in all it was a waste of time and a little upsetting that a movie like this can make the good horror movies look so bad.