Plustown
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Siflutter
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Stevieboy666
Three French school kids bunk off, burn down a barn then stumble across something horrific that will cost them and their loved ones dearly. I think the French are quite possibly at the forefront with horror cinema at the moment, this is a movie that I could imagine Rob Zombie wanting to make but it simply wouldn't be at this level. Here we have an interesting, though simple plot. There's gore, some pretty strong, but the film's strength for me was it's tension, reminded me of say John Carpenter's "Halloween". Very well filmed. I picked this up for a mere £1 from my local Poundland shop, what a fantastic bargain it turned out to be. I really don't understand the current 5.4/10 score. Perhaps many people don't like having to read subtitles!?
thesar-2
Man, had I seen this as a boy, the same age as the boys in this movie, this would've simultaneously scarred me for life and would've been the number one gateway to horror I'd never forget.Boy, the French know horror...but not how to end a film. Granted, I only recall seeing their High Tension and now: Among the Living and both had great cinematography, graphic, original scares and brutality and a WTF ending. Not to spoil either film's ending, but to be positive, this one was far less disappointing, yet still made my head spin.The basic gist: after an incredible start with a wide open range, 3 terrible kids witness a ruthless kidnapping and spend about two seconds both reporting and being rejected by the police. Following, they spend even less time acting like it was a big deal. Well, until they're hunted by one of the savage fiends. The movie had great promise, looked beautiful and was wildly original and all at the same time had huge plot holes, subplots that literally went nowhere and a, again, "really?" finale. Not to mention there weren't many characters to root for with the exception of one innocent family.For the good portion, this is a recommended film and I was thoroughly pleased with seeing a fresh take horror film. And still, I wouldn't denounce it completely for the third act as it's still "eh." So, it's a very soft approval.***Final thoughts: As stated, High Tension had the worst and most unbelievable of the two climaxes, but I would recommend that film more as what led up to that twist reminded me more of why I love horror.
Shadowplayed
It's hard to talk about expectations when I knew as little as possible about this long pending Bustillo/Maury project. Alas, I ended up disappointed just the same.First of all, after the previous films that helped them make a name for themselves and get recognition from the fans, it was natural to expect next level from experienced directors which was not to be the case here.Film opens up with the grim picture of dysfunctional,'white trash' family during Halloween in a recognizable, gory manner, in which directors basically homage themselves. A little psychosis, and bucket of blood for good measure. Strangely, as film proceeds, along with weird pace and questionable reasoning, much of the killing occurs completely off screen whilst in other instances villain lingers and enjoys inflicting pain to his victims. So, I'd say the motivation for this gory - but - not - in the right - places treatment boggles the mind. We all know how this duo of directors love their gore and do not shy away from it...so...what the heck?Soon enough though, film takes new turn so instead of 'inbred, disfigured backwoods monster family' we get an homage to classic slashers with all the familiar tropes. Okay, Bustillo/Maury more or less abandoned the idea of following their own aesthetics and went for Halloween homage instead. So, this is where real problems started.As per usual for most slashers protagonists are bound to act irrationally and as dumb as possible. These people took the cake. Soon, everything goes down the drain, half-established backstory of the killer (which, by the way, is one of stronger points, given his medical condition), the motive for killing, the choice of victims, the timeline becomes iffy, important kills completely overlooked, stupid and careless law enforcement officers acting totally useless once they'd showed up. No comedic relief, and the said police could have easily been turned into one, the effect could have been better cause otherwise I'm not sure what was their purpose in this film.To say something about the scare factor; admittedly the film had some tense moments and practical fx was rather admirable. That's not the problem, we all know these guys can direct. But what happened to the script and who turned this story into a convoluted mess is another thing completely. Shame, because it could have been so much more, had the vision and script been clearer and same goes for intentions regarding the course of the story. If you need gore, nice fx and masks to get you going, this film is not half bad, but if you also happen to need a logical, sensible narration, well, you might have to look elsewhere for your 'fix'.
Coventry
Today, directors Alexander Bustillo and Julien Maury returned to the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Films to introduce their newest effort, entitled "Aux Yeux des Vivants", which more or less translates in English as "Amongst the Living". Nearly everyone in the public was also present at this exact same spot a couple of years ago already, for the premiere of "À l'intérieur" a.k.a. "Inside", and thus we all knew to prepare for another potentially sickening and heart-wrenching horror film with explicit violence, disturbing atmosphere and nearly unendurable suspense. Bustillo and Maury are truly gifted and visionary young film makers who really understood the secret formula to genuinely terrifying and successful horror! They don't avoid any taboo subjects or sensitive themes and confront the viewers with their deepest fears and darkest nightmares. "À l'intérieur" entirely revolved on an extreme terror siege against a 9-months pregnant woman (with some of the cruelest torment sequences ever registered on film), while "Aux Yeux des Vivants" shamelessly handles about physically deformed children and shamelessly depicts uncompromising violence against innocent women and underage children. More importantly even, it's has been a very long time since I witnessed so many utterly intense and uncomfortable scenes of non-stop suspense. The usually always noisy and over-enthusiast crowd at the Brussels' Film Festival often turned very quiet and timid when gazing at some of the expanded and massively unnerving scenes where the young protagonists are stalked in their own houses. It's the last day of school before summer vacation and the troublesome trio Victor, Tom and Dan decide to leave early for a bit of exploring the countryside and committing a bit of random petty crimes like arson. They end up at the abandoned exterior film studios Blackwoods and witness how a masked figure drags a kidnapped woman out the trunk of a car and into an underground lair. We viewers already saw during the intro of the film that the studios might be the hideout place of what's left of a severely dysfunctional family. The boys return home and get punished for their acts by their parents, but that's nothing compared to the horror that awaits them later that night… The mysterious figure followed them home and plans to silence them forever. Strangely enough, quite a lot of the violence occurs off-screen, but still the suggestive terror and intense atmosphere is almost unbearable. I will, for example, always remember a specific scene featuring a ringing mobile phone and an icky clown's mask…Now that is what I call real horror! Bustillo and Maury are even so talented that they manage to make the oldest and most clichéd sentence in horror cinema history – "There is something under my bed" – still as petrifying as never seen before! And, for the sick puppies amongst you, don't worry too much about my remark regarding off-screen violence, as there still is plentiful of gore and bloodshed featuring on-screen as well. The three young protagonists give away remarkably stellar performances and they receive excellent support from more experienced French actors and actresses like Francis Renaud, Anne Marivin and Béatrice Dalle. Personally, I still regard "À l'intérieur" as slightly superior – mainly because the nature and motivation of villain is more realistic in this film – but "Aux Yeux des Vivants" is nevertheless also a must-see horror movie for the true and most courageous fans of the genre!
