Okay. I'm not gonna lie to you...I'm a suck for good bad B horror. If they're done right then they can real fun and a real treat. One of the main reasons I write these reviews is to talk about films people haven't seen or just because afew people saw it and didn't like... so they put a bad rap on the film. I heard about this film awhile ago and it wasn't until I saw the trailer for it that I became really interested in this French popcorn film about demons and seeing a hot chick kick demon ass. Now the catch to B horror is that sometimes you can be burnt and I didn't want to be burnt again.So I waited off on the buying it until I could find it cheaper and finally I did.
This film is great. It's stupid, it's fun but it really creative. You can tell about of passion went into this film. It's a comic book come to life. It's like the comic pages were put on the screen instead of paper. It took me back to Sin City which is the first real comic film I had seen. I loved everything about this film. It plays out just like comic action horror. You have the hot Mallory played by the really yummy Olivia Bonamy. God, this girl is great. She fits the role perfectly and looks so hot. I loved all the red and her "I don't care" attitude. Every time she was on screen it was treat. This film took me back to those old Saturday morning cartoons before they got all stupid in the late 90's. I was just having so much fun. I loved the film's plot and script. This is what Hollywood needs to look at when making films about female heroines. So many times they have gotten it wrong and continue to get it wrong. Here the writers(and director Julien Magnat) aren't trying to make this film more then it is... comic horror fun. That's it. It's funny but by accepting the film's concept and sticking to it they make everything follow correctly. It's a horror action comic book... it's has to be R. That's it... no sissy ass PG-13 here. Is the script perfect... no. But who cares. It works for the film. I didn't get this film to watch real life... I got it because I wanted it to be a fun treat and boy it was.
For being B horror and a small budget this film never felt like it. I believe that's because of director Julien Magnat. His talent and flair make this film feel like it way bigger then it was. It never felt budget restricted... instead those restriction made the film better and give it it's own look and feel. A lot of people compare this film to Buffy and I say it's better. Yeah yeah I said it. Buffy was okay but it was more of drama then a horror show. Bloody Mallory( which the only thing I see in common is an ass kicking female lead who kills demons) is more fun and popcorn. I loved the way the film took it's own kind of new rethinkings on classic demons...like ghouls and stuff. I loved the ideas this film had. I loved when Mallory went into the cursed town to find all the horrors of hell. It's fun yet very twisted. This film isn't scary, not at all but it's not suppose to be. It's camp horror. It's fun and twistly cool. Now once again... the person who made this move was Olivia Bonamy. She owned this movie hardcore. She is what big screen female heroes should be like. She's fine.... and I do mean really fine. But she has the acting chops to handle this role. I loved how she played Mallory and yet you could see alittle of her sweet side in that role. But best of all the script knew just who Mallory was too and never threw in stuff that had no point in being there.... like a cheesy love interest or wannabe touching character moments(like in Elektra and every other female fronted action movie) They had character moments here and even a hint at an love interest... but it fit the story and never felt out of place.
Director Julien Magnat is amazing here. He captures all the things that make this film feel just like a comic book come to life without over doing it(like in Catwoman). Here his style fits perfectly in the film. I loved his use of colors and different kind of colors that gave this film a real interesting look. I loved how he handled the characters straight forward and never let them feel like they were winking at the camera. He kept the characters in reality but everything else wasn't. Everything had this bigger than life feel to it. I loved it. I loved his directing. Once again... the French show me something new and fresh about directing and believe me I'm taking notes oh how to handle genre pictures right. Sure if this film had a bigger budget then then it would have been perfect but the film's lack of budget gives it it's charm. Believe me that this film isn't as bad as you think. When I mean low budget I don't mean what your thinking about... which is stuff with bad actors shot on video with really bad CGI.
No, I mean this film has some great acting, some laughs and is just plain cool. But this film isn't for everyone. So if your not a fan of this kind of genre or your too cool for school then it's not for you and go watch "Brokeback Mountain" something. I'm just interesting in fun and this film delivers.
