Post by Fickle81 on Feb 10, 2008 8:58:05 GMT -5
Very mild spoilers...I'm gonna try my hardest not to give a damn thing away.
Synopsis:
Pregnant woman Sarah gets into a brutal car crash that winds up killing her boyfriend. 4 month later,on the night before her baby is due to be delivered,the still mourning Sarah gets visited by a mysterious woman in black who has some truly sadistically evil intensions.
To describe this flick,I can only muster up 5 words:
SWEET JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ALMIGHTY!!!
To better elaborate what I mean by this,allow me to walk you through what this film will metaphorically do to your senses,your brain,and maybe even your stomach:
Ok so after the film's intial kick in the crotch,it allows you to recoup a little bit by briefly engaging you in a somber bittersweet mood as you follow around Sarah after the accident that kills her boyfriend...next,however,comes the low key chilling moments that you hope prepares you for whats to come...sadly however,you're wrong as hell,as the movie suddenly starts to make you feel like Tina Turner in the late 60s as it starts to pummel you with Ike Turner certified pimp slaps...then it'll let up slightly,thinking you have a chance to recover,only to then start bashing you repeatedly in the face and the body with a lead pipe...then it will cease for a very brief moment as you beg and plead for it to stop,only for the film to handcuff you,bound and gag your mouth,and proceed to violently anally violate you doggy style (preferably pulling on the cloth thats inside your mouth)...then just as the movie reaches its orgasm,it destroys you with one swift and hard downward thrust deep into your skull with the claw end of a hammer...finally the movie will have its accomplice,who was watching the entire time,drag your limp bloody carcus in front of the film's backside,forcefully pucker your lips,and plant said lips as well as your face onto the movie's ass making you kiss it before forcefully shoving your lifeless body onto the hard floor and leaving it to rot.
If you think I'm joking or exaggerating,then watch the movie...I DARE you. If you thought Haute Tension was brutal,as I did,you won't anymore after witnessing this movie,cause it makes HT look like a kindergarden fingerpainting session followed by cookies and nap time. I'm SERIOUSLY hard pressed to think of a movie I've seen thats more brutal,disturbing,and mean spirited as this,and this is coming from somebody who is coming off of VERY recently seeing Rambo! Remember how I said (in my review of) AVP-R showed some balls by fucking up a pregnant woman? Well,you can now pretty much forget about that,cause this took that touchy scenario and made an entire movie out of it,with EVEN BIGGER balls!
Now you may be thinking "Ok,it's brutal as fuck according to you,but is that all it offers?" Absolutly not. The story is actually quite simple,but there are some elements working behinds the scenes of the whole affair that jacks it up. First thing is the ever tried and true isolation factor...pretty much 90% of the movie takes place in this one house,and for all that goes down in this house,its filmed in a way that makes the house quite small...which equals some clastrophobic like tension that backs up the ugly and messy happenings like a champ.
Next,we have the acting,particularly that of the antagonist who is simply called "The Woman" played by one Béatrice Dalle...this is one psychotic and sadistic bitch that will terrify you to your very soul...every time I think she couldn't possibly get more sick and depraved than she already was,she effortlessly ups the ante on my ass! Theres also an air of mystery to her,as you don't quite know why shes doing this,what the hell she wants,or how she knows a lot about Sarah (although the movie didn't entirly pull the wool over my eyes in this department,more on that in a sec).
Third,the musical score...it's low key,but there are certain compositions that really fits the film like a glove...particularly a very simple piece where it sounds like somebody is playing fast percussion quarter notes on muffled wood. The use of this during one particular struggle sequence fucking worked gangbusters!
Finally,there are a couple of great uses of color. Sarah's attire beind white and The Woman's being black,while nothing new,is still a tried and true way to show off the duality between the characters. Also,there is a particular color motif in the house thats repeated numorous times...I'm not gonna tell you what color that is or how it affects the mood...all I'll say is that the affect it has on the mood is profound. The movie felt like old school Carpenter mixed with a very basic and restrained Argento.
There are some tiny flaws,but they do add up enough to the point where I can't give this a perfect rating. While it was certainly unexpected,I didn't buy the plausability of a certain character's death one bit. Also,like in Captivity,there are instances where people turn out to still be alive after they get theirs,but heres it's kinda worse because they manage to come back even after being mutilated beyond belief. There was also a part where a certain individual couldn't have realistically NOT seen the woman just walk right by across the hall. Finally,I kinda predicted what the final plot twist would be (not fully though),but dispite that,it didn't damper the affect or the ending (which all I'll say...wow...)
Part of what you get out of the experience of the film is what you know or don't know about it,which is why I've tried to be as vague as I possibly can without spilling the beans entirly and why I'm not even gonna point you in the direction to a trailer of it...I DO however,have to comment on one thing...the U.S. DVD cover:
Do NOT let this cover fool you. I know,it looks like your average direct to DVD shitfestival,but trust me it's not. If you pass this movie up based on the cover,you will miss out on a truly horrific and visceral experience. The movie will be released in the states on DVD on April 15,which I know is a long time to wait,but trust me on this,it's worth it. Personally,I don't recommend you download this like I did,because there is only one legite copy of it that I know of floating around and it turns out to have SEVERE subtitle syncing problems,so much to the point where you'll have to actually open up the subtitle notepad file and intellligently guess whats being said based on the acting and the situations (which I was thankfully able to do...I don't have the same faith in others being able to do the same),but if you REALLY can't wait to see this and think you can adjust to the subtitle problems,then PM me.
These French bastards are really onto something. First they gave us Maléfique,then came Haute Tension,then ILS,and now this (I know I'm leaving out Frontière(s),but I don't have a choice as I have yet to see it). This movie is what horror is all about. If it doesn't make you cringe,wince,or have any other affect of that nature that disturbing horror films such as this should induce,then you should just give up on watching horror movies cause you'll NEVER come across anything that will affect you this way.
4.5/5
Synopsis:
Pregnant woman Sarah gets into a brutal car crash that winds up killing her boyfriend. 4 month later,on the night before her baby is due to be delivered,the still mourning Sarah gets visited by a mysterious woman in black who has some truly sadistically evil intensions.
To describe this flick,I can only muster up 5 words:
SWEET JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ALMIGHTY!!!
To better elaborate what I mean by this,allow me to walk you through what this film will metaphorically do to your senses,your brain,and maybe even your stomach:
Ok so after the film's intial kick in the crotch,it allows you to recoup a little bit by briefly engaging you in a somber bittersweet mood as you follow around Sarah after the accident that kills her boyfriend...next,however,comes the low key chilling moments that you hope prepares you for whats to come...sadly however,you're wrong as hell,as the movie suddenly starts to make you feel like Tina Turner in the late 60s as it starts to pummel you with Ike Turner certified pimp slaps...then it'll let up slightly,thinking you have a chance to recover,only to then start bashing you repeatedly in the face and the body with a lead pipe...then it will cease for a very brief moment as you beg and plead for it to stop,only for the film to handcuff you,bound and gag your mouth,and proceed to violently anally violate you doggy style (preferably pulling on the cloth thats inside your mouth)...then just as the movie reaches its orgasm,it destroys you with one swift and hard downward thrust deep into your skull with the claw end of a hammer...finally the movie will have its accomplice,who was watching the entire time,drag your limp bloody carcus in front of the film's backside,forcefully pucker your lips,and plant said lips as well as your face onto the movie's ass making you kiss it before forcefully shoving your lifeless body onto the hard floor and leaving it to rot.
If you think I'm joking or exaggerating,then watch the movie...I DARE you. If you thought Haute Tension was brutal,as I did,you won't anymore after witnessing this movie,cause it makes HT look like a kindergarden fingerpainting session followed by cookies and nap time. I'm SERIOUSLY hard pressed to think of a movie I've seen thats more brutal,disturbing,and mean spirited as this,and this is coming from somebody who is coming off of VERY recently seeing Rambo! Remember how I said (in my review of) AVP-R showed some balls by fucking up a pregnant woman? Well,you can now pretty much forget about that,cause this took that touchy scenario and made an entire movie out of it,with EVEN BIGGER balls!
Now you may be thinking "Ok,it's brutal as fuck according to you,but is that all it offers?" Absolutly not. The story is actually quite simple,but there are some elements working behinds the scenes of the whole affair that jacks it up. First thing is the ever tried and true isolation factor...pretty much 90% of the movie takes place in this one house,and for all that goes down in this house,its filmed in a way that makes the house quite small...which equals some clastrophobic like tension that backs up the ugly and messy happenings like a champ.
Next,we have the acting,particularly that of the antagonist who is simply called "The Woman" played by one Béatrice Dalle...this is one psychotic and sadistic bitch that will terrify you to your very soul...every time I think she couldn't possibly get more sick and depraved than she already was,she effortlessly ups the ante on my ass! Theres also an air of mystery to her,as you don't quite know why shes doing this,what the hell she wants,or how she knows a lot about Sarah (although the movie didn't entirly pull the wool over my eyes in this department,more on that in a sec).
Third,the musical score...it's low key,but there are certain compositions that really fits the film like a glove...particularly a very simple piece where it sounds like somebody is playing fast percussion quarter notes on muffled wood. The use of this during one particular struggle sequence fucking worked gangbusters!
Finally,there are a couple of great uses of color. Sarah's attire beind white and The Woman's being black,while nothing new,is still a tried and true way to show off the duality between the characters. Also,there is a particular color motif in the house thats repeated numorous times...I'm not gonna tell you what color that is or how it affects the mood...all I'll say is that the affect it has on the mood is profound. The movie felt like old school Carpenter mixed with a very basic and restrained Argento.
There are some tiny flaws,but they do add up enough to the point where I can't give this a perfect rating. While it was certainly unexpected,I didn't buy the plausability of a certain character's death one bit. Also,like in Captivity,there are instances where people turn out to still be alive after they get theirs,but heres it's kinda worse because they manage to come back even after being mutilated beyond belief. There was also a part where a certain individual couldn't have realistically NOT seen the woman just walk right by across the hall. Finally,I kinda predicted what the final plot twist would be (not fully though),but dispite that,it didn't damper the affect or the ending (which all I'll say...wow...)
Part of what you get out of the experience of the film is what you know or don't know about it,which is why I've tried to be as vague as I possibly can without spilling the beans entirly and why I'm not even gonna point you in the direction to a trailer of it...I DO however,have to comment on one thing...the U.S. DVD cover:
Do NOT let this cover fool you. I know,it looks like your average direct to DVD shitfestival,but trust me it's not. If you pass this movie up based on the cover,you will miss out on a truly horrific and visceral experience. The movie will be released in the states on DVD on April 15,which I know is a long time to wait,but trust me on this,it's worth it. Personally,I don't recommend you download this like I did,because there is only one legite copy of it that I know of floating around and it turns out to have SEVERE subtitle syncing problems,so much to the point where you'll have to actually open up the subtitle notepad file and intellligently guess whats being said based on the acting and the situations (which I was thankfully able to do...I don't have the same faith in others being able to do the same),but if you REALLY can't wait to see this and think you can adjust to the subtitle problems,then PM me.
These French bastards are really onto something. First they gave us Maléfique,then came Haute Tension,then ILS,and now this (I know I'm leaving out Frontière(s),but I don't have a choice as I have yet to see it). This movie is what horror is all about. If it doesn't make you cringe,wince,or have any other affect of that nature that disturbing horror films such as this should induce,then you should just give up on watching horror movies cause you'll NEVER come across anything that will affect you this way.
4.5/5