Livid – 7

Director – Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury

Cast – Chloé Coulloud, Felix Moati, Jérémy Kapone, Catherine Jacob, Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Chloé Marcq, Béatrice Dalle, Loïc Berthezene

Release Year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Boy was I looking forward to this. Livid is the first film from French filmmakers Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, the two behind one of my favorite horror films of all time, Inside. When I first read on this film I was immediately stoked and could not wait impatiently enough for my chance to view this piece and see if they still had “it” after Inside, and sure enough they still do. While this is a much tamer experience than what we were given with Inside, Livid still manages to provide great horror in very spooky fashion, also providing me with an original story that I never saw coming.

Lucy, a trainee in-house caregiver, arrives at the Jessel mansion for her first day of work attending to the old Mrs. Jessel, a former dance instructor now suffering a cerebral coma. During her first day of work Lucy learns that Mrs. Jessel has a large treasure hidden somewhere within the home, and after telling a few of her friends they break into the mansion late that night in search the riches sure to give them a better life. Their search of the peculiar and creepy home yields no results at first, but soon they find the treasure buried deep within the home, and the supernatural terrors that come with it.

Inside shocked the horror community as it turned heads by giving us possibly the best female slasher of all time, and I did not want to believe the film was a fluke or a stroke of luck for the Bustillo/Maury filmmaking duo. Livid proved that these two filmmakers do have the talent required to make it in this genre and leave their impression, and that only leaves me already anticipating their next effort, and I cannot wait long enough.

Livid takes off slow, introducing us to the young Lucie who is tasked with the seemingly easy but daunting responsibility of caring for a very elderly old woman, and a scary-looking one at that. Lucie will be her primary caregiver, a job that will leave her alone with the old woman in the very old creepy house, and you can see the nervousness on Lucie’s face when she realizes just how hard this job is going to be. The innocent Lucie would obviously never resort to crime as a way to make money, but when her loser boyfriend and his equally ratty friend take notice to her mentioning the old lady’s hidden treasure, she is forced to tag along and aid the thieves in making their way into the old home. Upon entering the home we are given some good creepy chills just from the atmosphere alone, and soon enough the horror kicks in when they learn the old lady is not as comatose as they expected, and has dire intentions for the trespassers. You get the feeling that maybe Lucie was set up in her finding out about the woman’s treasure, and as the story progresses there are numerous revelations made regarding why Lucie was chosen to work the mansion in the first place. I really do not want to go into strict detail so that I can avoid spoilers, but I will say that the supernatural presence in the film is incredible and had me on the edge of my seat at times. I must commend Bustillo and Maury for writing such an excellent piece that also had me guessing as to where the film would head next, and just when I thought I had figured out what was really going on in the home I was bombarded by more supernatural forces and characters, as well as the gory eliminations of other characters. This story is flooded with spooks, mystery, sadness, and redemption, making for a damn good and well-paced storyline that I never lost interest in and left me with a unique experience I will not forget.

Naturally, it only takes decent direction to sell a good story, but our directors manage to give us excellent direction that matches the positives the story provided. The atmosphere and sets used are incredible and provide supreme potential for good scares, and good scares too commence in awesome fashion as a result of this. Their execution of the horror was phenomenal and was shot in a very engaging fashion that elevated the likelihood of good scares. The look of the supernatural antagonists was incredible and outright scary to say the least. Do you remember how scary the witch was in Insidious? Well Livid‘s antagonists are just as scary and outnumber the witch greatly. I was surprised to see as much gore as I did in this piece, especially with it being a supernatural feast and not a slasher like their previous effort, but I welcomed the gore with open arms and found that it did not detriment the film in any way but enhanced it like gore tends to do. One thing I did not expect was the fantasy element of this piece, which was prevalent in flashback sequences as well as the final sequence, and while I did not prefer it I did find it unique and interesting for a horror film of this day and age, rounding out one of the better horror films of 2011(France)/2012(US).

Overall, Livid is a very effective and utterly creepy film from the duo that gave us Inside that once again gives us one of the best horror films of the year and of recent day. The storyline is highly effective and also provides many unique qualities not often employed in the horror genre, and while it keeps you guessing it also keeps you on the edge of your seat with expertly executed scares of the supernatural realm. Highly recommended.

Rating: 7/10

The Nesting – 4

Director – Armand Weston

Cast – Robin Groves, Christopher Loomis, Michael David Lally, John Carradine, Bill Rowley, David Tabor

Release Year – 1981

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Once again I fall victim to a cool-looking poster, except this time I knew better after reading some poor reviews for this piece but still went into the experience anyway, leaving with the expected results. I did manage to find some joy in this flick, and the direction is fairly good, but the storyline is a huge boring mess that along with some stupid ideas made for a poor film to give a watch to.

After recently suffering from a case of agoraphobia, a mystery writer rents a mansion in the country to “get away”, however she soon finds herself facing real fear when the ghosts of past residents return to seek revenge for their deaths.

Well, you know me, and you know that I love films where the protagonist moves into a new home and takes on the unintended horror stemming from past events that occurred there, so naturally I gave this one a watch despite being pretty well that it was going to suck. The majority of the film lags in horror, with simple shots of a young woman serving as the “horror” throughout the first two acts of the movie, and to make matters worse she looked like an average women very much alive, not like a ghost at all. If she appeared decayed, which yes is “cliche” but works, then I may have been more forgiving, but she was never the least bit scary and that hurt the film given she was really the only form of horror for most of it. Eventually the writer learns that some of the townsfolk are behind what occurred at the home and look to keep that secret a secret as long as they can, therefore they aim to killer her off, which is the other source of “horror” provided in this story. Of course, this lame mess would not be right without being topped off with a stupid climax that I somewhat saw coming, but was taken aback due to how downright silly it was. Simply put, I expected bad, and what I was given was worse.

Surprisingly enough, despite all of this story nonsense we are given some fairly good direction by Armand Weston. The atmosphere is great and the sets and locations used complimented it very well, and despite the cheesy and stupid nature of the scares his execution of them was pretty good. Had the look of the ghost woman been better the scares would have been highly enjoyable and possibly turned this film into a worthwhile one, but obviously that was not in the mindset of the writer for some reason.

Overall, The Nesting is a film that could have been something if not for numerous story issues, and in the end is a flick I suggest you stay away from unless you find yourself curious like I was – even then, don’t do it.

Rating: 4/10

The Woman in Black – 7

Director – Herbert Wise

Cast – Adrian Rawlins, Bernard Hepton, David Daker, Pauline Moran, David Ryall, Clare Holman, John Cater, , John Franklyn-Robbins, Fiona Walker

Release Year – 1989

Reviewed by John of the Dead

This is a late 80s British TV movie that I had heard of for quite some time, and now that a remake is currently in the works I decided that I had to see this film NOW, and I am glad that I did.  Most of the time TV movies tend to be lame watches in comparison to feature horror films, but ever now and then we get a true gem that despite the lack of gore and kills manages to be a great horror watch…and that is the case with The Woman In Black.

Arthur Kidd is a young solicitor working his way up a prestigious law firm.  When an old friendless widow dies and leaves her large estate to no one, Arthur is tasked with his biggest assignment yet, and must spend a week in the dead woman’s home as he sorts our her estate.  He knows nothing of the old woman or her estate, but upon entering her solemn town he is bombarded by the local townsfolk to stay away from her mansion at all costs.  Arthur of course cannot oblige, and he not only learns the dark history of the old widow, but comes face to face with the most haunting evil imaginable.

If you know me then you know that I have an immense love for the supernatural in horror, so when I saw that this film was a devout ghost story it had my attention from the get-go.  This is not the first time that we get a ghost story involving an old wealthy person dying and leaving behind a dark and creepy legacy, but it has always been an interesting concept to me due to the mystery involved in the person’s background.  The Woman In Black first started off as a novel by Susan Hill, and was also adapted to a very successful play that seems to have surpassed the film in popularity.

The storyline is simple in nature, and consists mainly of Arthur rummaging through the old widow’s belongings and slowly uncovering the dark secrets she kept.  We get great dialogue from all of the characters involved, and thankfully none of the major characters in the film come off as a waste of time or as a runtime filler, which I will always respect.  The film does tend to move a bit slow at times, but that is often the case with these UK TV movies, and for the most part I was given enough positive elements to keep me engaged in the film.

Director Robert Wise did a great job bringing the screenplay to screen, and gave us excellent atmosphere that bled gloominess all around.  His grainy cinematography and numerous low-lit(but not hindering) sets helped provide the environment required for some good spooky scenes, and while the film is not overly scary it did come with its fair share of good spooks.  In fact, before viewing this film I had come across a discussion based on a scene in the film that was apparently one of the scariest the horror genre has to offer, and after viewing the scene myself (the discussion was not spoiler-filled thankfully) I must concur that the scene is absolutely amazing and still holds its grasp on its viewers 21 years later.  The usage of the lady in black was excellent, and her posture, demeanor, and actions were dead on creepy.  I was even more surprised to see just how creepy and well-crafted her facial features were, which only added to the eeriness already present.  I mentioned earlier that the film does tend to become a bit slow here and there, but good direction and great performances by all of the film’s actors helped this 100 minute watch flow positively.

Overall, this is one of the better horror TV movies out there and includes some nice spooky scenes sure to stick with its viewers for years to come.  A cool story and good direction sell this watch to the viewer, and this comes recommended by me if you want a good ghost story.

Rating: 7/10