Horsehead

I am usually generous with stars here, so I hope this is a good explanation of why I give it a 7 star review.

My first view of this, was a little more entertaining than the few time's I tried to re watch this. I found it interesting and it had cool sequences of her nightmares that were pretty intriguing. I liked it and thought that was interesting. Sadly I have re watched it a few times and don't usually finish it.

It seems like a good movie, but I guess I don't get it and the theme's are more interesting to me since I don't fully get it. I'll be honest I rarely get movies fully and like the actor's and visuals or settings way more than the content, so detailed content and further meaning usually buzz my tower at high speed and then are gone... lol.

Give it a try for horror with deep meaning... I think. Hopefully you like it, I almost did... but I still give it a chance now and then for the hope I will since it made such a good first impression.

Surreal, phantasmagoric, enigmatic! HORSEHEAD is a visually stunning puzzle full of symbolic figures where each one of them represent one particular icon related to imagery of dreams. We can notice, for instance, the clear inspiration in some previous and notable works about the allegories of dreams, as the Henry Fuseli's painting THE NIGHTMARE. And this inspiration is not denied, it's even reinforced when at the beginning of the movie appears a picture of that famous painting... On the other hand it made me remind some surrealistic and artsy films of the 70's, in particular those from European cinema (also French cinema...). The kind of cinematography used, the short but puzzling plot, the enigmatic symbols and characters, the twisted eroticism, the camera work - focusing on certain plans and details... All of this truly make me compare this film to those remarkable movies of the 70's. But of course HORSEHEAD has it own value, in fact it's a great film that we could resume as a frantic journey into the depths of the subconscious, a dream that crosses two dimensions, ending both in one same reality...

Visually this film is at times quite stunning, but beyond that there's not much else to recommend it.

Unfortunately one reviewer had to compare it to Dario Argento's work, which then started a trend. In reality it is only the director of photography that resembled Argento in this film, the actual director had some nice ideas but fails to hold the film together. The comparison with such a brilliant director is nothing short of total nonsense.

The cinematography was the best part of this movie, providing a powerfully attractive opening scene which exquisitely recreates Fuseli's 18th century oil painting, The Nightmare. After this point however the film is gradually let down by weak acting, a poor script and an overall immature plot.

That's unfortunate because it seems this film had potential, taking iconography from sleep paralysis, some interesting ideas provided by Jungian psychology and consistently attractive scene construction. But all of this gets flushed down the pan by a director who seems determined to compromise everything this film could have been with an over reliance on visual effects and music apparently compensating for a lack of any real substance.

This film is the work of a great cinematographer and a director that needs to develop his ability, especially his screen writing.

This phantasmagorical French horror movie is about a young college student who is dealing with troubling memories of her past by studying Freud and experimenting with "lucid dreaming". When her maternal grandmother dies, she joins her mother in her grandparent's country estate where she uses her lucid dreaming skills to uncover dark family secrets.

This film somewhat reminded me of the Walerian Borowzyk film "La Bete", but without the shocking imagery or nearly as strong of a grasp of Freudian surrealism. The "Horsehead" monster that haunts the dreams of the heroine may be the literal embodiment of a "nightmare" (or "cauchemare" in French), but horses are such magnificent and beautiful animals that it's hard to make them look too frightening or threatening. The weird imagery and occasionally effective atmosphere of this film is somewhat of a throwback to an earlier era, and it is refreshing in an age where "horror" is often synonymous with tons of gory effects, "torture porn", and shot-on-video "found-footage" bullsh*t. But the images, while pretty and colorful, are a little pedestrian and frankly just not all scary.

The movie does get a lot of mileage out of pretty, young French actress Lily-Fleur Pointeaux. I think at least half the audience will be very favorably disposed to scenes where she luxuriates in a bathtub with her magnificent breasts bobbing and glistening (bobbing and glistening. . .). But she also does a decent job carrying the principal weight of this movie, especially considering I've only previously seen her in small supporting roles in films like "Ma Premiere Pas" and "We Need a Vacation".

This film could have used some stronger and perhaps more shocking imagery like "La Bete" or the more recent French/Belgian film "Amer", but it's not an entirely unpleasant way to pass 90 minutes.

An absolute joyride of a movie , with twists in its plot so simple but yet so touching , the psyche , the heart. Its all entangled into this huge Beautiful film that whatever everyone might say ....... its a jewel in brute , anybody can do blood and guts but not anybody cant touch your mind and heart in ways like Horsehead does. I wish to applaud the director of photography. The Scenes are wonderfully done , beautiful not so much dialogue but with such scenes .......... it does not even needs to be an actor talking or such but again such a great cast. It has taints of the great Dario Argento , Some of Kubrick and I totally found some Clive Barker at his Best in here with Hellraiser 1986 ........ for those who love Cinema, Please support this movie and if you are disappointed i clearly wont understand why , and you are missing the whole point of the dedication and passion put into this. ITS ART IN ITS MORE ABSTRACT YET BEAUTIFULLY POINTED OUT AND PURE AND RAW WAY. My favorite thus far.

10/10 And if i could give it a 12 i would.