User Reviews

Sheitan (three and a half stars)

Director Kim Chapiron Writer Christian Chapiron, Kim Chapiron Stars Vincent Cassel, Olivier Bartélémy, Roxane Mesquida, Nico Le Phat Tan, Leïla Bekhti, Ladj Ly, Julie-Marie Parmentier Certificate tbc Running time 94 minutes Country France Year 2006

Some French youngsters leave a nightclub (we get a glimpse of a record called Sheitan on the DJ decks) with one of them wounded after an argument with the bartender. A sexy young girl (that more than one of the boys in the group is after) suggests going to her place - a farmhouse in the countryside. They are broke, and steal food and petrol on the way. When they get there, it's daylight. They lark about in a field with some goats, including an iconic-looking black goat, before Housekeeper Joseph meets and greets them. So far we have little indication of what sort of movie we are getting into, beyond a few hints that the easily-offended should have left before their curfew.

Racist and sexist jokes went through a phase where it was unacceptable to use certain words, but then the award winning British TV show, The Office, pushed boundaries by making politically incorrect jokes in a self-conscious, squirming way. Suddenly it was OK for tell these gags if you simultaneously showed how offensive they were. Sheitan starts doing this with its 'Chink' and 'Camel Rider' references that many of the leading characters find odious. What else? Sex and horror? The standard Hammer-Horror formula of nubile women, sexual innuendo and scary monsters was frequently toned down when American slasher films put limits on the amount of sexuality. Not so in France. And why not? Images of sexual repression mesh well with frighteningly Freudian dreams and should be fair game for filmmakers.

I don't want to suggest that this gross-out film is high art - it's not - but it is refreshing to see a movie where the story has free rein to include any sort of repulsive symbolism, from a crazy, high libido woman getting sexual with a dog (when the human object of her desire rejects her advances), to an encounter with a Muslim women whose fears are given nasty vent in a practical joke involving large amounts of insects. A serious criticism of many horror movies is that women were more frequently portrayed as victims; while has some mileage, it is important to distinguish routine treatment of women-as-victims from graphic exploration of psychological themes. Fear of sex, compounded by fear of rape, or compounded (in either sex) by religious suppression of sexuality, are valid topics for the artist exploring these issues, and such examination may even further understanding on a deeper level.

Sheitan leads us into a dark and nasty story of satanism by something of the back door. We are confounded by familiar American-Pie -style pantie-sniffing humour and a wave of French, adrenalised joie-de-vivre, propelled at maniacal speed and an outstanding performance by Vincent Cassel as the grinning housekeeper. His character is a remarkable accomplishment. Offputting, looking a bit like the ugliest of the goats, but exuding a camaraderie and hospitality which the guests find hard to refuse, even when he suggests hot-spring skinny-dipping that challenges not only the youngsters sense of possession towards the girls with them, but their homophobia when the rather Pan-sexual (if you'll excuse the pun) Joseph teams up with one of the lads that seems (sexually) the weakest or least dominant of the group.

Arguments between the Christians, Muslims and atheists over dinner give Joseph the opening he needs to get the subject onto his favourite topic, while the give-away tip-offs in the name of his dog, the Chucky-like preparations of his pregnant nutter wife, and his getting all protective over basilisks should give an inkling of what might be to come. (This subtly hints at how the western-style Devil is a creation of religion, specifically Roman Catholicism.) The sight of the nauseating Joseph slobbering over his wife before she gives birth may have turned your stomach too much to pay attention, but Sheitan, for all its flaws, deserves to become a cult favourite.

The rather psychotic ending feels a bit of a mish-mash but, if you keep your eye on the girl at the centre of it all, you can make some kind (or various kinds) of sense of it. Sheitan is one of the cleverest late-night nasties of recent years and is worth more than the fast food you may vomit up if you have the temerity to eat first.

I continue my adventures in French inspired movies, by seeing this French Movie. You can't get more French-inspired than in France. I definitely feel like this movie put me through a roller-coaster and while I was leaving the park, it came out of nowhere and kicked me in the balls. The first twenty minutes or so I thought I was in a French remake of Stereo Future, minus the oxygen high.

So there's these 3 guys, like the three musketeers. One is Moroccan, one is Vietnamese and the weaselly one must have been the Frenchman. They meet these 3 girls at the club. They get together and this one girl, the tempting-if-you-like-that-kind-of-thing Roxane Mesquida, suggests they drive for hours and hours, into the middle of nowhere to her house. And can you believe this was all caused by one guy's insatiable sex drive?? OK, so the other 2 guys weren't exactly paddling in the opposite direction. At this point I was still intrigued, yet having a creeping suspicion that this was either going to go the way of Miike's Audition or the way of the Descent. It's funny, because it does neither. It goes completely in the opposite direction and then kicks you, again. While you are walking away in pain, it comes back and kicks you once more.

The departure signals the end of the beginning and the revealing of the true nature of the movie. It really wants to be a French version of the Wicker Man in the context of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And this is where you start to wonder about Occam's Razor and the possibility that this movie could recovery from a totally, out-of-control spiral towards Terra firma.

It doesn't. The movie had me when I thought it was a light affair and still had me when they were toying more with the love and less with killing. When the movie went towards crazy hillbillies, I was having flashbacks of the appropriate episode of the X Files, Jeffrey Dahmer and a H.P. Lovecraft story I once read (about a guy living in one of those isolated New England farmhouses - think of the introduction to Tales of the Darkside the series). By the end you are cursing the movie for making you watch, because there was a glimmer of hope and it managed to rope you in until the end.

Much like the character Thai, this movie blocks you on multiple fronts. The worst of it all is I don't think there was one death. They must have been saving money from the special effects and extras, to pay for the catered food. There were some assaults and body parts removed, but nothing you couldn't live without. I was further reminded of the similar results in Wolf Creek. At least that had carnage. Both movies were lengthy and took too long to develop. This movie was almost over before something happened. The extra night before X-Mas element should have opened the door for the original Black Christmas and Tales from the Crypt Santa episode. It was wasted as well. And again just like Thai, this movie will leave you unsatisfied and lying in a pool of your own blood. Do yourself and your loved ones a favor and skip this one.

-Celluloid Rehab

A group of young party adults at a disco decide to have a weekend after party at Eve's (Roxane Mesquida) country home. Bart (Olivier Barthelemy) is the obnoxious one in the group and doesn't fit in. At the home we meet Josef (Vincent Cassel) a half-wit caretaker who always has an idiot's smile on his face. He likes Bart. They have an interesting dinner and then...

At dinner we discover Sheitan means devil. There is a low level religious discussion and Josef explains what could be the plot, leaving out the creepy dolls. He keeps us engaged in the film, not knowing if he is the antagonist or protagonist considering the group. The group is supposed to be out partying on Christmas Eve, and then the next night at the manor is also Christmas Eve. I just went with it.

The film is in French with English or Spanish subtitles.

Guide: F-word. Groping. Nudity (male/female)

I can find nothing good about this movie aside from the fact that I did not turn it off. But I tend not to turn movies off simply on principal.

The directing was straight from 8th grade video production class with Mr. Pumpitus, the dialogue was insulting at best, there were no likable characters (so much so that it was disappointing that none of them died), and the plot has been recycled so much that it is now full of holes.

I suppose the one star is for something that I have never seen before: a woman giving a dog a hand job.

Do not dignify this movie by paying to watch it.

Kicked out of Styxx nightclub in Paris, a group of young men & women head to the country for a new place to party away Christmas Eve. There, they meet a strange (VERY strange) shepherd who is setting up for a Satanic ritual to bring the devil's seed into the world (which came about from some good ol' fashioned backwoods incest).

Although I would've preferred a more serious Frontière(s)-like approach to a film like this that would've resulted in a brutally serious movie, the fact that it was more of a comedy actually wasn't too bad. With as vicious as some of the more popular French horrors have been recently, a little humour can go a long way. I mean, when Vincent Cassel's character, Joseph, was asking Bart to hop on his shoulders to play Water Chicken. . . it was probably the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Actually, anytime Joseph (in either gender) opened his mouth, it was pretty hilarious. But, unfortunately. . . he was the only thing that kept this film from being a total mess. Probably the most obvious problem I had with it was the fact that there was almost NO horror (or even thriller) action for the entire first hour or more of the film. It was mostly character development, which was unnecessary as all of the characters were pretty one-dimensional. Luckily, however, when the brief (like '20 minutes out of an hour and a half' kinda brief) chunk of horror actually begins, it is fairly violent and a little bit disgusting. But, again, it was not enough to save the film. The story was, well, strange. . . but original, at least. As the story headed towards the convoluted ending, it kind of lost it for me. Beyond that, there's nothing much else to say about this film other than. . . well, it just didn't feel worth the time to me.

Final verdict: 6/10. Rather disappointing.

Vive La France!

-AP3-

After reading comments on the forum about this movie on this site I felt compelled to react. I am always amazed how some people always make more of a movie than it actually is. Of course it is obvious that this movie is about the devil or devilish acts. Some reviewers talk about references to short movies and about symbolism. I doubt that there are many viewers who actually have seen these movies. If this truly was the director's intention than I think that he is asking too much of the viewer. And I must admit that there is some symbolism but is not very clear. For that to work properly you have to repeat certain symbols in order to raise attention. And I did get the most obvious one, namely the title. The title is Sheitan (Satan). You can't get any clearer than that. The plot is not difficult or confusing. But it tries to be. Unfortunately there simply isn't much to it. And if for some reason you didn't get the meaning of the title and what the film is trying to make you understand it all gets explained when Joseph (Vincent Cassel) tells the story about a man who made a deal with the devil. Guess what? He is the man who made the deal. Take a good look at Maria, his wife. She looks like Vincent Cassel and in fact is Vincent Cassel (not Georgette Crochon, that person doesn't exist, meant as a joke I think or to trick the more curious viewer). Suggesting that Maria is his sister. What was the director trying to do? This movie isn't scary or thrilling! Well, there are some funny scenes but overall this movie is not very interesting or at least entertaining. The characters who are very important are not likable at all. I didn't care for them and I sure didn't mind if they get hurt or killed. BTW that is one of my main issues I have with bad horror titles. If you are not going to deliver horror goodness so to say then at least bring something else to the table to draw me by for example making me care about the characters. The only redeeming factor is Vicent Cassel. He alone should be the reason to consider watching Sheitan. The promise of a wonderful climax that never comes and the failure to offer some nice entertainment make this a movie to be missed.

I do have to add that Vincent Cassel did this project because of his increasing involvement with Kourtrajmé. A collective hell-bent on making video shorts by any means possible. "They are of that generation that says, 'I've got a camera and a computer, I don't need any money to do what I want to do,'" says Cassel. "They shoot, edit, shoot, edit. Then they give it away for free."( Cited from article Rebel rebel: Why Vincent Cassel is Europe's most dangerous movie star.)

Well, you have to admit, such films could have never appeared in the USA. Only in Europe can such a ferocious, a sheer movie appear. Well, if you still are in doubt tell me if you can easily recollect any recent American movie with so much full frontal male nudity, with the goat's milking scene and so terrifying horror scenes? The plot is quite simple, and it tells about a young men's company going out to the country with two accidental girls in order to have some fun and so on. The sheer horror starts to build up when they all arrive to a large old house. The scenes of horror are so realistic that if you suffer weak nerves, never watch them. All those birth scenes, goggling eyes, blood are so frightening that you have to make a pause and catch a breath for a moment. Bad thing is that this film sees no boundaries - so much blood, so much open violence that there is really off the limit. Anyway, Mr. Kassel is as usual excellent in his delivery and his big rotten yellow teeth in the film are in fact the most disgusting thing. Watch it, but do not allow your kids to do it too.