Movies
‘The Most Assassinated Woman In the World’ Dies Over and Over Again
Set to premiere at BIFF, we have your first look at Franck Ribiere‘s The Most Assassinated Woman In the World, which is set against the backdrop of the infamous Theatre Grand Guignol.
The story revolves around iconic actress Paula Maxa (Anna Mouglalis) – the most famous of the Grand Guignol’s leading ladies and the titular Most Assassinated Woman, who was graphically slain on stage multiple times a day.
The name Franck Ribière may not ring a bell, but the site explains that he’s the producer of Álex de la Iglesia (Witching and Bitching, The Perfect Crime, The Oxford Murders, The Last Circus) and a string of other Spanish movies (Cell 211, Extinction, El niño). His fiction debut, freely inspired by historical events, is a suspenseful theatre thriller described in the vein of The Illusionist and The Prestige.
BIFFF writes:
“Who was the most assassinated woman in the world? This dubious honor befell Paula Maxa, the star of the Grand Guignol Theater in the Pigalle district of Paris at the beginning of the 1930s. On stage, she was murdered more than 10,000 times in at least 60 different ways and raped at least 3,000 times. In the dramatized film version, we meet an imperturbable woman who hides a terrible family secret. Writer and director André de Lorde, nicknamed “The Prince of Terror”, practically keeps her under lock and key with the help of a psychiatrist. Until one day, a young journalist pays a visit for an article he’s writing and he starts suspecting the famous theatre is somehow involved with a series of gruesome murders. Upon meeting Paula, he falls head over heels in love and he also learns about her painful past. Will he be able to save her from the clutches of the shady characters surrounding her?”
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
You must be logged in to post a comment.