I've never really been a fan of "torture porn" style horror. Sure, some of the Hostels were okay, the first one or two Saw movies had their moment, and a few others are definitely watchable but just not my thing. However, this may be my first foray into what could be considered "revenge porn."
The Tortured begins with a couple dealing with the kidnapping, murder, and subsequent trial of the man that did this to their six year-old son. After he gets 25-to-life as opposed to life without parole, the couple decide that the kidnapper needs to be punished, tortured, for his crimes.
This film is basically broken into two sections with small bridges in between. You have the establishment of the agony of losing a child in such a terrible manner and how devastated the couple is. It's mainly to allow themselves and the viewer to feel that this course of action is justified. The other revolves around the torture of this man. There are a combination of introspective moral moments and a questioning of the couple's actions. We get handed some serious twists here and there, but what this comes down to is do the means justify the ends, vice versa, or, is there any real justice at all?
The saving grace of this film is the ending. I really don't care about the guy's nipple being burnt with a soldiering iron or any of that other crap. The couple has an odd catharsis to which only the viewer knows the truth and that made me run back through the film in my head. So it makes me actually think of it when it's done, but honestly I'll probably forget about it in a month.
I give The Tortured 1 prison jumpsuit costume out of 5:
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