Sheitan (V)
| release date | December 26 2006 |
| studio | Tartan |
| director | Kim Chapiron |
| writer | Kim Chapiron |
| starring | Vincent Cassel, Roxane Mesquida, Olivier Barthelemy, Ladj Ly, Nico Le Phat Tan, Leïla Bekhti, Julie-Marie Parmentier, Gérald Thomassin, Guillaume Bacquet, |
| rating | R |
| site | lesheitan.com |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
2 Comments
Did I watch the same film? Seriously…this was like a stoned 15 year old making a movie to shock his parents with. A bunch of moronic, obnoxious, wannabes, that I wanted to die within the first 5 minutes, go to the country where the director tries a pathetic attempt at Blue Velvet meets the Devil’s Rejects? There was nothing tense, shocking, or even watchable about this pile. I guess I’m just clueless because while everyone is licking the French’s boots lately, I thought this, Inside, and High Tension were all ridiculously overrated films that bored the hell out of me.
This bitch under me needs to shut up becasue this is one of the most fun movies you’ll ever see. It totally blows Rob Zombie to poopoo land because the goods are all right here, you’ve got humor, scares, everything is like a circus with all the cool shots and strange but fun atmosphere with CRAZY characters. A supper sexy, stylish, and freakshow movie that you’ll have such a fun time watching! It’s not what you’re expecting, it’s much more than that.
Sheitan seems pretty fucking ridiculous at first, but if you pay attention to the dinner scene and all the bible references, it’s actually a pretty damn intelligent film. However, what hurts it is that, outside of Eve (played by the absolutely stunning Roxane Mesquida), there is not a likable character in this movie. I mean, Vincent Cassel (who’s awesome in pretty much everything he does, such as Irréversible, La Haine, Read My Lips, Eastern Promises, Mesrine, etc.) as Joseph is funny as hell and of course you dig him as the villain, but my God.. the “good guys” were all annoying as shit and you sat there wanting to see them get killed off. I thought American Horror remakes had a bad habit of casting people like that, but man this film has that problem worse than any other I think I’ve ever seen.
But other than that… still a very enjoyable film for the most part, and it is fucking hilarious, with hints of absolute brilliance here and there. Check it out if you haven’t.
I though this film had a good spin on the ol “don’t go in that family’s house because there evil premise”. I was impressed at how they created a very disturbing film without any real gore and instead used strange behaviours from the family as well as some bible refrences to provide the overall theme of evil and sins. I liked how film tied in the bible refrence in the beginning “Do not forgive them as they do know what they do” Which deals with the theme of the main characters as all of there behaviours are sin related, think about as there action are tied to lust. satanslilsunbeam, calling Inside and High tension boring is ridiculous, you may not like them but dont say such stupid things as people reading them will see how much of a moron you truly are. Anybody who comes across this movie will know in a vague way what they will be getting into as this movie can only be found for truly die hard horror lovers, and if a so called horror buff didn’t like this then fuck you cause you aint a horror buff
French horror movies, I love them all – except this one. I don’t care about bible references or crazy characters as long as it’s a good movie – but Sheitan is just terrible. The first 60 minutes are just boring, no action, no suspense, nothing. the remaining 30 minutes… well, nothing special. A hilarious Vincent Cassel goes bananas, some insects in a bed, a fat woman has a baby, some idiot dreams shit – what the fuck? terrible, TERRIBLE movie
If one can look back to the public perception of Foreign films, French films in particular used to be renowned for how pretentious they were. How they strove to be odd for the sake of odd. Fans were quick to throw out terms like avant-garde to describe these films, but for the most part, they were often just very odd, somewhat meaningless films.
With the recent spate of quality horror films out of France, High Tension, Inside, Martyrs and Frontier, I had high expectations for Sheitan. Sheitan of course is another name for the devil, so with a title like that I figured I would be in for some entertainment.
At its core, Sheitan is about a young sexy woman who convinces a group of friends to drive out to her place in the French countryside to party. Oddly enough, nearly all of these people are really horrible human beings. They are your typical yabos, by which I mean loudmouthed, loser kids who pretty much think that the way to live life is through living like the people in rap music videos.
The young woman introduces the group to her family’s groundsmen, played in an oddly compelling and strangely disturbing fashion by Vincent Cassel (the Messenger). Really every other character introduced in the town are just kind of odd. In particular is a young woman that the groundsmen identifies as his niece. She is almost alarmingly and overwhelming sexual, to the point that she actually turns off Bart, the loudest of the kids from the city.
Sheitan is best at making the audience feel uncomfortable. It is full of uncomfortable staring, odd remarks and bizarre instances of sex. In particular the niece tries displaying how sexually aggressive she is by playing with Bart’s dog’s penis. It was a decidedly disturbing scene that left me scratching my head as to why it was included. There was the start of a three-some, perhaps the director felt that sex and violence go hand in hand.
When the third act begin and the violence commences, there is never really any explanation involved as to why it started. Vincent Cassel starts attacking people out of the blue and things progress from there. When the climax occurs, perhaps the only positive thing I can point to is an odd dream sequence that occurs. When I found out big reveal I really just wanted the credits to start rolling. I found nothing about it compelling, interesting or even noteworthy.
So while we have recently been subjected to some masterful French horror films, Sheitan is not to be included amongst them. While it does succeed at making the audience cringe and feel uncomfortable, it really mostly just fails as a horror film.
This movie was not like I thought it was going to be at all, infact Inside was roller coaster ride and this was like riding the tea cups lame…. sure they had to put some weirdness in it but was still lame totally I really thought the title it was going to be a gore fest totally instead we got a junk fest. I loved Martyrs totally the ending was great at lease ok we got a story line there. High tension sucked for me hated it. Also Inside was awful but at lease I watched it.
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Another great entry into the French film library. The basic story line isn’t that surprising, but it ends up being something great and the story certainly gets better as it goes. The acting of Vincent Cassell is absolutely frightening, and made me uncomfortable multiple times throughout the film. His character is the best character of the film easily, b/c the rest of the cast gets a little annoying.
The film stays at a steady pace, building up to an intense last 20 minutes. Def worth a watch.
What a pathetic little waste of my time. Can I PLEASE have those 90 minutes back. As a TREMENDOUS fan of Inside and a decent fan of Martyrs reading the reviews I was like, okay, this sounds like one I have to try. SKIP THIS!!!! It’s a complete waste of time. There is nothing redemptive about this waste of celluloid. I must have watched a different version of Sheitan than some the reviewers because there was nothing, I repeat, NOTHING worth watching here. What a complete waste of time. Honestly, I have never rated a movie lower than this one on Bloody Disgusting.
On a dark Christmas Eve in France, three men follow a young woman, Eve, back to her rural country home for a good time. Upon arrival, they meet the house’s caretaker Joseph, a wild-haired farm-type who leaves an unsettling first impression. The house itself is a massive, rotting plantation with peeling walls and scratched banisters that echo the manor in High Tension and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Rooms throughout the house are littered with spare doll and marionette parts, a graveyard of plastic limbs and baby faces, and as the hours pass, the sex-fueled game of chase continues to no avail. Slowly, the gentlemen realize that something else may be lurking in the house that wants them far more than they desire Eve.
About a third of the way through Sheitan, the plot loses its footing and clumsily sets up B and C stories that distract from the central conflict of what will happen to the men inside Eve’s house. While the protagonists stumble through underwhelming sexual encounters and dialogue and fringe members of Joseph’s family are slowly revealed, other questions remain unanswered: What does Satan have to do with this other than that one conversation during dinner? Is the fetus baby Satan? And as the main character (who was so forgettable in contrast to Eve and Joseph that I can not even remember his first name) finds himself in an awkward dream sequence near the end of the film, the audience realizes that these questions will never be addressed.
While there are few genuinely striking and disturbing pieces of imagery (the incident with the dog in the cave, the film’s final shot), the majority of this French foreign horror film plays like Hollywood fluff. The lack of depth within the characters and story could have been excused had the filmmakers played into their copious opportunities for camp. Much like Joseph as he details his violent incest and the wrath of the Devil, Shetain spends too much time taking itself seriously and not enough time realizing that on the outside, it just looks like frenzied circus sideshow that needs to get to the fucking point already.
At the beginning of the film, a DJ looks towards us and asks “Are you ready for this?” And the answer is “No.” You can never prepare for a film like Satan and the less you know about it the better. Just imagine if The Ordeal committed incest to Frontiers and its demented and completely unhinged child turned out to be Satan. That’s the kind of film you’re going to get here people. Now although Satan doesn’t quite reach the superior heights of Calvaire or Frontiers, it nevertheless proves that France know the definition of the word ‘horror’. I very nearly gave Satan a 9/10, but I couldn’t really give it anything less than a 10 because Satan actually scared me. Now this is a big thing for me as horror films never scare me. The last films to properly scare me were The Ordeal and Noroi: The Curse (and the ending to Sinister). By the time Satan had finished I had chills all down my spine, and those chills lasted for quite some time. Satan is a horror masterpiece.
Now, I can totally see why Satan has such a low rating and why people slag it off all the time because it really is not your typical horror film. You may go into it expecting a slasher, but Satan is so much more than that. It relies heavily on atmosphere and suspense, and even when the slasher elements do arrive, they are anything but formulaic of the genre! For most people Satan will look like a messy exploitation film, and you may very well think it to be the worst film you’ve ever seen. But if you ‘get’ it and all its horrific brilliance, then you are in for one of the best horror films of the decade. Now many films leave me feeling horrified, but this left me with my jaw nearly on the floor, in complete shock of what I’ve just watched. And I regard myself as a connossieur of the genre.
From its opening titles Satan completely caught my eye. I was just praying that all the negative reviews I’d read were wrong, because a truly brilliant film deserves titles and an opening as stylish as this. The night club scene is fabulously directed and carries such a wonderful stuffy atmosphere which only develops more and more as the film goes on. We get to know the characters, who aren’t particulary likable, but at least they have character. Most American efforts feature one dimensional teenagers who try desperately hard for you to like them. Satan isn’t ashamed of showing amoral human beings, and it’s refreshing to see such rich characters in a horror film. Besides Satan is Joseph’s show!
When the group get to the farm house, a sense of isolation and dread pervails throughout the film. We’re introduced to Joseph who is fantastically played by an unrecognisable Vincent Cassel. Joseph clearly is… Let’s say mentally challenged to be polite, and his derranged antics begin as something quite hilarious, but by the end of the film turns into something astonishingly creepy and disturbing. It is important to note that Satan is funny, there’s a strong element of black comedy but it adds to the film if anything and it knows when to let the comedy stop to create power.
Some people go on about how the film takes an hour for it to get going. I would strongly disagree. In this first hour I was compelled at the wonderful build-up and memorably disturbing moments. The scene in the hot springs for example really builds up tension, character and is also incredibly disturbing. There’s a great sense of unease and a strong sinister atmosphere. We’re also treated to some quite outstanding directing in the vein of The Ordeal. It captures the darker side of the countryside and is always incredibly lively, never allowing the audience to nod off. The main house itself is also a masterful production design with its oppressive wallpaper and clutter which all adds to the whole scariness of the situation.
It’s from the dinner scene that things really start to esculate into derranged madness. A supernatural element is brought to the table which allows for different interpretations and is actually very clever. The whole doll-maker idea is very creepy and there’s some very scary imagery. This is the part where people start getting killed off, but the directing and editing is done in such an unusual way, that it’s anything but predictable. I had no idea what was going to happen, or indeed what was happening! It’s absolutely thrilling and captivating as well as being very very scary. Thus doing what a horror film is supposed to do. It also goes down some very shocking avenues and the final shot evoked chills and a feeling of pure horror. Even thinking back to that final shot now I feel scared! The credits are even terrifying, briging the film into real life!
For me (and others) Satan is a horror masterpiece. I think that we should be hailing this and it deserves endless praise for being one of the most insane, unpredictable, stylish and downright scariest horror films ever! It can sit proudly amongst the other unbelievably great French horror films (The Ordeal, Frontiers, Martyrs, Inside) all of which I think are some of the best horror films of all time. It once again proves that the French really do know the meaning of the word ‘horror’. Satan is just a mass of energy with some striking directing and visuals that just left me breathless. It’s weird! I may be in the minority here, but I know that there are others who would agree with me. Satan is a horror classic!