Fabrice Du Welz's Calvaire

Calvaire is a mix of comedy and horror that falls flat on both accounts. Its nearly impossible to make a horror comedy be successful on both fronts(you have to pick one and focus) and this film is another example of that.

The film tells the story of Marc Stevens(Laurent Lucas) a young singer who tours around to old folks homes and other venues of that sort. As he is driving along to a Christmas eve concert his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. He ends up staying at a rundown Inn that has a strange old operator. In the morning he wakes up to see his car being worked on by the old man. A horror movie ensues.

There was only one thing I liked about this film and that was the stylish manner the film was captured in. The film has a unique visual look and an interesting use of color(not exactly what the poster looks like but kinda like that). There is one particular shot at the climax of the film that was so impressive I actually had to stop and rewind and enjoy it again. Unfortunately there were not enough moments like this to save this film for me.

The main issue with this film is that its trying to be funny(albeit in a ridiculously offbeat way) as well as being scary at the same time. There is a scene in the middle of the film where a bunch of zombie looking country people start dancing in a bar. They dance like they have rigormortis while one of them bangs on a piano. I was dumbfounded by this scene because I had no idea why it was in the film. It definitely was not scary, and if it was supposed to be funny I could not really tell. The confusion that it left me with made me feel that it was just bad.

This film has a typical horror film setup done slightly above average which I'll give them credit for. But the interesting atmosphere slowly deteriorates as we have scene after scene not used to full potential. I kept waiting for something thrilling to happen in this film but every time something happened I was left underwhelmed. Save for a few very cool shots, this film is a dud.

2/5 "A bad mix of offbeat comedy and old school horror"