La tour

For some reason, I initially had a different movie in mind when I started watching this, and it took me a while to realize that I was actually watching a different film. Nevertheless, Lockdown Tower turned out to be quite an intriguing viewing experience, and my feelings about it are somewhat mixed.

The movie kicks off well, drawing me into its narrative. The early segments set high expectations, but unfortunately, this momentum doesn't sustain itself until the end. As the story progresses, it somewhat stagnates, with few novel ideas or events being introduced. The extensive cast complicates matters, making it challenging to discern who's who and which side they're on.

Make no mistake: the movie implies eerie and disturbing events within the tower. However, the intense atmosphere established in the beginning gradually dissipates. Eventually, the movie concludes rather abruptly, leaving viewers with lingering unanswered questions.

Am I satisfied that I watched the movie? Yes. Would I watch it again? No. There are some logical flaws and an unrealistic timeline that raised my eyebrows and caused frustration. Nevertheless, Lockdown Tower represents a noteworthy and distinctive addition to the genre of films where horror emanates from the dynamics within the community of survivors.

I will be clear; this movie atmosphere reminded me strongly other French features released before the COVID plague: DANS LA BRUME, LA NUIT A DEVORE LE MONDE, or even Xavier Gens' THE DIVIDE. I insist, not the plot, but the overall atmosphere. Guillaume Nicloux used us to weird tales but not this kind. As a novelist, he wrote disturbing stories too. This movie is so far one of my favourite from him. The suburb, ghetto towers settings can make it a social film and that's not so surprising. I was stuck, glued to this story, that is never boring. A social disturbing drama that analyses the human behavior between several kinds of communities, several kinds of people. I guess the COVID plague inspired this plot; and it was not the only example since 2021, after the movie shootings resumed.

No pun intended - I had heard good things about this, so I though I'd give it a try. Unfortunately the very good idea ... well let's just say I feel there could have been way more to the movie than the final product gives us. While the effects are good and there are some shock effects ... I do wonder ... not about what is beyond, but what could have been ... in a better world.

The movie starts off quite on a high level (no pun intended here either) ... and we are trapped with everyone inside. From there on the movie goes off - well not literally of course. And what does that do to the people inside the house? It feels like someone really though about it ... but there could have been even more tough.

Just remember to never take a tour in this house ...

I can't believe this film is from the same director who made "Cette femme-là" or "Le Poulpe" (both brilliant movies).

Since those films, Nicloux made some good or average films but never a really bad film.

Now he has!

I rarely rate a 1 on a film on IMDB, but I really can't find anything positive in "La Tour" except maybe the starting idea.

The rest doesn't deliver as it is basicaly a short movie material extended to the maximum to make a feature film.

The result is very very painfull to watch and I felt the film would never end. End credits at 1h25 were a deliverance!

It is a lazy written film, badly shot with most mediocre interpreters.

Really nothing to save here, except your time if you're reading this.

Avoid at all costs!

PS: You'd better watch "Blindness" or "The divide" if you're interested in interactions between humans during end of times.

Guillaume Nicloux is definitely one of the most known French filmmakers and has made beautiful movies. Nicloux knows how to deal with the same topics while making very different films. Human nature, claustrophobia and the idea of trap were already present, for instance, in his poetic and beautiful VALLEY OF LOVE, with the giants Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert.

His new film takes a clearly different path, with a very different cast and atmosphere. It poses itself as a "horror film" about a post-apocalyptic world in a tower. Well, THE TOWER is not really horror, or at least, we can say it's not as bloody nor gore than horror movies such as SAW or similar films.

This is first a film about society and social relationship. What's at the center of the story is the behavior of 150 people (or, more precisely, of 3 clans) who are forced to live together inside a tower, for years. So, the supernatural fog element here is only a pretext and doesn't represent the horror of the film. The fog is stil a nice concept, and being only a pretext works, for the movie (and its horror) is about human nature... which is really ugly, and devastating.

Still, one can regret that the concept is not used at its maximum potential. We would have loved to know better the characters, and the film to deal with psychological relations between the different characters, ie., how everyone reacts differently to the event. This is what we could have expected, as the film's promise, but it won't happen. Unfortunately, we can't really identify with the characters, and we don't care if one dies or doesn't: they're two dimensional, and not engaging (despite a great cast!), for we know nothing about them. Instead, they form different clans, and the whole film deals with the battle of these clans. Again, there are certainly lots of Nicloux's fears in this, as he mentioned THE TOWER was probably his most personal film. So, having different clans tells a lot about human nature, according to him, and is not an issue. The issue is that we, STILL, would have loved to know better the main protagonists.

The film is full of suspense and tension (camera work, lightings, costumes, settings are all great work), but again, suspense would have been much increased if we knew the characters better. The claustrophobic mood adds a lot, while the organization of the food in the pic is really disturbing. A disturbing experience with a feeling that something is unfinished.