Vincent Must Die

Vincent Must Die starts from a bizarrely compelling premise: an ordinary man suddenly finds himself being violently attacked by random strangers without explanation. The film builds on this mystery with steady tension and a strong sense of unease, managing to keep the viewer engaged. A romantic subplot is introduced to give emotional weight to the protagonist's journey. While somewhat predictable, it doesn't feel out of place and adds depth to the character arc.

The film's biggest flaw lies in its refusal to offer any explanation - not even a hint - about the cause of the phenomenon. Given the strangeness of the premise, a little more clarity or thematic suggestion could have elevated the experience. Nonetheless, the film stands out for its originality, strong performances, and a consistent tone. It might not be the most memorable of its kind, but it certainly offers something different and intriguing.

No pun intended - so the director seems to think that it is a miracle we are not at each others throats all the time - I would not like to have him working as a psychiatrist .. that's for sure. But maybe he is on to something. Maybe conflict is within us ... can we evolve past it one day? Who knows? Evolution usually takes time.

That all said, the movie is quite obviously is showing an ugly side in society and humans overall. Where victims get blamed ... and have to endure consequences instead of the other way around. It starts more on the comedy side .. but gets quite serious towards the end. Still a lot of (dark) jokes on the way to that ... well "conclusion".

A lot of genres mixed up in this one - you'll either like that or don't ... hopefully you do.

This 2023 dark comedy Vincent Must Die (Vincent doit mourir) directed by Stéphan Castang and written by Mathieu Naert. The lead actors are Karim Leklou as Vincent and Vimala Pons as Margaux. It follows the early tradition of film looking at berserker rage and body horror like George Romero's The Crazies (1973) and David Cronenverg's Rabid (1977).

This societal rage theme was been explored in the recent like Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later (2002) and The Sadness (2021). Castang take on it here begins as a black comedy, as it's strength in storytelling. As the film goes on through its Act II and III it becomes darker, more apocalyptic story.

The premise is simple, Vincent (Leklou) start to be attack for no apparent reason, just due to their staring at him. As the story he starts to discover this unknown social phenomenon that has an underground community. The leads are very good performance but like with recent film productions it been criticized for using AI to do the English dubbing to it original French language.

In no way shape or form is it ok to replace working actors with a computer program. That is exactly what the company behind the english dubbing for this french film did. Complete with a genuinely terrible AI mask of the actors lips moving to attempt to match the awful audio. I would've rather a straight up dub with no lip matching. Or even better, I would've like no dubbing at all and read subtitles. Despicable AI dubbing and visual effects ruined this film.

My advice, wait for this to come to video and watch the original language. Down with AI in all it's forms in the creative industry.

0 out of 5.

You might think that this is a metaphor or a social commentary on the increasing violence in the real world, but somehow I feel that we're already living part of this plot in our daily life, just by looking at the wrong person in the wrong moment or place and trigger their aggression for no apparent reason.

This film kept me on the edge of my seat for most of its duration!

I really liked the idea behind it, where Vincent starts getting attacked out of the blue by random people, but quickly tries to figure out the problem, realizing it has something to do with keeping direct eye contact with them.

Great idea and strong execution, up until the end, where the movie shifts to a different path, one that I didn't like. I would've preferred if the plot had remained focused on Vincent and maybe on those few initial people he found who shared the same issue.

The blend of horror or thriller with dark comedy is actually quite smooth. There are moments when you might find something amusing in a scene, only to feel completely disgusted or shocked moments later by something really raw! And all of it to actually make sense.

The reason for the whole situation is never clarified, but it doesn't feel like a problem giving how well the film portrays Vincent navigating through every threat he encounters. You soon start to feel concerned with whether he will make it out alive, rather than why this is happening.

The actor (Karim Leklou) was a great choice for the role, as his whole initial vibe would make anyone wonder why would someone have issues with him.

Aside from the ending and a few scenes that didn't quite make sense for me (although I thought I paid enough attention, but cannot give more details to avoid spoilers), I feel like this movie is really worth watching and I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did!