I read the back of the case when I received this movie for review and thought, hmmm, knife-wielding maniac plus two college girls in a farmhouse. Sounds kind of like an 80?s horror flick. The premise of this dubbed French movie is that Marie and Alexia need to retreat to Alexia?s parent?s French country farmhouse for the weekend to cram for their exams. But what was supposed to be a kick-back study session turns into a fight for their lives as some nut job seems hell bent on slaughtering everyone he comes into contact with.
First off, let me say this. I don?t know what the rated version was like, but the UMD I watched was Unrated and with good reason. This is not a movie for the kiddies ? AT ALL. In the first 15 minutes of this movie, you will see masturbation, sexual violation of corpses (or parts, anyway) and extremely graphic violence. My dog hid under the covers while I watched this and I had earphones on! I guess he saw the look on my face. I say this to get the following point across ? if you are squeamish, stay away from this one. One scene shows someone?s head being knocked off and the blood spurting reminded me of Kill Bill. I had to laugh a little, actually, since it was so over-the-top. But most of the scenes aren?t the least bit laughable. More along the lines of Saw, but with a cheaper ending, if you can fathom that.
As the story progresses, you will find that said psycho has his crosshairs set on Alexia and it is up to Marie to save her, since the man didn?t realize Marie was hiding in the house. There are many really tense moments in the movie as the man searches the house, killing everyone he comes across (except for Alexia, whom he has bound in chains and is saving for later. Yikes.) Nail-biting moments abound.
I can truly say that during the first half of the movie, I was scared. The guy was totally creepy, doing sadistic things like pouring booze all over chained-up Alexia in the back of his truck and then teasing her with a lighted match and such. It was pretty evil. But the dubbed voices took a lot away, since the killer guy sounded kinda like a bad version of Johnny Cash or something. He didn?t talk much, but when he did, it was odd. Especially since he seemed to jam to French tunes in his nasty truck. But anyway?
So why was only the first half of the movie scary? Because then they throw a plot twist at you and it all goes down the drain. I can only say this ? it was an ?awww sh*t? moment when I realized what was really happening. I won?t blow the ?magical? twist, but if you do choose to watch this movie, you?ll pretty much get it immediately by paying attention to the beginning. I just felt had. For most of the movie, I just found myself screaming on the inside, ?Where the hell is your cell phone!? to both of these girls. I mean, this crap about a crazy stranger with a knife may have flown in the 80?s, but for God?s sake, call the freakin? cops! Add that to the fact that a lot of questions remained once the movie ?resolved? and it was an unsatisfactory movie-watching experience. Then I had to try to get to sleep. Sheesh.
As far as features go, there?s not much here. They did include a featurette called Giannetto De Rossi: The Truth, the Madness and the Magic which basically chronicles how the director and screenwriter managed to get special effects master Giannetto De Rossi to work on this movie for them, despite a low budget and all. The beginning was interesting, but Mr. De Rossi only speaks French and since I hadn?t turned on the subtitles, I didn?t have any idea what he was saying. It wasn?t compelling enough to rewatch with the subtitles either.
I can?t really recommend this movie unless you really like French girls (these aren?t all that pretty, mind you, but they do shave their underarms. A plus!) or really like twisted, excessive gore with a shabby plot twist.
