Calvaire

Du Welz coalesces horror upon horror until this somewhat arguably surreal fable peaks in a sequence so alarming and morbidly engrossing that even Tobe Hooper would put his fingers over his eyes. It doesn't alleviate anything that cinematographer Benoit Debie is so excellent at depicting the churning, whirling insanity. Repulsive, sordid, unhinged, du Welz's bizarre, forceful gut-wrencher is an uneasy tumble into insanity.

Creepy, but not a whole lot happens. Overall, a lot of build-up towards major let down.

This is basically the French hick villager version of Misery, except it's about this young (untalented) singer who does gigs at old folk's homes. His van breaks down at night and he ends up at an inn...and weird, disgusting, sometimes bizarrely creepy / funny shit happens. This film is sad and bleak as all fuck when you think about it, but the characters bring out this unnerving, yet manic and lively energy to the film until...shit gets real. As you can tell, I liked this one quite a bit.

Pretty damn weird. The bar scene is especially awesome... dance, dance, you maggots!

A French hybrid of Deliverance and Psycho with some Misery thrown in.

The bar scene is probably one of the creepiest/wierdest scenes I've ever seen. The ending is also pretty awesome. The only problem was the slow pacing in the first part of the movie, but that's something which can be forgiven.

"...if you've got a black sense of humor you might just find yourself laughing down the vomit."

I really dug this. What a fucking climax. I don't think the lead actor has ever cried or seen/heard anyone cry before.

The slow buildup is very effective at making the horrible things that will follow even worse. Disturbing and haunting, with some extremely uncomfortable moments and a few surprisingly good shots. In the end you'll feel exhausted and filthy, and to me that means Calvaire achieved its goals wonderfully.

Remember the preview for the Liam Neeson actioner Unknown, where his wife looks at him and says, "I'm not your wife." This movie has the same line but in a very, very different light.

A very poor leading performance(that weeping/laughing mash-up especially) is the only big flaw in an otherwise very creepy film.

Darkly funny hillbilly horror pastiche with lots of biblical symbolism, but mostly just plain fun - goofy all around. Really liked it, great performances. Also, penguin dance scene!

A disturbing and darkly satirical film. Strange and creepy but definitely intense and suspenseful. The ending is one you'll either love or hate. But most likely hate.

Strange? Yes, pretty strange! Arouse excitement? No, not really!

Expected more. A bit creepy at first, but about halfway through it loses some momentum. The bar scene is kind of wierd but the trailer unfortunately spoiled that. Ending was way too abrupt. Not nearly as wierd nor as creepy as I hoped it would be. Pretty much a waste of time, actually.

Psycho.

It is disturbing, but becomes rather hilarious when you think what that struggling artist within such surroundings was supposed to represent.

Top badass moment? This is a movie with far too many arbitrary happenings in it, but credit where credit's due. The random dance by the guys in the village pub is completely inexplicable, creepy and downright weird. Somehow (and I can't really explain why), that makes it pretty badass. No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.

sarkici, yolda kalmak, han (otel), issiz otel, tek müsterisi olunan otel (Sinirda), Tamir edilecek araba, yardimci olmak isteyen adam (wolf creek), akil hastasi, akil hastalari, cinsel sapkinlik, hayvana tecavüz, alikoymak (misery) karsinin yerine bir erkegi koyan adam, iskence, carmiga gerilmek, igrenc, rahatsiz edici, erkege tecavüz, oramnda kacis, kapana yakalanmak, bataklik

this movie is so weird, and odd..and very weirdly paced...it could have been so much better with a sense of direction it just seems to try so hard and change gears so much it is ultimately a letdown

Thought it was well done technically (nice cinematography, acting was good, and I always love the use of no music), but it didn't really build tension or dread that well. So, it was still interesting to watch but you just never really get drawn in to what is happening.

Shocker.

The first part kind of boring it gets better on the second one, at least you can finish it.

Okay Movie

Pretty good! It's rather slow-burning for a while, which may put off today's over-anxious horror film audiences, but I think it creates dread more effectively than some of those non-stop hack-and-slash movies. Although Calvaire utilizes quite a few horror conventions (and one roundabout shot of protagonist and tormentors is basically a direct quotation from Texas Chainsaw Massacre), it does do quite a few things differently. A lone male hero, to boot, is almost unheard of in these movies.

Du Welz smashes TCM and Passion of the Christ together in a dreary Belgian village where the most horrible thing that can happen to a man is that he's treated the way men treat women. Unique little black horror comedy that, for good and bad, never plays the obvious beats.

I had seen this soon after it came out, and it didn't make much of an impression back then. This time I appreciated it more; it's a solid debut from Du Weitz, and demonstrates his skill to take genre setups and turn them into more realistic, more European (Belgian?) interpretations. This one owes a lot to e.g. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it's still its own thing. I liked the atmosphere, the gritty landscapes and couldn't tell where it was heading next. Also, it's a sort of Christmas film.

Out of the new wave of french horror films I've seen so far, this was definitely the hardest one to get through, so I guess it fulfilled its intent. It's a bit uneven overall but it has some really good moments (like the bar scene, which was superb). I can't say I enjoyed or even liked this, but it's decent enough and I can appreciate it for what it is.