Chattanooga Film Festival 2023 – To give a sense of just how gory and super violent Beaten to Death is, there’s a scene in which the protagonist, city boy Jack (Thomas Roach), loses his eyes. The scene cuts away just as the knife meets his eyeballs. For what feels like a full minute, the screen goes black. The viewer hears his sobbing and wailing. This is early in the film, and it doesn’t get any easier from there. The feature is a bleak and relentless onslaught of torture that questions just how much the human body can endure.

Directed by Sam Curtain, who co-wrote the Australian film with Benjamin Jung-Clarke, the movie’s intentions are clear from the get-go. In the opening minutes, Jack is pummeled to near-death by the imposing and much larger Ricky (Justan Wagner). The fight only turns because Jack finds a beer bottle on the ground, breaks it, and jabs Ricky’s throat. He then staggers to a neighbor’s house and meets Ned (David Tracy). However, it turns out Ned is Ricky’s brother, and he’s none too happy that the city boy killed his bro. As revenge, Ned ensures Jack endures a whole lot of suffering and torture, and boy does he ever. In fact, it doesn’t stop.

The film is told in non-linear fashion, and eventually, it’s clear why Jack ever left the city in the first place to venture to the sticks with his girlfriend, Rachel (Nicole Tudor). They simply should have stayed home. It’s a classic case of rural v. city horror with a level of bloodshed and violence that’s on par with other Australian exploitation films like Wolf Creek, or movies of the New French Extremity Movement like Inside and Martyrs. This one definitely isn’t for everyone, and it requires a pretty strong stomach. There’s rarely a scene where Jack doesn’t face some form of brutality. Ned really wants to prolong his suffering. Cutting out his eyes is only the first step. At one point, he nearly buries Jack alive.

If it wasn’t clear by now, there’s absolutely no levity in this film. There’s not a single joke. There are moments when you think Jack may find salvation, but those are quickly snuffed out as Ned hunts him down and makes him face another round of torture, each more extreme than the last. When he doesn’t have Ned to contend with, Jack faces off against nature and struggles to maintain his sanity. Considering his injuries, you really have to wonder how he keeps going….and going…and going for a full 90 minutes. Somehow, he does.

Curtain also handled the cinematography, and the landscape does look gorgeous and beautiful. That said, it’s often contrasted with Jack stumbling across an empty field, sometimes placing his hand on a barbed wire fence because he can’t see. Even gorgeous natural landscapes are often punctuated with Jack’s pain. Again, this is one tough watch.

I suspect anyone that views this film will ask themselves by the credits if it was worth it. Was there a payoff? I’m still undecided on that. Beaten to Death is a grisly movie that rarely offers a single moment to breathe. Even the way Jack limps across a field, desperate to find help, feels painful. This film really takes love and loyalty to family to the extremes.

6.5 Out of 10