Livide

Inside is possibly my favourite horror film of all time. I've not seen a horror film that matches its thrilling intensity and roller-coaster ride feeling, apart from maybe the final third of Black Swan (which isn't really horror). So you can imagine my excitement when Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (the writers and directors of Inside) announced that they were doing another horror film. I got even more excited when I heard the plot, and got really excited when I saw some down right beautiful images ie. The bloody girl floating. As you can imagine, I'm now really, really excited. I see the trailer which makes me more excited but then the reviews come in... The reviews aren't too good. All of them say it's nothing like Inside, and all of them very mixed, telling me to bring my expectations down to rock bottom and that's what I did (although still incredibly excited) and Livid didn't disappoint.

The fact that the duo abandon the whole Inside theme all together and do something completely different with a slow, creeping, fairytale horror film just makes me respect them more. This shows that they're not one hit wonders and they do absolutely understand our beloved genre. I'd be more disappointed if they did an inferior rip-off of Inside. Livid just goes to show how versatile this couple are (not that I'm suggested they are an actual couple. just a friendly duo! Although there is nothing wrong with them being a couple of course.) Livid shows off their directing skills beautifully as they've created a magnificently-crafted horror film that can sit proudly amongst the other French greats.

Obviously it will have to sit a few notches below Inside and others such as Martyrs and The Ordeal, because of course Livid is not a patch on Inside, but what is? Livid creates a wonderfully haunting atmosphere from the word go. It begins with some fantastic shots around a beach (including a severed head!) and grave-yard ehich really draws you in to the story. We're then introduced to a beautiful French lady called Lucie who's driving around with a sarcastic house-to-house carer and it's her first day on the job. We get to know each of their characters well and then things officially start when Lucie's introduced to a comatose old woman who supposedly has a treasure hidden somewhere and of course her and her somewhat idiotic friends decide to break in and steal it! Bad idea.

There's a nightmarish quality that resonates all the way through Livid. The film is rich with atmosphere and imagery, giving it a fairytale vibe with its exaggerated and almost Tim Burton-esque production design. Livid has been made with such care and it really shows through! There's an almost choking atmoshpere when the group first break into the old woman's house, as it's all very oppressive with gaudy wallpaper and a rickety house design. There is also an undeniable creepy atmosphere and a feeling of something not being right. The first meeting of the ballerina girl is pretty chilling and the film is full of beautiful imagery that will likely stay with you for days.

Livid is a horror throw-back. Back to those hammer horror days where horror films relied on atmosphere, rather than gore. However, that's not to say that there isn't some gore in Livid! Although it obviously isn't as extreme as Inside's unholy amount of blood, there are a lot of cringey moments! My only problems with Livid is that it did feel a little slow at times, which is fine for building up the atmosphere, however I think that it was building it up for too long at times. Also, I would've liked more character development on Lucie's friends, they just looked like they were there to be killed off! However, Livid isn't a slasher film, in fact it offers some rather terrific twists along the way.

Livid tries to trick you with its old-school scares such as the dolls head moving, which is in fact done incredibly well! However, some original scares do suddenly start to come and they are very creepy. I could feel the panic of the group when they realised they couldn't get out this old mansion, with a creepy old woman on the top floor! There are also some rather brutal and inventive kills. I can see some people getting confused with its dream-scape-like atmosphere, but just think of it as a Dario Argento film or Mulholland Drive. The film is made to look like a nightmare, that's why things can turn surreal, and characters make perplexing decisions. P.s. I would've liked Beatrice Dalle to have been in it more, she was more of a nod to fans of Inside, but I think she could've played a bigger role. She was in it for all of 10 seconds!

Livid goes up another notch in my book when it starts to bring in some gorgeous flash-backs that really do feel like a fairytale (although one not to be telling your kiddies!) That's when the plot really starts to thicken and things become very interesting and rather juicy! There's a wonderful finale, beautifully filmed and I didn't find the ending that infuriating like some people, just try not to take it too literally! So I did actually really like Livid despite the mixed feedback. It's a refreshing change to have a well-made haunted house movie, although it is French, thus obviously going to be good! Whilst Livid won't attack you emotionally like Inside or Martyrs, it will give you a solid horror film, with an interesting narrative and some beautiful cinematography and directing. I shall eagerly await Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's next horror film. But for now I'll just feed off of these two gems!

(source: www.top10horror.com ) I watched this movie during the Film 4 FrightFest Halloween marathon last year in London and next to Human Centipede II it was the most anticipated movie of the night. Being a French horror enthusiast I couldn't wait until the movie would be screened and after an awful show of Lulu Jarmen's "Bad Meat" (2011) it finally started.

Lucy, an absolutely adorable young girl, with two eyes of different colours is the main character of Livid. She is just starting her training as a caretaker under Wilson's eye, a woman you want to trust but she just seems old and bitter. Lucy is brought to a big mansion where she meets Mrs Jessel, an old lady who has been in a coma for many years. Wilson tells her a story about a treasure that is believed to be somewhere inside of the house and that, Wilson herself, has tried to find it but she never did.

After the first day of work Lucy meets her friends and tells them about the treasure rumour. The group of young people decide to break in Mrs Jessel's house with an intention to find the valuable objects to steal. They don't know what awaits them in the walls of the house though…

Seeing Alexandre Bustillo's and Julien Maury's "Inside" (A l'interieur) (Top 10 French Horror list) I knew to expect only the unpredictable. I was expecting a twist and a lot… tons of blood and French cinema didn't let me down at all.

At the very second I saw Lucy's eyes (you could totally see which eye is fake by the way) I remembered some stories I've heard about people with two-coloured eyes. Later Lucy explains that this is indeed called heterochromia and people are believed to have two souls, one for each eye. We learn a lot about Lucy's past through flashbacks (anyone recognizes the psycho woman from "Inside" as Lucy's mummy?) which makes us feel for the character. Everything framed with the beautiful music makes you feel nice and cosy watching the movie until… horrible stuff happens.

Overall a stunningly done horror film, that doesn't lack in everything a horror movie should have, ended up in my French favourite top 10 list and I would watch it again anytime I if had a chance. I definitely recommend this movie no matter what you are into. If you like mysteries, gore, paranormal movies, just go for it and enjoy the ride.

From the directors of À l'intérieur (2007) this is their follow-up. Inside as it was called outside France was know as one of the holy gory french flicks so everybody was expecting the next Inside but it isn't.

One way I was glad that they didn't made a copy of Inside but on the other hand I was sad that this isn't one of French gore flicks. Still it's an excellent movie. I agree, I had difficulties with the end but regardless that fact I rather enjoyed this creepy flick which still has it's gory moments.

Lucy (Chloé Coulloud)has her first day as in-house caregiver. Everything goes well until she is asked not to follow inside the house of Mrs Jessel (Marie-Claude Pietragalla)but curiosity killed the cat and she does enter the house only to see an old which look-a- like woman laying in bed. On her neck a chain with a key. Going back home Lucy met her lover and his boyfriend William (Félix Moati) and Ben (Jérémy Kapone). Both not having a lot of money and Lucy telling of the key and the treasure connecting to end they enter the house. From there on this normal flick turns into a slow building creepy flick until the extreme gore comes in. The acting was okay but again it's the effects used for the gore (no CGI) that makes it all worth watching.

Being a bit of a supernatural thing some will turn it off after a while but keep waiting until Mrs Jessel wakes up out of her coma. A rather good surprise and I would recommend it to gorehounds but be warned, it isn't like the holy French goreflicks.

Gore 2,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 4/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Chloé Coulloud plays trainee care worker Lucie Klavel, whose first day on the job sees her visit the crumbling country home of elderly coma patient Mrs. Jessel. On learning from her boss that Jessel, a once successful ballet teacher, is rumoured to have a vast fortune hidden somewhere in her house, Lucie, her boyfriend, and his brother break into the old building to search for the treasure, but uncover a terrifying secret instead.

I absolutely loved French directing duo Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's brilliantly inventive and very bloody debut Inside, which only makes it all the more disappointing that their second film, Livid, is such a complete and utter mess, a hodge-podge of half-baked ideas wrapped in a stale 'freaky fairytale' aesthetic that makes not a lick of sense.

A gang of thieves breaking into a building only to discover something terrible lurking inside is hardly the most original of ideas, and Livid's surreal, oneiric style, which includes the use of such trite horror clichés as bizarre toys, broken dolls, creepy children, and stuffed animals, only adds to the sense of deja vu. The ironic thing is, when the directors do steer their film into more original waters, matters only get worse, the pair delivering plenty of surreal spookiness and some decent gore but failing to give a rational explanation for any of the madness they depict.

Vampiric creatures; a 'broken' ballerina given a clockwork spine; soul transference via moth; ethereal will-o-the-wisp flames; a flying house: undeniably very bizarre, but what the hell it's all about is anyone's guess. Bustillo and Maury sure aren't telling...

3.5 out of 10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

You may know the filmmaker from the movie Inside. If you expect this to be the same OTT movie, then you better stay clear of it, because it isn't. This movie is more of a fairy tale (if you want to call it that, because it still is horror). While it's often obvious where this is going, you still wonder about the motivations of the characters and their actions.

Then again, we are used to worse. The actors are good enough to pull you through it. The ending might swing some people towards the negative or positive side (depending on which side they were before). I think it's a thing you can't see entirely coming at you (at least that's what I think about it).