Film Review: RAW (2016)

Cannibal films don’t get as subversive as the French horror film Raw (2016), a new look at cannibalism from the mind of writer/director Julia Ducournau.  Garance Marillier is Justine, a first year freshmen at one of the very best Vet schools in the world.  It also just so happens to be where her older sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf) is also enrolled as it is in the family business which includes the fact that Justine and her whole family are vegetarians.  When Justine gets to school her and her fellow freshmen are subject to hazing which includes eating rabbit livers.  At first, the eating of meat causes her to have and allergic reaction but then she starts to have uncontrollable cravings for meat.  

Everything changes when she has the taste of human flesh and then her world is turned upside down.  It is only her sister Alexia that can help her but will she accept guidance from a sister whom she’s had great animosity towards and can she really find a way to stop the cravings before they consume her?

Ducournau crafts a slow burn of a thriller in which you watch Justine’s transformation into cannibal and is her coming of age story as the cravings allow her to drop her guard and experience life like she never has before.

The film is definitely not for everyone as like many French horror films it goes dark and to extreme places that will put off most audiences but if you stick with it you will experience a film unlike any you have before and it will be totally worth it.  Both Marillier and Rumpf give astounding performances as sisters which is at the heart of the film.  This is amazing film that you won’t soon forget.

Film Review: CALVAIRE (aka THE ORDEAL) (2004)

Marc Stevens (Laurent Lucas) is but a simple entertainer who is trying to get to his next gig when his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and thus begins Calvaire (2004) or Marc’s ordeal.  In this French horror film Marc finds solace in the home of Bartel (Jackie Berroyer) who offers to help him fix his car so he can get on his way.  Warned not to stray too far close to town, Marc takes a walk to pass the time and inevitable comes himself in that very town except there are no women anywhere.  When Marc finds Bartel taking apart his car instead of fixing it he finds himself trapped by a man who believes he is his wife that walked out on him years earlier.  No Bartel will stop at nothing to keep Marc “his wife” with him and away from the rest of the townsfolk even if it means beating her/him into submission.

Marc soon finds himself in an ordeal that he can’t easily find a way out of as he is tortured and abused by the deranged Bartel but he knows that if he can’t find a way out then he may not find a way to survive.

Part of the extreme new wave of French horror cinema that categorized the early ‘00s (other films include High Tension, Martyrs, La Horde, Inside, Ils, Sheitan, and Malefique, to name a few), Calvaire is not necessarily for everyone but it is a great film as director Fabrice du Welz (who also wrote the screenplay with Romain Protat).  The film is atmospheric and suspenseful due to the fact that Lucas is so good as the tortured Marc that you empathize with his situation and the terror that he is put in.  This film is definitely not for thus unfamiliar with French horror films but it is definitely one of the best that was produced during that decade.

Film Review: THE GRAPES OF DEATH (1978)

I’ve never really gotten into French director Jean Rollin’s films as until now I’d only seen his Zombie Lake (1981) which I found atrocious.  I’ve wanted to see some of his more famous (or infamous) films so why not start off with one of his other zombie films which is one of my favorite genre of monster films?  The Grapes of Death (1978) is, thankfully, a vast improvement over Zombie Lake and a better intro into the world of Rollin’s films than other film.

The story of the film is very straight forward when a young woman Elisabeth (Marie-Georges Pascal) and her friend are vacationing on a train when Elisabeth’s friend is assaulted by a strange man.  She flees the train and finds herself on a journey through the countryside where she encounters others like the person who killed her friend that have been exposed to something that is causing everyone to become blood thirsty zombie-like creatures.  Elisabeth tries her best to survive through the madness as she is hunted down and chased by everyone she encounters and those not exposed soon have their own agendas that may put her into even further danger.

Unlike Zombie Lake, this film has atmosphere and beautiful cinematography as well as copious amount of blood and gore.  The film is very much in the same vein as George A. Romero’s The Crazies (1973) and may have been inspired by it.  Despite the pretty one-note plot which is simply woman runs and get chased to location, then she leaves location and runs and gets chased to another location, and so on and so forth, the film gets more claustrophobic and more dangerous with each new turn of events.  It also raises the stakes and becomes gorier and more exciting until reaching the climax.

I will say that if I had seen this film before Zombie Lake I wouldn’t have waited over a decade before watching another Rollin film.  They may not be the best horror film but they have a charm and style of their own.

Film Review: HIGH LANE (2009)

The French thriller High Lane (2009) is a tense and suspenseful film that takes six friends up through a hiking and mountain trail.  It’s not long before they learn that the trail was shut down due to repairs but once they discover that they are at the point of no return and must continue on the journey in order to find an alternate route of escape.  It’s not long before they discover that not only do they have to contend with the natural dangers of the trail but that someone is on the mountain with them killing them one by one and they must work together to find a way off the mountain before they all are met with an early death. 

Written by Johanne Bernard and Louis-Paul Desanges and directed by Abel Ferry this is a film that’s meant to take you out of the comfort and safety of home and put you in the middle of nature’s elements and dangers.  If the dangers or nature weren’t enough the six friends must also contend with personal problems and fears that also threaten to destroy the group from within.

This is a very tense film before the mountain killer even enters the picture and the film constantly reminds you that anything can happen at any time which works in the films favor and keeps audiences on the edge of their seat.  The film has a very capable cast that carry the film especially considering all the emotional and relationship problems facing them before the external dangers show there face.  This is important in order to set up the characters who are anything but 2-demensional. 

Modern French horror films are some of the most interesting and visceral out there right now and this film is no different so if you are a fan of French horror cinema then you will enjoy this film.