phancy (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} phancy) wrote,@ 2006-12-08 06:11:00 |
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Calvaire
I watched a Belgian horror movie titled Calvaire. It wasn't very good, though I'd be interested in what the director does next.
It receives points for trying to make the bad guys sympathetic, nice cinematography and... Hm... That's about it, actually. There's one other thing, but I'll get to that. The movie loses points for having a "hero" that's too neutral to care too much about. He's a martyr for his executioners, but there's not enough depth to create any emotional resonance. While the village people (heh heh) are creepy (in a cliched Deliverance way), there's no explanation for their behavior other than cheap scare tactics, so I spent more time trying to figure out if they were all inbred and crazy, or just plain crazy, and as a consequence didn't think of them as being very scary. All the pieces were there for a nice, disturbing story, but nothing came together in any meaningful way. But! One thing was nifty: The dance sequence!
Existing for seemingly no reason (the director tossed in as an homage to another Belgian movie) the villagers play creepy piano music and perform an awkward, shuffling dance with each other. I'd share the video with you, but I didn't feel like spending the time learning how to get it off the DVD and converted to something more easily shareable. I did, however, rip the music off for you, because it's keen. It ends abruptly, because the scene in the movie ends abruptly.
Calvaire - Creepy Piano Music (1.38MB)
I watched a Belgian horror movie titled Calvaire. It wasn't very good, though I'd be interested in what the director does next.
It receives points for trying to make the bad guys sympathetic, nice cinematography and... Hm... That's about it, actually. There's one other thing, but I'll get to that. The movie loses points for having a "hero" that's too neutral to care too much about. He's a martyr for his executioners, but there's not enough depth to create any emotional resonance. While the village people (heh heh) are creepy (in a cliched Deliverance way), there's no explanation for their behavior other than cheap scare tactics, so I spent more time trying to figure out if they were all inbred and crazy, or just plain crazy, and as a consequence didn't think of them as being very scary. All the pieces were there for a nice, disturbing story, but nothing came together in any meaningful way. But! One thing was nifty: The dance sequence!
Existing for seemingly no reason (the director tossed in as an homage to another Belgian movie) the villagers play creepy piano music and perform an awkward, shuffling dance with each other. I'd share the video with you, but I didn't feel like spending the time learning how to get it off the DVD and converted to something more easily shareable. I did, however, rip the music off for you, because it's keen. It ends abruptly, because the scene in the movie ends abruptly.
Calvaire - Creepy Piano Music (1.38MB)
