Livide (2011)
Genre: Fantasy / Horror
Duration: 88 minuten
Alternative title: Livid
Country:
France
Directed by: Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury
Stars: Chloé Coulloud, Jérémy Kapone and Catherine Jacob
IMDb score:
5,7 (8.288)
Releasedate: 6 December 2011
Livide plot
It's Lucie's first day as a home nurse in training. She single-handedly visits Mrs. Jessel, an old woman who is in a coma in her large abandoned house. She accidentally learns that Mrs. Jessel, once a famous dance teacher, probably keeps a treasure somewhere in the house. Lucie and her friends William and Ben decide to look for this treasure. At night they invade the house that seems to possess increasingly strange powers. Their search for the treasure leads them to a series of horrific supernatural events that will change Lucie's life forever...
Actors and actresses
Lucie
William
Ben
Wilson
Jessel
Anna
La mère de Lucie
Pierre Klavel
Reviews & comments
Alathir
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- 2133 messages
- 1638 votes
Bustillo and Maury have my attention in the horror genre after this film. After their latest film Leatherface, which I already rated with 4*, I now also watched Livid because of the horror draft and again not disappointed. On the contrary, I thought this was a very strong film with atmosphere, mystery, oppressive feeling, creepy house, greasy old lady, stuffed animal heads and excellent gore. What more could a horror enthusiast ask for?
I can't really come up with a downside. Good camera work, acting was rock solid, soundtrack certainly added something, beautiful production design and I also found the story very interesting. It is indeed a bit vague, but that also has its charms.
The inspiration of the film seems to come from Suspiria but I think this film is at least a lot better. Not that Suspiria is a bad movie, but not more than average for me. I don't like bombastic soundtracks when it would have been better to be quiet. What's wrong with silence and just hearing trees swaying, wind whistling or wood creaking? I don't want to hear all those menacing soundtracks, I prefer to be as realistic as possible.
Now let's take a look at their most notorious work because I'm actually very curious about it.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Shadowed
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- 11421 messages
- 6719 votes
Mediocre Maury & Bustillo.
With their bloody debut À l'Intérieur , the duo quickly managed to impress a large audience including me. Although there wasn't much left of that film without the cruel gore. With the second film, however, they manage to make a lot less of an impression. As far as I'm concerned, things have only gone downhill with the duo.
Here the duo goes a bit more atmospheric. Not a problem at all, because now that they have a bit of a bite, there may be more room to experiment. But the experiment here is much less impressive than their first experiment.
What is lacking in this film is tension. Where is the tension. Because visually it is fine again. The house looks creepy and the details are certainly there. But when it comes to the real tension, there is little left.
A few dull scares that don't work at all never manage to turn the tension around. The directing is too soft. It is not intense enough and therefore the film does not score well. This makes the film entertaining, but I didn't exactly feel like I was watching a masterpiece.
Acting is ok. Didn't find it groundbreaking anywhere. For the rest, the film just has to rely on the house and that it looks good visually. Because to be honest, it looks good. The duo has a number of things in order, but the real tension and the build-up are completely missing.
Towards the end, the duo suddenly seemed to realize that it wasn't all that exciting and some heavier gore comes into play. I can almost call this the rescue of the film, so that it at least manages to stand out in something other than "it looks nice".
Not a bad film, but too little tension and it lacks a bit of sharp direction. The infamous duo Maury & Bustillo is no longer very high in my book.
Translated from Dutch · View original
SmackItUp
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- 3505 messages
- 2648 votes
Wonderfully atmospheric film with quite a few creepy moments.
And therefore for me also slightly better than L' interior.
Where that film focuses entirely on gore, there is very little of that left. However, this film is much more atmospheric and at times quite exciting. If you also throw in some freaky scenes, I don't have much to complain about.
A variation on the haunted house theme. Nicely put together and beautifully executed.
4*
Translated from Dutch · View original
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