Ok so maybe sometimes I fool for foreign films, I sometimes find them to always be a lot better than the films that studios here in America put out. My thing however with Calvaire is that it’s more or less a horror film that we’ve all seen before, but the entire film is in French.
Now I’m guessing the reason this film was released in the United States was because of all the attention High Tension got from horror fans Even though this film is from Belgian It is more or less along those lines of High Tension in the style it was shot in, bout as far as story goes it’s nothing like it. . Now I thought High Tension was alright, but nothing that made me go cuckoo for coco puffs. And as for this film, well lets just say I took a piss a lot and decided against pausing the DVD player.
Cavaire is about this guy named Marc Stevens whom is some kind of traveling showman or some shit. While traveling his car breaks down in what seems to be our version of the backwoods country. He stops by a local inn deep in the woods, and far from civilization where he is befriended by guy named Bartel whom is the caretaker of the inn. Bartel promise Mark that he will help him out and offer him shelter. However when Marc catches Bartel destroying his van, Bartel quickly turns on Marc and beats him. Marc soon find himself in the hands of Bartel and his crazy family as they keep him captive and inflict all kind of pain and torture upon him.
The movie itself is wonderfully shot and edited. The pacing is a bit off for my likening and I found the beginning of the movie to be very slow. it does however slowly begin to pick up when the all the mayhem begins, but this film mainly relies on it’s script and dialogue to keep the audience interested rather than using all kinds of tense horror action sequences. Don’t get me wrong there are some pretty tense scenes, but it’s nothing we all haven’t experience before. Films such as Hostel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho. Some may even compare it to the likes of Deliverance as they do dress up Mark in a dress and hunt him in the forest surrounding the inn.
The acting in the film is very good, and the character are very well cast. While watching this film you truly get the feeling that the actors playing the role of the killer family are actually not actors at all but however are a real clan of serial psycho paths. All in all there is some great acting in this picture and all the roles were cast very well.
As far as effect go, there is some of blood and torture going on in this film but nothing too over the top, in fact their really is only one torture scene, and although I did compare it to the likes of Hostel, it’s not as over the top as that film was. We are more or less treated to a scene that was shot in a very poorly lit room where the director decided to leave what’s going on in this room up to the audiences imagination.
Overall, this movie was very well directed, edited, and the acting was very good. I seemed to like the process and matter in the way this film was shot more so than I did the actual story that took place. Although I gave the film three stars above, I’m really giving the overall look and feel of the film that rating. The story dragged a lot for me and the film ended very quickly. I’m not sure if the version I got was the cut version of the film, but this film is not for people who want a good old fashioned gorefest. This film relies more on scaring you psychologically than it does by throwing blood and guts in your face.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
