Izzy(Leslie Andrews) is VERY protective of her brother. In fact, Izzy doesn't tolerate bullying of any kind. More than a tad unstable, Izzy has taken over for her older brother(stationed in Iraq)as guardian for Kevin(Charlie Trepany), the little brother who is a sweet, gentle-hearted kid with a kind soul. Izzy is the opposite, cold and calculating, remorseless when it comes to hurting anyone who triggers her psychosis. Izzy's love for her older brother, Rusty(Chris W King; who had to become caregiver and father for the three of them after their parents' deaths)borders on incestuous(in actuality, she kisses Rusty and considers him the "father" and her the "mother" of their family which creeps him out enough that once he goes to Iraq he doesn't communicate with them for over a year while away). We do learn towards the very end of the film that there's ultimately a reason for Izzy's psychotic break as it pertains to Rusty. The bottom line is that Izzy lacks empathy for anyone other than Rusty and even that is a delusion she has cooked up in her mind, that he will return to her someday and they will become a happy family. The truth is that Rusty had a love in his life and this woman is subject to Izzy's wrath because she stands in the way of some illusion..hell, Izzy even sleeps with Rusty's picture right next to her! There's a vacuous expression in both her demeanor and voice in regards to her treatment of others, particularly those she has kidnapped, holding them prisoner in a barn near her home. It's a dirty little secret Izzy keeps hidden from Kevin and his substitute father figure and best friend, Barney(John McGarr), a pal of Rusty and their father's. Barney is the sanity Kevin so desperately needs. Izzy is clueless as how to live a normal life without destroying most of those she comes in contact with. Whether its a young man and woman she tortures(the former through a castration, the latter via anal rape with a wooden spike dildo), or the bullies in Kevin's class, Izzy has no qualms causing each and every one of them pain and suffering, without any sense of right or wrong. Izzy is essentially a psychopath without a moral compass to dictate rational behavior. Which is why by the end, Izzy has no one and will forever be alone and without any sort of support. Her cruelty towards the kid bullies is eye-opening in its sadism, having the leader of the group, Tommy, to murder his cohorts(which he does, he thinks, to save his own hide). What Izzy does to Tommy is even worse, using a shovel to knock him unconscious, allowing a starving rat to gnaw on the kid's face! There's no limit as to the lengths Izzy will go which is kind of the point..Barney and Kevin haven't the foggiest notion just how depraved Izzy is until they see it with their own eyes, the result quite tragic. Stephen Geoffreys has a small role as Kevin's teacher, the owner of a rat that Tommy stole to starve.