I'd tell you this is the story of a girl, abused at a young age, having one real friend in the world, and how they together face adulthood, because a cursory glance over the imdb page for this film made me think that. However, it is entirely untrue. Any shred of integrity or artistic merit you think this film has? Yeah, throw that right out.
This film has hardly any redeeming qualities. To an extent, the first two acts of the film are as I expected, but only in a rather limited scope. The third act, which is where audiences and the movie really lose it, is what makes me hate this film. In short, what this film fails to do in 40 minutes, V for Vendetta did successfully in 20. The first two acts make it seem like the story is going somewhere, but it's not. To call this a horror film is inaccurate. Yes, its horrifying, but only about as horrifying as the Hostel films. A lot of gore, a very small amount of substance, and a crudely forced theme of grander vision and ethical ramifications which is utterly false.
This film offends me, and not because of the gore or violence, just because of the story. I can't really say too much without spoiling, so I'll have to keep this a bit vague.
There are these people who have sophisticated and expensive facilities where they torture people into enlightenment, but they are atheists, but they also believe in an afterlife and want to learn it from these people they slowly kill. Got it? Yeah, me neither. This whole premise leaves me with a lot of questions. For example, why not just go to places where people are already dying, since they allude to the suffering of people in third world nations in the film. Wouldn't that be cheaper and much less complicated? Where are they getting all of this money anyway? Is this group somehow tax exempt because of its beliefs? Its only been around 100 years or less as far as I can tell. Member supported I guess. And what about Buddhism? This martyrdom you describe seems eerily similar to Buddhist enlightenment. Did no one think, maybe go and try Buddhism, instead of starting to kidnap young women? Finally, if you believe that there is an afterlife and any human can reach it, why are you so pro-atheism? Isn't that just a tad contradictory? Is this some sort of conceptual abstract quantum physics energy collective of human spirits? What's the deal?
That's only the beginning of my concerns with this film, but going into the more tangible measurements, lets start with the acting. It's ok. Not horrible, not great. No one stands out. The protagonist(s) do alright, though they are dreadfully boring. The real protagonist of the 2nd and 3rd acts performs well, but she is also playing a meek character who does not stand up for herself. I know it's impossible to put yourself in the situation of another 100%, but I really feel most people would have performed differently. There were dozens of ways to alter your standing and rectify your situation, and she almost never speaks. Silent protagonists generally don't work in films, at least of this quality of script, and it doesn't work here. Furthermore, she breaks every horror film cliche rule. Turn the lights on, make sure the body is dead, and so on. No, wait, I have 1 more question.
Was the actress not wearing a bra an intentional cheap ploy for sex appeal, or did she just not wear one? It is a French film, after all.
The effects, when examined, are pretty good. Though not always. For example: a shotgun does not jettison your victim back 10 feet. Shotguns do not work that way. Some of the gore is pretty convincing, at least until the end when the realm of plausibility is exited with the velocity of a jet-pack. There were some real continuity issues with that as well. The blood is flowing down the neck in one scene, and in the next the neck is perfectly clean? Shoddy editing there, friends. The lighting is only noticeable when they borrow the shaky on and off normally employed by carnival haunted houses, except there it usually works.
Ignoring all of this, the number 1 problem is how dull the film was. I had to force myself to sit through it. At least some of the other films I've reviewed were so bad they were entertaining. This was just bad. But they used....good quality film? I don't know why I'm even ranking it this high, maybe for the alright effects. I've seen worse films, but not many. Two stars.
** out of *****
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