Jogos Sinistros

Dull French horror movie about a frazzled mom who believes that her two small children plan to harm her and her increasingly short-fused husband. Early scenes with children playing a secret game that the mother is to be excluded from, for now, are promising and remind of the chilling Ray Bradbury story Zero Hour. Unfortunately, the movie never goes anywhere interesting from there and the filmmakers leave the audience with many more questions than answers: What exactly are the spirits of the old brother and sister trying to accomplish and why? If they died as children why do they appear as old people? How exactly did they manage to make one of the characters commit suicide? This movie is a complete dud. If you like evil children movies you would be much better off watching The Innocents (which this also recalls in its early scenes) or the Spanish flick Who Could Kill A Child.

Remember The Possessed? In 1961, Jack Clayton filmed that oppressive story about a young unexperienced lady nursing two innocent kids and facing some supernatural appearances. Or was it her that filled all the atmosphere with her own fears and neurastenic obsessions? Tuel, french director, do the same excellent thing with his movie: two little kids trapped in a huge maze-like parisian flat, between a father who is on the edge of madness and a mother who lost a son a few yew years ago and never succeeded to overgo the drama. Are the two intruders at the beginning of the thriller real persons, ghosts from a past tragedy, or just a projection of the mother (excellent Karin Viard)? Despite an end which sounds just too much of a final explanation, Laurent Tuel's movie is a little masterpiece of building anguish without easy effects, and suggesting horror that can hide istelf behind each of the dorrs of the flat. Wonderful. NAturalist fantasy at its best.

I'm obliged to say that the best thing in this movie is the oppressive feel of something terrible coming ahead. Even if you know the event already, 'cause the director warns you from the beginning about it, in most of the times you can't help but sense a kind of a danger, a fear that you don´t see but you do feel. On the other hand, the bad thing in Un jeu... fall on the screenplay, that is sometimes incoherent, and it's pace is rather slow. Also it's atmosphere doesn't help much in setting a scenario for originality because as we watch it, never ceases to give strong reminders of films as The innocents, The others and even the mexican one El libro de piedra (The book of stone). And alright, there´s no gore but I don't think the plot need it; if this films succeeds in anything, is in creating a malevolent space and it is precisely where the family moves: their luxurious flat.

Of course it has some flaws but all in all hits right on the target on it's proposal for a psychological fear. Why does happen what it happens? Because there's evil in the air since the old brothers came in for a glimpse at their old home. It's what set everything for what's coming (or what happened; it depends). And I think is fair with itself in this matter and the portrait of child corruption, in the killing of all innocence, hence the name. Nevertheless, this movie is good beyond just an experience for accomplish a wider range of foreign horror cinema. It may not have the best of thrills, but neither is wasted time nor money.

You think - at least I THINK - about some Roman Polanski's movies when you watch this film: LE LOCATAIRE, ROSEMARY'S BABY, REPULSION; some kind of domestic horror, "home" horror, horror among neighbours, the same family, involving elements, characters in whom the audiences could recognize themselves. There were batches of this kind in French and American movie industries, even now in 2023. It is quite good, efficient, but if you are used to this kind of plot, you'll not be that surprised. But, it's not boring at all, Karin Viard and Charles Berling are as excellent and convincing as usual. The director Laurent Tuel is rather prolific for a French film maker and he provides all kinds of topics. Something though in the storytelling. When the investigator searches about the Worms family, who visited Karin Viard, at the beginning, this cop is explained that this family died several years earlier, the father killed his whole family before setting fire in his apartment. And a couple of minutes later, this cop tells Karin Viard the father Worms died killed by his own kids....

This is not a great movie but it's quite a good one with an eerie atmosphere - ideal viewing for the early hours of the morning. I missed the beginning so had to catch up on what it was all about - but I could tell right away that those kids were up to no good. As another reviewer noted, if you're thinking of starting a family then avoid this film - you may be persuaded otherwise! Maybe the denouement doesn't explain much but hey, this is a horror movie. The characters that played Mr & Mme Worms were (I thought) hideous in the extreme & enough to give you nightmares. A quietly creepy and menacing film.