Livide

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).

Livide is a French horror film i the style of The Orphanage, in that it has just as much heart and fantasy as it does horror. A young woman begins working as a nurse and sees a number of elderly and sick patients. One in particular catches her eye, an old woman in a coma, who it is said, has a treasure hidden on the grounds. The young nurse and her boyfriend, along with a friend, decide to find the treasure. They break into the house but get more than they bargained for. The film builds up a meticulous but thoughtful pace, bringing us slowly into the world of this house at night. The fiilm keeps the horror at a distance at first, with loud noises from upstairs etc. Once it kicks off the gore is grotesque, but used sparingly, making it even more effective. Some of the visuals are of pure fantasy and even though they are at first horrifying, Maury and Bustillo soon use them poetically. A floating vampire girl in the sunlight, a wind-up corpse etc. All scary at first, become even more disturbing as they reach us on an emotional level. I felt the film tries to do too much in the third act. It tries to give us horror and fantasy, backstory in flashbacks, kills, and exposition, to the point it got a bit muddled. Kills were suddenly followed by long jumps into the past. The film does best when it shows its story visually, which thankfully, it chooses to do most of the time. Great performances, stunning visuals, a unique feel, and a mature handling of difficult themes makes this a worthwhile horror.

(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.

The sexy Chloé Coulloud plays Lucy, a world weary girl in her late teens troubled by the death of her mother. On the first day of her latest dead end job as a care-worker her irritating boss Wilson, played by Catherin Jacob, takes Lucy to a creepy old house and introduces her to a comatose patient named Jessel. Lucy learns that Jessel was once a renowned dance instructor who's daughter, Anna, died at a young age. Wilson hints at the family wealth and teases Lucy with rumours of treasure hidden somewhere in the mansion.

When Lucy's relays the story to dead-beat boyfriend William he persuades her and his brother Ben to accompany him to the house that night with the aim of finding the treasure.

Livid is both haunting and horrific in equal measure. Scenes are dimly lit, taking place almost exclusively at night and where the only source of light is a torch or flickering bulb. The Gothic mansion is a perfect set piece for the unfolding treasure hunt and much of the imagery presented within the peeling facade of its ancient walls will linger in your memory long after the film is finished. The photogenic Coulloud is perfect as the dazed female protagonist, her sultry eyes, permanent pout and expressive yet somehow dormant features will have your attention in every one of her scenes.

The first 80% of the movie is a wonderful addition to the haunted house genre, featuring some of the creepiest moments I've seen in a film of this type in a long time. Unfortunately, the story loses its way toward the end, uncertain how and where to finish, and wraps up with a series of ambiguous metaphors before spiralling out of control into full fairytale mode and throwing all previous suspension of disbelief down the can.

Despite this disappointment, the majority is well worth a watch, guaranteed to give you chills and have you on the edge of your seat. It's hard to inject this kind of blanket horror into a film and for the effort and achievement Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury deserve full credit. More, however, should definitely have been invested in a conclusion more befitting the rest of the film.