Among the Living (2014)

Nice effects though.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Three boys decide that they want to start their summer holiday early, so they skip the last day of school to have a little fun. Their day gets them into a little trouble, which causes them to wander to an abandoned film studio on the edge of a town called Blackwood Studios. The boys are horrified when they see a man in a clown mask dragging a chained woman across the lot. They to flee and try to get the police involved, only for the police to assume that they are causing more trouble. They end up going back to their homes, unaware that the masked man and his father are planning on taking their revenge...........I was pretty weary about seeing this, I've never seen Inside, I've heard it's very good, but the content does seem very disturbing, almost too disturbing for its own good, so having a cameo from Béatrice Dalle during the opening only reminded me of that films content.But I shouldn't have been so judgemental on something that I have yet to see, because if it's anything like this film, it's going to be something else.To describe this film in a sentence could be 'Rob Zombie does Stand By Me', but that's only the first twenty or so minutes. The three boys bump into The Devils Rejects type family who are atypical in every Cannibal/Texas Chainsaw/Nuclear Fallout type horror film, so this could have been just your normal stalk and slash movie.But then a little conversation about soft toys in one of the boys bedrooms turns the film into one of the most chilling horrors of recent years, and the fact that it doesn't go down the Blumhouse road of Quiet............Quiet...............Quiet..............Bang!!!!!! way to cattle prod your audience into jumping is quite unique theses days, it's the atmosphere and the setting up of each individual house siege that makes the film as scary as it is.The only hing that really let's the film down is the revealing of one of the stalkers as some kind of androgynous being, almost alien like, that takes away the reality of the horror that is unfolding.If it were a normal person, rather than what is unveiled, the film would have had a more effective ending rather then the fantasy it turns into.So all in all, it is a really effective horror come house invasion movie, but one if the characters makes it less plausible.

First of all I would like to say that I really love the work of Bustillo and Maury, they are really nice guys and really talented. Let's start with what is wrong and then with the good part :) I was really really disappointed with the rhythm of the movie... Seriously there must have been a huge problem during the writing of the script because there are many moments that are out of tempo, with the actors waiting in front of an immobile camera... It's almost unbearable. I think there has been a problem of preparation and nobody knew what to shoot on set. But there are many good points: the music, the photography, the acting (for a French movie it's exceptional), the "boogeyman". I am still looking forward new movies from these guys, but I hope these problems will be solved for the next one :)

Or maybe not. But don't be fooled by the beginning of this movie. It does turn out to go a bit of a different direction after that. While it starts off very dark and also seems to tend to be in a special sort of "mood", we switch location and also a bit of characters. At least that's what it looks like. The story overall might not make the most sense (and characters reacting weird as always in horror movies), but the tension it builds is really good.The kids playing a big role here, have to shoulder quite a lot of the movie and they are doing a good job. The effects are also very good and while it is by the numbers (no pun intended), you can have fun with it, if you are not too precious about it.

AMONG THE LIVING (2014) *** Zacharie Chasseriaud, Damien Ferdel, Fabien Jegoudez, Francis Renaud, Theo Fernandez, Anne Marivin, Beatrice Dalle, Chloe Coulloud, Dominique Frot. French filmmakers Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury create a knife-edge old-school horror film that echoes Carpenter's HALLOWEEN & early Cronenberg with a touch of Craven about a trio of tweens who on the last day of school come across an abandoned film studio open lot that has more in store for what they bargain for: namely a deformed, deranged murderous young man and his equally homicidal brute father who, once discovered of their existence, enact a vengeance of payback. Graphically violent and peppered with intense suspense and outrageous kills. Nifty homage to contemporary classic horror.