Film
MErA'L'L'Ic‘A': SOME KIND OF MONSTER (15) 140mm 0.0
High tension
H‘ )l 4H? )5 “ SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE (18) 90min 0...
Marie and Alex (Maiwenn and Cecile de France) are French students on their way to a study break at Alex‘s childhood home in rural France. Unfortunately for them, a killer — in the hideous pock-marked form of Philippe Nahon (from Gaspar Noe‘s Seu/ Contre Tous) — plans to disrupt their trip so things can only get messy.
Alexandre Break of Dawn Aja's beautifully made, no nonsense slasher flick must surely be one of the horror films of the year. With its subtle and effective production design, the entire film feels humid and slightly grubby. The lead performances are spot on and the entire experience is enhanced by a delicate, intuitive score from Francois Eudes.
The innocent are dispatched in horrifically blunt form, but unlike mainstream stalk’n‘slash, the audience is locked into each personal encounter - and this only serves to heighten awareness that the violence is ugly, excessive and, distressingly, seems to give Nahon’s killer real pleasure.
Aja maintains an extraordinary level of intensity throughout, particularly in the closing set piece which will shred whatever is left of your nerves. The film‘s one major flaw is that the story structure contains a couple of minor loopholes which are never fully explained. Interestingly, it’s been debated whether Aja has created these deliberately to further enhance character flaws in his choice of narrator. Suffice to say, it is up to you whether you believe the film is arrogantly post-modern and secure in its intricacies, or that Aja simply missed a bit.
Switchblade Romance is a sincere love letter to a genre that Aja clearly adores. And in this sublime film he has created something that offers a knowing and genre-literate audience that rarest of things - an intelligent, scary, gruesome, vicious and beautiful horror movie. It’s worth noting. in the face of certain tabloid drivel, that the film was passed entirely uncut by the BBFC for grown-ups to watch. (Adele Hartley)
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28 THE LIST Sam 'Dg'.