Bloody hell! And almost literally...Some post ago I confessed that I'm not the biggest fan of the new Spanish horror-thriller stream. They are mostly stylish, wannabe shocking directors with sterile, ephemeral look. If you feel the same but still hungry for a real shocking experience, it seems you need to visit another country. I'm getting more and more convinced that France produces the most disturbing movies in our age. The warning sign was released by Alexandre Aja: he was only 25 when he shot the memorable Haute Tension in 2003, which was followed by David Moreau's and Xavier Palud's Ils (Them) in 2006. Those were definitely scary, but what I've just seen...
Now here we have another French duo: Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury made something really special, something really ................ (find a good expression which covers 'brutal', 'disgusting', 'scary', 'disturbing', 'bloody', 'terrible', 'sick' and so on!)
The "story" is quite simple. We have a pregnant girl, Sarah who suffers a car accident. Her boyfriend dies, and now she is living alone in an apartment (with a small black cat, what else..). Expecting a baby. Alone. The night before the childbirth a scary woman knocks on her door. She knows Sarah. She is not coming with empty hands: she brings your worst nightmare to the house. And a huge scissors too, of course... (After this I was sure already that Beatrice Dalle isn't 100%, this actual role is only my confirmation:).
Bustillo and Maury know a lot about film history. They are comfortable with any slasher or gore elements, but what is even better, they are familiar even with the art house as well. Antonioni (Blowup), the early Polanski (Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby), Haneke (Funny Games) are among the referred masters, depends what the story needs at a certain moment. During watching even a Japanese movie popped into my mind too: if you've seen 2LDK, then you know why:)
And here is the necessary weak point: as it used to be, the spilling blood flushes away the plot. Motivations, characters are subordinated to the arteries and other splashing organs (I know that some of you will like it especially because of this. "It can happen anytime, anywhere, without any particular reason" - But exactly that's why I believe that the "reason of the violent massacre" as a motivation is weak OR useless).
Usually I would give a tag 'watch it', but this time I need to warn you with a 'you decide' one. I'm not joking: it's really not an easy piece (see the dots above...). And one more serious advice: If you're expecting a baby you should forget it immediately.
Have a nice dream for me tonight... I hope at least.
7/10
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