10. The Loved Ones (Sean Byrne 2009)
This Australian film is often described as John Hughes inspired torture porn. It follows an awkward and shy teenage girl named Lola (Robin McLeavy), who asks Brent (Xavier Samuel) to the school dance, only to be rejected. Lola, with the help of Daddy (John Brumpton), set up a special private dance just for Lola and Brent. And Daddy will do anything to make his Princess happy. The film is quite shocking and relentless in its brutality. A scene can switch between touching moments, like Brent and Lola slow dancing in a prom meant only for them...before switching to hard-to-watch violence like Brent getting his feet nailed to the floor. Robin McLeavy does such an amazing job with Lola that it makes the romance and horror elements work well and feed off each other. Lola is a cute wallflower type which makes it that much more shocking when she is torturing Brent. The other romantic and disturbing element is that the romance isn't necessarily between Lola and Brent...