Calvaire

This is Belgium director Fabrice Du Welz's first feature film after working on a few shorts, and from the looks of it he has a bright future ahead of him. This is Europe's answer to Deliverance, following a young traveling lounge singer named Marc, who goes on various gigs around the country. As he heads to his next gig his car gets stuck in the outskirts of Belgium, where he receives aid from a local innkeeper named Bartel, whom seems oddly pecular with his sob stories of a lost love named Gloria. Marc soon realizes that his stay there might hinder his Christmas job as it seems that hope in reviving his van is currently at a loss since the local mechanic wont visit until the day after; or so Bartel tells him. As Marc takes a stroll around the woods, he comes across a group of locals who are acting a little "too kind" to some of the farm animals. This leads Marc to believe that the people here may not be all right in the head. As the next day approaches he soon realizes that the mechanic isn't coming, which makes him question the true intentions of Bartel.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was released in France over a year ago, but its been making its rounds to various countries. It's currently getting a UK premiere via Tartan Films, who are the same people who'll release it here in the US. Calvaire is Belgian for "The Ordeal", (which will most likely be the US title) and it bares religious overtones, as it's reference to the journey that someone whose being crucified must take while carrying their cross to the site of the crucifixion. There are many subtitle references to religion and other horror films throughout the movie that viewers will most likely have to watch more than once to catch. The film itself is something to wonder about since there are some odd scenes and a few unanswered questions that are left to the viewer to decide. Although I liked the movie, I couldn't feel much for the lead character Marc, since he failed to put forth any sort of effort in an escape. He never fought off the baddies, nor made much of an attempt to run away. I know there's meaning behind the submissiveness of our lead, but I just couldn't stand it.

I expected a little more violence or gore, but of course I didn't know much about the movie to begin with. Instead what I got was a psychological horror that plays with the mind of the viewer and keeps you on the edge of your seat; wondering what will happen next. All that in thanks to the excellent directing from Fabrice Du Welz, and a semi-original story of crazy locals with questionable intentions. I'm pleased to say that this is another solid and edgy French horror flick, but don't expect a lot of gore, as I did.

OVERALL

A gritty psychological horror film, that has a lot of layers for the viewers to find and answers to. See this expecting an interesting story of a man's ordeal with crazy locals, but don't expect a lot of hack-and-slash gore.

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