The Tortured

Though not really a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, The Tortured just barely manages to squeak by on the basis of its admittedly irresistible premise and the inclusion of a few stand-out sequences – with the end result a passable horror effort that remains a marginal cut above its direct-to-video brethren. The movie follows young married couple Craig (Jesse Metcalfe) and Elise (Erika Christensen) as they conspire to kidnap the man (Bill Moseley’s John Kozlowski) responsible for the death of their son, with the pair’s plan to torture and eventually kill their victim inevitably encountering a series of problems. Director Robert Lieberman, working from Marek Posival’s screenplay, does a nice job of initially luring the viewer into The Tortured‘s time-shifting narrative, with the harrowing abduction of Craig and Elise’s boy handled especially well and effectively laying the groundwork for what should be a taut thriller. There’s little doubt, then, that the movie’s decidedly underwhelming atmosphere is due mostly to the lackluster performances and less-than-convincing chunks of dialogue, with, in terms of the former, Metcalfe and Christensen’s ongoing efforts at stepping into the shoes of their grizzled, emotionally devastated characters generally falling completely and utterly flat. The inherently compelling nature of Craig and Elise’s plight goes a long way towards smoothing over the film’s various deficiencies, however, and Lieberman certainly doesn’t shy away from portraying the brutality of the couple’s continuing treatment of their immobile captive. By the time the intriguing yet hopelessly muddled finale rolls around, The Tortured has established itself as a serviceable genre entry that is, admittedly, destined to leave non-horror fans absolutely cold.

**1/2 out of ****