They Did Not Finish to be Alive
A little girl named Lucie escapes from an abandoned slaughterhouse where she was kept and tortured for a number of years. She is sent to an orphanage where she meets another girl named Anna. They become close friends as Anna helps nurse Lucie back to help. Fifteen years later, Lucie has found the ones who tortured her. Entrails really hit the fan when she goes to their house to exact her revenge.
All I can say after finishing this film is whoa! I feel I’d be doing a disservice to those who have not seen the film if I elaborate on the plot beyond what I’ve already said. All I will say is the film is basically split into three parts and each part is tougher to watch than the last. This French film falls into the same vein as other French “torture porn” films such as Inside, Frontiers and Haute Tension. There will also be comparisons to the Hostel movies but I reject that comparison outright! Hostel wishes it could be half as hardcore as this film.
What I enjoyed about this movie was how the violence was unflinching and realistic. It wasn't exploitive, either. The gore wasn't overly abundant but when it hit, it hit hard and hit with a purpose. The French have a knack for spreading the blood thick and messy and in a way that isn't entertaining but unnerving. One of the big differences I've noticed between American horror movies and French horror movies (and let me just admit that I haven't seen very many, to be fair) is that we tend to root for the killer more often than not. I don't think I've ever seen a slasher in which I hoped the dumb girl with the big rack wouldn't trip on that random patch of grass, twist her ankle and then crawl away from the demonic plumber as he breaks his plunger off into her torso. Alternately, I care about the French victims because there's some actual backstory on the characters and even when there isn't, they are put through so much that we can't help but to root for them after a while and hope that they can make it to the end. And I thank the French for that.
And the reasoning behind the madness! How beautifully twisted! I definitely wasn't expecting that and it brought a whole new dimension of thought, fear and discomfort. The film left me thinking and IMDBing it long after it was over and I love when a movie stays with me after the credits have rolled.
With that being said, it wasn't a perfect movie. While I thought the themes overall were great, some of them were handled in a clunky manner. Some of it was predictable. The last block also felt a tad long, although I completely understand why they did what they did. The ending, however, was fantastic and ambiguous but in the best way possible. Sometimes ambiguous endings can be really lame if not handled well but this film did a great job with the openness and the final image brought the film to a new level of depressing.
Check it out if you can. It's gory, gross, enlightening and frightening.
4.5 out of 5.
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