MALEFIQUE

MALEFIQUE (2002)
FR
Directed by Eric Valette

CAST:
Gerald Laroche - Carrere
Phillippe Laudenbach - Lassalle
Clovis Cornillac - Marcus

PLOT:
     Four prisoners occupying  a cell in a penitentiary  find an ancient journal hidden in a hole in the wall of the cell. They realize that the book was written  in the beginning of the last century and might hold the key to their escape.

REVIEW:
      As I said in a earlier review this month, I ran into plenty of movies dealing with the Lovecraft Mythos, and as such I had to pick and chooses which ones to put in. Some are just a no brainer. While others like this movie I'm about to review is just a wild card I found on a list of inspired by Lovecraft. To tell the truth I have never even heard of this movie before,yet that is what is fun about this month. While this movie could be completely awful, I'll still be happy I've watched it, maybe. So what do I make of Malefique is below. Have fun!

     Even though Gerald Larouche, who portrays Carrere, is billed first, it's the other actors that outshine him. This might have to do with Carrere isn't  happy with life, or just his whole situation, but what ever his character is, Larouche just shows no emotion what so ever in this movie really even though you know he is always thinking of something. For the rest of the cast it is Dimitri Rateau, who to me, steals the show as the mentally broken man-child, Paquerette, who is in prison for eating his baby sister. Rateau gives a performance that is unbelievable and painful to watch cause you actually feel sorry for Paquerette and what he goes through as basically the whipping boy of the four in the cell. But to me the most interesting character to me is the half-op transvestite Marcus played by Clovis Cornillac. The reason why I say he is the most interesting is due to that he basically plays the mother hen and bully, father and a kid at the same time for the cell everyone is in. He's there to comfort and to basically make sure everything goes the way he wants things to go and if they don't he isn't afraid to use violence to make sure change happens.

     One of the more interesting premise of this film is just how mature the whole experience is while watching. Nothing is played for laughs for a younger crowd as the film was made for adults and those that can freely think. Most of the movie takes place only in one room and most of the real horror is through conversation until the very end so most people will find the film very boring. But it's the character development that keeps the film movie at an amazing pace. One of the more interesting conversations was about Carerre's life before he was arrested and put in prison. He says that even though he has a trophy wife, sports cars, and houses he wasn't happy. What he did say was that he was comfortable and the only thing he really cared about is his son. The writing for the film is just amazing in it's progression and the way it slowly brings in the horror aspect of the story after everything is relatively untroubled considering the situation, which you really only see this type of build up in either European or indie movies now.

     The one drawback to the movie is that the end doesn't quite live up to what was built up with the characters. That's not to say that the ending isn't good, in fact it is. It's just that the whole point of the proceedings was to escape the prison. What happens to the characters in a way is an escape, just not the one that is pointed out. Also the ending for the Marcus character just felt weak compared to the rest of the movie, which I think is why I view the ending the way I do. Yes, everything is explained, but it still doesn't live up to the rest of the film.  The film though is more than worth watching as it's more of a character study and what lengths men will go to, to truly get what they want and the price that is paid for that which shouldn't be asked for.

BEST DEATH:
      Paquerette's extreme ghostly chiropractic session.

BEST LINE:
     The book was never meant to do that.

FUN FACTS:
     During the pre-production, a producer, thinking books were outdated, asked to replace the black magic book found by prisoners by an e-book.

     The movie is also known as Malefique - Psalm  666

     The budget for the Malefique was one million francs.

     For those with sharp eyes, one of the words in the book is "Fhtagn". This is one of the words used to praise Cthulhu by his worshippers in H.P. Lovecraft's The Call Of Cthulhu.