Among the Living

I mostly enjoyed this. The film taken as a whole seems pretty slight, not just in terms of plot (which is standard for the directors) but also in effect. The film is creepy and nasty. There's a horrifying "monster" in this played with great physicality by Fabien Jegoudez. There are scenes of absolute intensity, with beautiful haunting mise en scene.

Yet the whole thing feels a bit undercooked. What starts as a dark side of the Spielbergian kids on a mission story turns into a home invasion thriller and then into something else. It's not enough of any but it's fun watching it try. There seems to be a sociological context to it all that was a bit lost on me. Maybe it's a French thing - this worry about toxic gases from the military affecting the children. But should we fear them or pity them? No matter.

You have to be given the chance of believing in a film to enjoy it. The film starts brutally and unexpectedly and the appearance of a Goonies-style gang of boys promises fun and adventures mixed up with horror. However all your hopes quickly dissolve into nothing when the characters begin to behave in, to put it simply, stupid ways. The feeling that I got as a spectator was that the directors thought of scenes they wanted to shoot and then forced the characters to do things to make them happen and move on to the next one. To me, that sort of decision can kill a movie. I'm all up for suspension of disbelief, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Among the Living soon becomes some sort of cross between Friday 13th and Goonies, but it doesn't quite work. Shame - I loved "Inside", I've been reading these French guys' magazine "Mad Movies" since I was 15 and I REALLY wanted to like this film... but I couldn't.

2007's "Inside" was a taut, powerful horror/thriller , which tested the audience's endurance level for violence and shocks, particularly toward the usually out-of-bounds target of pregnant women.

Nothing in that movie would have made you anticipate that the filmmakers would follow it up with something as uninspired as this.

It's also surprisingly light on the violence, with nothing to really shock or surprise you.

The story is actually pretty simple, but is told in a confusing way, robbing it of all tension. It's something about three kids who skip school and stumble onto an abandoned movie set where they see someone disposing of a body. No one will believe them, of course, so they go home and find themselves under attack.

None of this elevated my pulse-rate. It certainly felt like it was supposed to, but the movie was too confusing and uninvolving to ever connect with me.

I said it was surprisingly light on violence and shock tactics. It's depressing that about the only such tactic this movie pulls out will not be shocking at all to anyone who has seen "Inside": a pregnant Beatrice Dalle (you guessed it) getting stabbed in the stomach.

It's the kind of movie that makes the previous movie by the same filmmakers seem like a fluke, like all the ideas they really have were covered completely in the first one.

I also think they had no idea how to handle a bigger budget; the cheaper cost of the first one kept things taut and effective and claustrophobic. Now, there's too many locations, too many characters, too little interest.

First of all I would like to say that I really love the work of Bustillo and Maury, they are really nice guys and really talented. Let's start with what is wrong and then with the good part :) I was really really disappointed with the rhythm of the movie... Seriously there must have been a huge problem during the writing of the script because there are many moments that are out of tempo, with the actors waiting in front of an immobile camera... It's almost unbearable. I think there has been a problem of preparation and nobody knew what to shoot on set. But there are many good points: the music, the photography, the acting (for a French movie it's exceptional), the "boogeyman". I am still looking forward new movies from these guys, but I hope these problems will be solved for the next one :)

After a gruesome prologue, featuring the glorious Beatrice Dalle, AMONG THE LIVING begins.

Three teenage friends skip school for a day of adventure, only to have their fun interrupted by a horrific event.

With nods to movies as diverse as STAND BY ME, HALLOWEEN, and JEEPERS CREEPERS, Directors Bustillo and Maury put their trademark, brutal spin on the "coming of age" / slasher horror film. Most of the gore and brutality are found at the beginning and end of the film, sandwiching in a decent story about the kids and the hell they inadvertently bring upon themselves and their loved ones.

While not as jarring as some of the Directors' other work, there is enough menace and oddness to make it a worthwhile watch...