Movie Details
| Title: | Malefique | |
| Director: | Eric Valette | |
| Year: | 2002 | |
| Genre: | Horror | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 10.09.05 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 10.09.05 | Alamo South Lamar | This Screening is part of event: FantasticFest 2005 After an unsuccessful go at trying to get all the responsible parties behind the fest together for a group photo (sorry), I took my seat for Malefique, a movie Kier-la describes as Lovecraft meets Papillon. A group of inmates locked in the same room of a French prison discover a book of magic hidden away behind a loose brick. They start reading the book in hopes of finding a spell that would enable their escape. I talked to a guy who saw this in a previous screening and he mentioned two things about which I now feel i should state right up front: 1. one of the main characters is a pre-op transsexual and, like Bob in Fight Club, has big bitch tits. 2. In one scene, there's a talking/winking vagina. How can it talk AND wink you ask? The only answer I can give is Movie Magic. It's quite a sight however, hopefully it won't show up in any nightmares. So I am a huge Lovecraft fan, and enjoy some of the movies out there made from his work. SOME. Most of them however, even the ones I like, I don't think resemble his work that much. They usually take a few names or symbols and paste them onto whatever completely different horror movie they're trying to make. This one comes pretty close though. It's claustrophobic, moves from banal to fantastique, and ends... unwell. Some Elder Gods are thrown out in incantations and whatnot for good measure, and I finally get to hear how words like "ftagn" are pronounced. One notable scene involves a spell to move through stone but the book warns that the effects are fleeting. What happens next is very rewarding to a twisted gore hound like me. It was also very hazy and deliberate with its pacing... watching it on the last day created an interesting effect where time seemed to expand and contract throughout. I was so caught up in it that I didn't realize how late it was running until the last scene, where I proceeded to snap out of it and freak out a bit. I blame the short that preceded this. It was like 20 minutes long and the story was so simple that choosing to take that much time to tell it was really pretty offensive. If there were morals and ethics laws dealing with short films, I would give the director of Domoi: The Voyage Home a ticket. It should know better. Malefique was good though, and as usual I found Kier-la's summation to be correct (yes, I'm kissing ass. Sue me) |
