SXSW Film

The Loved Ones

Not to be confused with the Evelyn Waugh/Terry Southern film The Loved One (although you get the feeling that the always-perverse Southern, in particular, would have approved), this Aussie import proves yet again my theory that those cute, cuddly, Qantas koalas are actually fuzzy little homunculi straight out of the devil's pet shop. Apparently the little buggers have upgraded their status from national mascots to conceptual artists in The Loved Ones – a beyond-twisted parable on the dangers of saying no to lonely girls who ask you to the prom – which presents a nightmare scenario on par with the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre in terms of pure squirm-inducing gut-level horror. It's also, surprisingly, a deliciously warped riff on Eighties-era, John Hughes' teen love stories – Pretty in Profondo Rosso. Headed by McNamee as the spurned prom-bomb, Byrne's debut feature defines "sick and wrong" in all the right ways.

Thursday, March 18, 11:59pm, Ritz 1