De proefkonijnen

Years and years I searched for this film. That's not an exception, in fact, it's even a hobby of mine to track down extremely obscure horror & cult movies. It was the first time, though, that I had to search so intensively for a movie from my own small and modest (in terms of cinema) Belgium country. This movie is practically impossible to find, which is weird because it has decent production values and stars a handful of - locally - very famous names; - like Jan Decleir and Chris Lomme.

Maybe one of the reasons why "De Proefkonijnen" is so obscure is because it's not very great. And maybe even more because it's rather misleading. There isn't much info available, but based on the title, poster, and plot-synopsis, I was expecting more action, suspense, and horror. Short and simple: I was hoping for a Belgian version of "The Crazies", but what I got was more of a Belgian version of "The China Syndrome". Also fine, but requiring a different mindset.

The title translates as "Guinea Pigs", or even more literally as "Lab Rabbits", and film is set in a typically Belgian working-class environment. Jef's passion is amateur boxing, but his daytime job is working in a chemical factory. When there's a serious explosion incident in the factory, Jef and his direct colleagues/friends Bob and Herman are exposed to nasty yellow and toxic gas-clouds. Although the factory's management conducts tests on rats and rabbits that are not exactly positive, Jef and the others are rapidly forced to go back to work, and their physical health deteriorates fast and visibly.

After a strong first fifteen-twenty minutes, "De Proefkonijnen" collapses like a house of cards due to endless talking and no action. Especially Peter Faber's character is annoying, because he non-stop whines and complains about how he does so much work for the union but never receives any recognition or thanks for it. Even Jan Decleir lost his interest along the way, of so it felt.