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Back on track! French horror films including a review of A’L'interiour (whatever,) Various insanity and A 60 sec review from Sebastian O’Brian.
Our features this week are Meatball Machine and Sex & Fury.

I got around 14 minutes into the show, but I guess I have to watch “Inside” before I listen to the rest…

Skip to 24:00 minutes.

I like French horror films - although I thought you might have missed a few other notables. I have a theory that the French sense of horror is entrenched in their history: Reign of Terror, WWI, etc. France has seen some bloodshed.

They’ve evolved a bit beyond the usual slasher fare and have moved into more interesting and existential works. That isn’t to say that they don’t enjoy a good ol’ fashioned cut-em-up but they sometimes bring more to the table. I’d suggest checking out Week End (1967), Man Bites Dog (1992), and Time of the Wolf (2003) - lots of black comedy, social commentary and dystopia.

As for the Japanese, again I think the fascination with the time period you mention is related to history. Pre-war Japan was a major power in Asia and they had a lot of influence in the world. I suspect there is nostalgia associated with it.

Wow, I would love to hear a full dissertation from you on French horror.  I just googled “French horror films” while the music was bringing us back from break so it would somewhat resemble a topic segment.

Felipe Thirteen - 05 March 2008 02:49 PM

Wow, I would love to hear a full dissertation from you on French horror.  I just googled “French horror films” while the music was bringing us back from break so it would somewhat resemble a topic segment.

You tryin’ to start somethin’?

Time of the Wolf was amazing. Post apocalyptic, but quietly so. Mysticism renews itself in the minds of the people when the world they were comfortable with collapses. Now that you’ve reminded me of this gem I have to get it. It also has the lovely Isabelle Huppert. Some of you who like existential films may remember her in I Heart Huckabees as the flip-side of Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin’s paradigm.

They Came Back or Les Revenants is another good horror film. The better term for it is existential horror. The dead come back to life (not zombies or flesh eaters) in France and integrate them back to a world they haven’t been a part of in years. Many questions are brought up in this film. Two of the stories I found interesting—a woman who’s husband died comes back and she’s moved on, but he hasn’t, another is about parents who’s young son comes back, but each of them may not be as tied to their child as they first thought. This movie drips with a melancholy I don’t see used effectively anymore. I still am not sure what happened at the end though.

Bloody Mallory is a film I am interested in from France. It came out awhile back and apparently is very much the French take on Buffy. You have three gals wandering around slaying monsters. Well, one of them is a stilletto-heeled tranny, but he still counts. The movie posters for this film sported “F*ck evil!’ How can you go wrong with that?

felipe,ask mike about brotherhood of the wolf. he will vouch for its awesomeness. it was a solid flick.

Hey guys.  Long time asshole, first time douchebag.  Anyway, good job on the latest ep.  Nice to hear some love for the French horror films.  If the trend continues (and Hollywood stops snapping up the directors to do shitty remakes) the next big wave of horror could be frog-tastic.

As for “Inside”, some really insightful and probably well-endowed guy wrote a review for it over on bloodygoodhorror.net.  That same guy, I’m pretty sure, has already written a review for “Them” that should be up before too long.  It’s not quite as good as “Inside” or “High Tension” but it’s definitely worth a watch.  One recent French horror flick of note that didn’t get mentioned on the show is “Sheitan” a/k/a “Satan”, which is kind of a French take on the “killer redneck” genre.  It also has a scene where a girl gives a handy to a dog.  Not that I’m implying that any of you would enjoy that sort of thing.  I’m just sayin’.

Doc. A girl giving a handy to a dog? You’re making that sound like a bad thing…..

Actually I saw a triple bill of Vincent Cassel last year at a film fest here in Korea, as they showed
Doberman, Blueberry, and Sheitan. Cassel was onhand during the screening.

A Korean friend of mine working the fest got me into a VIP event for drinks/dinner, and Vincent
was there. I actually sat with him a bit, and asked him how he could let his wife (The luscious Monica Belluci) take a part like she did in Irreversible. Cassel blew my mind.

He looked at me, and smiled, and said
‘It seems to me that Western audiences can’t really comprehend the French Comedy.’

Of course he was being a wiseass, but we both busted up, as I could totally appreciate his
jet black sarcasm. Overall, a solid solid down to earth guy with no attitude whatsoever.

And if you really want to mention French horror films, you should also check out

‘Calvaire’ - Fabrice Du Welz- Great deliverance style film
‘In My Skin’ - Marina De Van - Cronenbergesque body horror
‘Baby Blood’ - Alain Robak - Another pregnancy horror film, but very different from inside.
‘Carne’ - Gaspar Noe’s pre Irreversible film. Hard and grimy

hope that helps - Ghetto Tim

DZ - 06 March 2008 12:55 AM

Bloody Mallory is a film I am interested in from France. It came out awhile back and apparently is very much the French take on Buffy. You have three gals wandering around slaying monsters. Well, one of them is a stilletto-heeled tranny, but he still counts. The movie posters for this film sported “F*ck evil!’ How can you go wrong with that?

I saw Bloody Mallory. It is extremely weird but fun. I would say the French take on Buffy is apt - however it is less coherent than Buffy. But any movie featuring an incredibly tall transvestite demon hunter wins me over.

By the way, existential horror is a very good way to describe the stuff coming out of France. I think stuff you might not really think of as “horror” reveals itself to be just that.

A Vincent Cassel film fest in Korea?  I lived in Busan for a year and the edgiest thing I saw in the cinema was Spider-man 2. 

I haven’t seen Carne, but I do have its sorta-sequel I Stand Alone on DVD.  It’s not quite the laugh-a-minute yukfest Irreversible is, but it does have its moments.  Technically, Calvaire is Belgian, but Belgium’s only technically a country so who cares.  I mostly hated the movie.  Seemed like the director was more concerned with making a Serious Work of Art than he was with making a Watchable Movie.  Except for the dance scene in the bar which almost makes up for the rest of the film.

Another fairly recent French exploitation movie of note is the charmingly titled Baise-moi a/k/a F*ck Me a/k/a Rape Me.  It’s kind of like if Larry Clark remade Thelma and Louis as the nastiest, most unerotic porn movie ever.  To give you an idea of how f’d up this movie is- it got banned IN FRANCE.  Imagine what it takes for the French to think you’re taking it a little too far.

Doc, the Cassel films were part of the Pucheon Fantastic Film festival (Pifan), just outside
of Seoul in Puchon.

Actually, Pusan has a midnight madness series now with their film fest. They actually screened, Inside, Taxidermia, and a few other corkers…..

Yeah, Baise Moi, is a unique film for it’s noteriety, and it’s attempt to kick up the whole Thelma and Loise dynamic up at notch or two. Talk about ‘Shooting the shit!’. Ha!

I think the French give the Horror genre a much wider berth than most other countries, and in a
way they’re all the better for it. They realize that there’s just as much horror in reality than there is in anything that is fictionalized. Ok, maybe i’m stretching it, but I know some people who could
consider a film like ‘La Haine: Hate’, a horror film. It deals with street thugs in France, and the
Anarchistic inner city neighborhoods, and to many it is far too real and frightening.

Another stretch, is Michael Heneke’s ‘Cache’, shot in France. It’s a more personal type of horror,
but still effective…

This thread is quite interesting….

I saw Sheitan last year. I didn’t think the story was all that great, but the weirdness was top-notch. I’m ashamed that I forgot to mention it considering how much I like Cassel.

Tell me, did Cassel go drag in Sheitan? Joseph’s wife looked a lot like him. Or at least like some guy in drag albeit pregnant.

How’d you like the birthing scene and the down syndrome skinny dip? Sheitan has it all.