Calvaire (04)

Directed by Fabrice Du Welz

This by-the-numbers slow paced "Oh-no, my car is broken down a creepy town horror" really caught my attention. I heard about particular scenes (bar dance) from this film for years and was surprised at the director's minimalist surreal approach to a typical setting story. A young traveling performer Marc Stevens (Laurent Lucas) travels in a treacherous rain storm through old country road and unshockingly becomes stranded and led by an odd ball local, who is searching for his dog, to an abandoned Inn. The Inn keeper Bartel (Jackie Berroyer ) is a lovelorn man that never recovered from his lost love who was also a performer. The two become friends as the performer's vehicle is to be fixed within a day or two and the young traveler is heeded not to go into town.

Of course our young traveler heads into town and stumbles upon a glimpse of towns folk engaging in some pig bestiality. The man flees back to the hotel and realizes that the phone has never worked and no one is coming to fix his vehicle, at that point the Inn Keeper destroys his vehicle and holds him hostage. The traveler is then has half of his head shaven, wears women's clothes and is forced into the identify of his lost lover. The Inn Keeper goes into the town, with rifle in hand, and says to the peculiar villagers that his lover his back and he will kill anyone who tries to take her away. The oddball local finds a pig and thinks it is his lost dog and has Christmas Dinner with the Inn Keeper and his new found love. The Towns folk retaliate with rifles and pigs to take the traveler away.

The end is best left unspoiled. I was surprised with the symbolism and scenes of delusion from the antagonists and the transformation by the protagonist and when the credits rolled abruptly, The film felt as if it was more of a gritty and bizarre art piece than a horror film. 

I would recommend this only if you have a good attention span and appreciate films on  Bunuel, Jodorowsky level. Most horror fans would hate this and would be turned off by pacing and the overall weirdness of the film. Yet with the amount of depth and symbolism, there is a debatable and possible deeper meaning than just an unfortunate man's luck.

9/10.

Living Dead Girl 82' La Morte Vivante

Jean Rollin, French Horror Sexploitation Auteur hits hard with a Zombie-Lesbo love tale about a ressurected woman, Catherine Valmont (Fransoise Blanchard) and her long time girl friend Helene (Marie Pierro) and their exploits of lust-filled murder, kidnapping and the consequences that follow.

Foolish Grave Robbing Thieves, who also dump toxic waste meet their eye-gouging demise with the beautiful Living Dead Girl after a small tremor awakens her from her coffin. After Catherine racks up a 3 man body count, she wanders the beautiful French country side barefoot and only wearing a white gown and is photographed by a tourist and her husband. The tourist woman becomes obsessed that this Living Dead Girl is the young Catherine only back from the dead and confronts her. After a few more naked dead people pile up, Helene unscuccessfully attempts to feed Catherine with a dead bird, then kidnaps a random woman and gives her to Catherine who then tears the victim apart.

Most fans of Rollin expect his films to be loaded with French styled gore and nudity and also are aware of the slow pacing in between scenes. Such is the staple for Euro Sleaze.

The films last 10 minutes kick in to high gear and to honest, it is pretty damn grueling to the degree of saying out loud "what other horror film can offer such goodies"?

(Spoliers)

Catherine then frees her next stripped bare victim and sets her loose, self-realizing that she is evil and is hating what she is becoming. Then Helene sets a tourist on fire who flees screaming and jumps off of a bridge and chops another tourists head with a midieval axe. Moved by guilt and self loathing. Catherine attempts to drown herself in a lake but is rescued by Helene. In Catherine's fury she rips her to shreds and devours her with a slow backwards moving camera shot, leaving the blood-soaked Catherine alone in the dark.

8/10

Grapes of Death 79' by Jean Rollin

My favorite Jean Rollin Film, rough and typical start for this French gorefest but the story picks up quick. Two young college girls travel by train to a lush country side, a mindless attacker, covered in sores, staggers into their train car, kills on of the girls and Elizabeth (the beautiful and late Marie Georges Pascal) barley escapes the train alive and runs to safety at a secluded farm house. She stumbles upon a farmer and his disfigured and dead wife and then he turns to attack her as well. The story precedes with an infected country side, due to pesticides in the vineyards, with tragic results to whomever drinks the wine from that area, becomes a savage undead killer. Good social commentary that we should ponder today about chemicals in our own foods today.

Decent cinematography mixed, fantastic gore and atmosphere and the sterotypical Euro-trash nudity make this Rollin film stand out from the rest of his catalog. Their is an unforgettable graphic scene of a woman being nailed to a door, then decapitated while screaming, that will surely stick with you. Very bleak and ambiguous ending. If you have seen Dawn, Day, Night and Zombi 2, you will really enjoy this.8 out of 10