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: COLD PREY (2006)

A weekend snowboarding trip between five friends turns deadly in Cold Prey (2006).  Jannicke (Ingroid Bolso Berdal) and her friends (Rolf Kristian Larsen, Thomas Alf Larsen, Viktoria Winge, and Hallvard Holmen) venture into the Norweigian mountains for a quiet vacation snowboarding when one of their members injures himself.  With no way to get him to a hospital in time they take refuge in an abandoned hotel until they can get to help.  They soon discover that the hotel isn’t as abandoned as they thought as they begin to be hunted one by one.

Director Roar Uthaug has crafted an exciting and engaging film that while it follows your typical slasher tropes is actually quite entertaining due to the cinematography and editing which creates suspense.  Most of the cast is very likable and the kills are very effective so horror fans will be very appeased.  Now this isn’t something you haven’t seen before (especially if you’re a fan of the Wrong Turn franchise) but the use of location and the cinematography do set this above your standard straight to DVD/Streaming fare.

It’s also of note that there are two sequels to this film as well (which I didn’t know before watching the film) and if they are as good as this film then that will make for one of the better franchises of films out there in this backwoods-killer genre.

Film Review: MAD MUTILATOR (aka OGROFF) (1983)

As bizarre early French horror goes, Mad Mutilator (1983) may be one of the most bizarre that I have ever seen.  Ogroff is a bestial and savage backwoods killer who pretty much kills every person he comes into contact with for no other reason other than they have come across his path.  Women, men, and children alike, they all are on equal footing when it comes to Ogroff.  There is no other plot to this film than that as there are no characters that the audience gets to know through the film.

The gore effects are sub-par as is pretty much everything on this low budget horror film.  For those of you with a curiosity for long forgotten foreign horror films than this film may appeal to you but for generally everyone else this is a completely unnecessary and useless film to even look for much less watch.

The film is written and directed by N.G. Mount, who went on to have a semi-successful career in the ‘90s with such low budget films as Operation Las Vegas (1990), Alien Platoon (1992), Trepanator (1992), and Dinosaur from the Deep (1993),  to name a few, before disappearing completely from the Brooklyn Cop (1998).