The Loved Ones is a 2009 Australian horror film written and directed by Sean Byrne in his feature directorial debut.

It stars Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, Victoria Thaine, Jessica McNamee, Richard Wilson, and John Brumpton.

The film follows a teenage boy who finds himself at the mercy of a classmate's demented party after he declines her offer to attend the school dance.

High schooler Brent is driving with his father Dan when a bloodied man appears in the middle of the road.

Six months later, Brent politely turns down Lola Stone's invitation to the school formal in favor of his girlfriend Holly.

Lola injects Brent's voice box with bleach, destroying his vocal cords making him unable to scream or talk.

Brent frees himself and runs outside, but is re-captured by the sadistic father and daughter, who pin his feet to the floor with knives.

On 1 June 2012, the film was shown in Austin, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.

[15] The film debuted on Blu-ray in Japan on August 5, 2015, in a Region free disc, though it lacks any extras aside from two trailers and is now out of print.

The site's consensus for the film reads, "Successfully mixing the conventions of the teen and horror genres with a twist, Australian director Sean Byrne makes a striking directorial debut with The Loved Ones.

[19] On Cinemafromthespectrum website, users said - What we see isn’t just a film that makes the torture of its protagonist the sole spectacle, but something far more entertaining.

What Sean Byrne had created with The Loved Ones puts torture in the other side in order to form a haunting piece of work, one whose intelligence has made itself even clearer amidst all the relentlessness and the gore.

[20] In March 2013, at Chester Crown Court, Judge Elgan Edwards described a sadistic torture murder as a re-enactment of a scene from this film.

The victim, Andrew Nall, was brutally beaten, sustained 49 knife wounds, and had cleaning fluid found in his eyes.