Among the Living

After watching Bustillo n Maury's Inside n Livid, i was very impatient to watch their Among the Living.

This movie was on my radar for a very long time. Finally saw this recently.

The early sequences are brightly shot and filled with some beautiful cinematography. The greenery, the lake, meadows, barn n the abandoned studio r all captured very well.

Another best part is the character development in the first half.

The movie works effectively because of its pacing and build up of suspense and frights.

I found the last 20 mins unpredictable n very tension filled.

The film is about kids at peril which is heavy for me but kudos to the makers for not showing any harm towards the kids.

I can't stand violence towards kids.

But thankfully most of the kills are offscreen, especially related to kids.

I disliked the scene where the father beats up his son.

The scene where the freak is on the top of a car staring the kid is downright creepy.

Another creepy scene is the time when the kid says that he doesn't have a clown.

Few flaws: How was the freak able to locate the addresses of all the three kids.

The pamphlet of the missing pet wud have got just one address.

Why no hunt for the main culprit?

Viewers may find shades of Hills Have Eyes, Stand By Me, Halloween, TCM, etc.

Three French school kids bunk off, burn down a barn then stumble across something horrific that will cost them and their loved ones dearly. I think the French are quite possibly at the forefront with horror cinema at the moment, this is a movie that I could imagine Rob Zombie wanting to make but it simply wouldn't be at this level. Here we have an interesting, though simple plot. There's gore, some pretty strong, but the film's strength for me was it's tension, reminded me of say John Carpenter's "Halloween". Very well filmed. I picked this up for a mere £1 from my local Poundland shop, what a fantastic bargain it turned out to be. I really don't understand the current 5.4/10 score. Perhaps many people don't like having to read subtitles!?

You have to be given the chance of believing in a film to enjoy it. The film starts brutally and unexpectedly and the appearance of a Goonies-style gang of boys promises fun and adventures mixed up with horror. However all your hopes quickly dissolve into nothing when the characters begin to behave in, to put it simply, stupid ways. The feeling that I got as a spectator was that the directors thought of scenes they wanted to shoot and then forced the characters to do things to make them happen and move on to the next one. To me, that sort of decision can kill a movie. I'm all up for suspension of disbelief, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Among the Living soon becomes some sort of cross between Friday 13th and Goonies, but it doesn't quite work. Shame - I loved "Inside", I've been reading these French guys' magazine "Mad Movies" since I was 15 and I REALLY wanted to like this film... but I couldn't.

After a gruesome prologue, featuring the glorious Beatrice Dalle, AMONG THE LIVING begins.

Three teenage friends skip school for a day of adventure, only to have their fun interrupted by a horrific event.

With nods to movies as diverse as STAND BY ME, HALLOWEEN, and JEEPERS CREEPERS, Directors Bustillo and Maury put their trademark, brutal spin on the "coming of age" / slasher horror film. Most of the gore and brutality are found at the beginning and end of the film, sandwiching in a decent story about the kids and the hell they inadvertently bring upon themselves and their loved ones.

While not as jarring as some of the Directors' other work, there is enough menace and oddness to make it a worthwhile watch...

You know how, in slasher movies, people get knifed/cut down/etc and then get up and carry on fighting? Well, to get it out of the way, it's not really a spoiler to say there's a fair bit of that during the second half of 'Among the Living.'

That is the nearest I can come to any kind of criticism concerning a film that, from the pre-credits sequence until the final line, is terrific. Compelling. Weird. And violent! Three of the main players are 14 years of age, and their tender years gave me the feeling that things wouldn't get too grim. Happily I was wrong. Victor (Theo Fernandez), Tom (Zacharie Chasseriaud) and 'nerdy' Dan (Damien Ferdel) are three scamps skiving school. They visit an abandoned film lot - an excellent location for horror, and one I'm surprised isn't featured more often. They are enjoyable company and very well played. They witness frightening brutality from Klarence (Fabien Jegoudez), who is a truly frightening individual.

No-one gets through this film without receiving some sort of bloody graphic punishment, and the audience is given no clue as to who will survive and who won't. I had a great time with this subtitled French film and recommend it fully. My score is 8 out of 10.