Reviews

CALVAIRE (The Ordeal) – New to DVD

In recent years horror fans have been rejoicing over the influx of Japanese horror films (or “J Horror” films) and their American counterparts, and now the birth of Korean horror (“K Horror”) it is a wonder that no one is discussing horror films from other parts of the globe, namely France. With last year’s Haute Tension being a moderate success and other disturbing films in past years (i.e. Irreversible) why are there not more discussions about the French influence in horror?

Calvaire (which is actually from Belgium) is not a blood and guts film like Haute Tension but is a far deeper disturbing film in its psychology and imagery. The film was actually release in 2004, but this is the first we are seeing it here in the states.

The plot goes like this: Marc Stevens (Laurent Lucas) is a traveling singer who, after a performance at a retirement home, heads out to another performance in a neighboring town. Along the way Marc gets lost in the weather and his car breaks down. With the aid of an odd fellow looking for his dog, he stumbles upon an old inn wherein he meets the kindly innkeeper Bartel. Bartel offers a room and to help fix his car. Now as you can guess the next day brings oddities of all sorts and leads to a set of eerie circumstances. Calaire also features Phillipe Nanon (Irreversible, Haute Tension)

For one thing director Fabrice Du Welz is clearly influenced by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Deliverance and any other rural horror film or thriller you can think of. There’s even cow sodomy!!! Du Welz does an excellent job of keeping the viewer immersed in strangeness and gives you the feeling of a creeping dread. The only issue I had was the ending was not near as good as I wanted, but it did leave plenty to talk about. Some of the creepier scenes worked, while others left me puzzled. As a matter of fact one of said scenes was nearly lifted from the sci-fi, western, musical The American Astronaut.

So aside from a lot of nightmarish imagery and homages to other films, Calvaire is not all that bad. I have to applaud Du Welz on a decent first feature film. The flaws are there, yes, but still worth a look for those who are interested in what our European neighbors have to produce.
DVD features include a standard making of doc and the U.S. trailer.

6.5/10
George
Calvaire is available for rental and purchase at Wild and Wooly Video

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