I'll start with a small quirk in relation to this movie. According to the DVD cover I own the movie is called "Tortured", yet the DVD menu and opening titles and just about everywhere else the movie is known as "The Tortured". Unusual, but whether we include "The" in the title or not, you pretty much know what this flick is about due to the 'Tortured' bit of the title. But for those of you that are not into guess work, here's a quick rundown.
Craig and Elise Landry [Jesse Metcalfe & Erika Christensen] are a young husband and wife whose 6 year old son Benjamin is kidnapped and brutally murdered by disturbing child killer John Kozlowski [horror veteran Bill Moseley]. When Kozlowski gets a reduced sentence of 25 years due to an arrangement where he will reveal locations of more dead children, the Landrys take matters into their own hands to extract what they think is a fair outcome for the loss of their son.
A couple of things strike me about "The Tortured". Firstly, it goes for a 'blink-and-you-miss-it' 72 minutes running time. But to be fair, it probably doesn't need to go any longer. Secondly it's promoted on my DVD cover that the movie comes "From the Producers of SAW", and yes, there are definite hallmarks of a SAW film throughout, including the nifty editing full of flashbacks that explain the "twist" at the end. And there were heavy elements of "Law Abiding Citizen" in the story as well.
Overall "The Tortured" is an ok little horror flick. The movies set up shows potential, even though there are some very convenient factors contributing to it [including Craig being a doctor and the low security transfer of Kozlowski]. Metcalfe and Christensen perform well, although the final "twist" wasn't the most convincing one I have ever seen.
