Livide (2011)
Starring: Chloe Coulloud, Felix Moati, Jeremy Kapone
Written & Directed by: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
Story:
Halloween day- Lucie begins a job as an
in-house caregiver, being trained by the older and slightly eccentric
Mrs. Wilson. They go from home to home administering shots and whatever else
their job entails. Their last stop is at a mansion separated from
society, where an old lady lives alone in a coma never expected to
awake. While chit-chatting with Mrs. Wilson, Lucie catches wind that
somewhere in the house is a treasure. Mrs. Wilson herself has tried
to find it many times, to no avail.
Halloween night- Lucie and two friends
go back to the mansion in search of riches that could change their
lives forever.
Review:
This is fairytale horror, folks. I can
imagine fans of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury being either
disappointed or at least bewildered that this was the choice for
their next film. In comparison to Inside (which is fucking
brilliant), Livide is on the complete other side of the spectrum.
While the base of the story is fairly easy to follow, there's so much bizarre imagery and random happenings littered throughout that
someone who is not a fan of occasional style over substance may be
turned off. It's pretty damn enterprising for the lore that's being
represented. I'm fairly certain that I'd never seen this particular
sub-genre demonstrated the way it is here. Actually, summing this up
as one particular sub-genre is really unfair; Livide is often all
over the place. It's a beautiful train wreck, in that sense.
It may be extremely pretentious of me
to say this, but I was already on the love boat for this fucking film
once I heard that it paid homage to Halloween III. It's nice to see
such an under appreciated film getting so much love as of late,
especially when the love is coming from all over the globe.
Bustillo and and Maury prove with Livide that their nerd boners are
just as big as ours, and it's an awesome sight to gaze
upon. It's not just “Hey, let's throw in a Halloween III nod to get
a few people smiling.” They give a big ole sloppy ass kiss to a
heap of classics here --An American Werewolf in London and Dellamorte
Dellamore, for a few more examples. And to take it even further, the duo aren't
just handing out Valentine cards to some of their favorite films;
they jump into bed with many masters of the art, as well.
The set design and lighting schemes
really remind me of old school Argento, and there is some play on
Suspiria here for certain. Anyone whom pays attention to color
setup will be pretty delighted by this. The scenery isn't all pretty,
though. Inside the mammoth house where the lot of the film takes
place is grimy gothic awesomeness- the type of shit that birthed my
fears of living in a large home. The frightening aspects of
Livide have an Argento-like atmosphere, too. What freaked me out the
most was all the stuff that was hard to process. I can't explain
because it needs to be seen, but I will say that there are quite a
few straight “What the fuck?” moments. On top of that, right around the halfway mark I was taken from being sunken in the couch in chill mode to hanging off the edge with my eyes wide open. The path that Bustillo and
Maury take to get us to the scares is a lengthy one, I won't lie. But
the buildup itself is paced really well and full of striking visuals.
Lastly, the characters we follow are engaging. I'm not saying you'll
like them all, but they definitely aren't boring.
The acting is pretty solid all across
the board, but Chloe Coulloud and Catherine Jacob as Lucie Klavel and
Catherine Wilson really stand out. Mrs. Wilson is an older lady
showing Lucie the ropes of her new job. She kinda has a rancid or careless attitude, while Lucie is soft spoken and refined. Coulloud and
Jacob really kill it together. The characters aren't besties at first
glance, and it's quickly apparent that they never will be. There
isn't any outright hate, but you can just tell that they aren't on
the same page with a lot of things. The two actresses clearly tap
into this, as well. At the same time, there is a slight level of
respect between the two. Of course, this is all early on, so it could
ultimately end up anywhere. One of the best elements of Livide is
surprise, so I'm moving on...
As far as SFX go, Livide pulls its junk out and blows a load all over Italian horror. There's
definitely some gory bits, seemingly Fulci influenced in a few parts.
CGI is really not bad either. Actually, it looks quite good most of
the time. This is also another instance where the lighting setup
helps, kinda hiding the computer imagery to an extent. I really dug the fantasy vibe of the movie, and that's where the CGI seemed
the most heavy. The finale came off kind of corny at first, but only
for a brief moment. Ultimately, I liked where it left me.
The film score is absolutely beautiful
and haunting, perfectly fitting the tone of the scenery. A few of
Beethoven's compositions are used and the scenes
almost come off as if they were filmed to weave in and out of his musical notes. It's pretty damn awesome. I love when classical music
is used in film correctly, and throwing it into a fantasy horror film
is just icing on the cake.
Final Thoughts:
Make no mistake, Livide is extremely
ambitious- so much that it may turn some people off on a first viewing.
It's definitely something I will watch many times, because I don't think you can fully absorb it all at once. I'm pretty
excited about watching it repeatedly, to be truthful. It may not be as intense, hateful or as
nasty as Inside, but that should be appreciated more than
anything else. Bustillo and Maury caught lightning in a fucking bottle the
first time around; a second attempt at capturing more of the same may
have very well set their asses on fire. Instead, here are two filmmakers
that go on a smarter trail, distancing themselves from what's
expected of them. These two dudes are nowhere near falling off their wagon
of greatness.
