A couple of Frenchies hit up Club Styxxx in Paris and through a series of shenanigans meet a girl named Eve (yeah, there's a fair share of symbolism in this one). After the group loser, Bart, gets kicked out of the club for instigating a fight and getting struck over the head with a bottle, Eve invites them all to her home in the countryside. There, our hapless teens meet Eve's family. This is a horror movie so of course, they're all a little off, notably housekeeper Joseph (played by the French Brad Pitt, Vincent Cassel).

Well, you get the picture. After some time, strange things start to happen... or do they?

Anyway, I think the French have made some of the best horror movies in the last decade and what with the release of two new ones (La Meute and Captifs), it looks like they've still got a few in them. I love French horror movies because while they're highly influenced by American horror movies, they're willing to take things just a little bit further, especially in terms of violence. They've also got a very French nihilistic tone to them and aren't afraid to be a little gloomy. While some have been over the top, they tend to be much starker than their shallower American counterparts.

Sheitan is an exception as much as it is not an exception. It's stark. It's a bit nihilistic. It's a bit violent. The violence in Sheitan was actually a lot more realistic than most horror movies and tended to be oriented around things people might actually see in their ordinary lives (e.g. a fist fight, crows eviscerating a dead bird). The blood was also of the more orange, smeary variety that looks more like the real thing.

At the same time, Sheitan is a very low key horror movie. Cassel really let himself go, got all grizzled up and comes off as really sleazy and repugnant. Over the top but I think he did a good job. Slightly Nicholson-esque in both appearance and behavior (I'm talking about The Shining). But... French. The rest of the family isn't quite as iconic horror-wise but they certainly have a strange look about them. And yet, that's about the extent of it.

A lot of what happens that's quote-unquote scary takes place behind the scenes. You know something's going on with the family, as the protagonists catch glimpses of things and find themselves in the middle of situations they don't understand. Rather than confront them, our supposed villains seem to leave the characters in the dark, more often than not, as if what's happening's got nothing to do with them. The rest mostly revolves around the kids hanging out, doing drugs, trying to get laid, blah, blah, blah...

This worked for me at times. I like a slow burn approach and the lack of concrete information about the baddies really created a sense of dread throughout. You never know what you really witnessed and never feel comfortable or in control.

At the same time, approaching the hour mark, you start to figure nothing's gonna happen. And nothing much does happen. Things escalate toward the end, of course, but much too late and the payoff is pretty weak. The atmosphere's terrific but I'd say the slow burn doesn't quite work here as it does in something like Audition or Suicide Club.

The characters are iffy as well. On the one hand, they're highly realistic. They didn't cast the prettiest of the bunch and compiled a group of kids who look like real friends and people. They also cast actors of different ethnicities and totally utilized said differences in the story. Judging from the director Kim Chaprion's recent film Dog Pound (which the company I'm interning at produced, actually), I'd say the director's interested in youth culture and genuinely wants to explore it as opposed to exploit it for cheap horror antics. So kudos to that.

On the other hand, these kids are absolutely rotten. Far beyond merely rambunctious. They seem to have dedicated themselves to wreaking havoc. In the first 20 minutes, Bart calls a guy's girlfriend something along the lines of a smelly bitch then spits in the boyfriend's face. Later, he joins his friend in robbing and trashing a convenience store, seemingly just for fun. I gather the director's trying to make some sort of statement on the culture but these kids are just awful. Bart in particular as he's the one in the forefront and the partypooper of the bunch. Really not people you wanna hang around with.

The film's technical aspects are actually pretty top notch. Most importantly, music is used sparingly and appropriately. I think bad music is one of a film's most dangerous threats. The camerawork was also inventive, using a lot of Steadicam and handheld, and yet it didn't suffer from shaky cam syndrome like Haute Tension or Frontier(s). More along the lines of Irreversible or Calvaire, another French-style horror movie (although Belgian). The acting is decent as well. Everyone seems realistic, except Cassel but he's an extremely talented actor here just the same and doesn't normally play roles like this. It was cool to see the change.

So I don't know. Mixed bag, this one. Better than Haute Tension and Ils, I think, but still not as good as Frontier(s) and Inside. Very different though. For a horror movie in general and for a French one. I appreciate the different routes they took here.

Anyway, might be worth checking out for horror fans. I won't highly recommend it though. The pace will bug a lot of people but it's probably better than most of what you'll find in Netflix's bargain bin.

James, this one's in my instant que on Netflix streaming, so you could move (or maybe copy) the review over to the Netflix instant play thread.  I'll be watching this one this week.

I've seen it twice at this point. I like it but really wouldn't recommend it over on the Netflix thread. Anyone expecting straight horror or even part horror is going to be extremely let down. Anyone who needs characters to root for in order to watch a movie will hate it entirely.

Oh boy...so you're saying I'm going to hate it then, right?

You could. You really could.

I will say though that unlike Audition or Antichrist or something, there's actually a lot consistently going on. Kids are fucking around with each other, trying to hook up, etc. There's some gross/awkward parts of a more comedic nature. I mean pretty much all the kids are total bad apples so you stick them all in the same place, interesting things are going to happen.

I guess it's more like the beginning of Frontier(s) if it went on for a full hour or the French version of Kids if they sprinkled some horror on top of it.

I'm not saying you'll hate it for sure. But it's a gamble. Again... you could. You really could.

just saw it based on your review james. in a nut shell, your praises/critiques are dead on.

the suspense is great. and vincent cassel is even better, albeit the best thing about this movie (and the reason why I wanted to see it).

however the ending's a bit of a let down. its not as exciting or sick as it should be. the audience is left in the dark as to what the villains are up to throughout the movie, and we're still left in the dark at the end. little is explained and i felt like JJ abrams just stole another $10 from me.

the biggest thing that bothered me though was the film's inconsistency. character's are pissed off in one shot and literally happy go lucky in the next. and the premise is hard to believe. why would 4 people travel out to the countryside to visit some chick they met in the club? sure the one guy might since he's hoping to get laid, but what about the rest? and its not like its a 10 minute drive from the club to the chick's house. it takes a full fucking 8 hours...enough where there's sunlight by the time they arrive. and when creepy shit starts happening, does the crew leave? nope. they just forget about it like it never happened. i dont care how hot a chick is, if she takes me back to her place and vincent cassel is there, im going straight home and jerking off.

then again, as you said, the characters are pretty awesome. this film is definitely a throw back to the mid 70's hillbilly horror flick. the cousins are completely retarded and i loved it. shit, one chick even starts groping a dog's balls (which thoroughly disgusted me). so in that regard, its awesome.

but the whole satan subplot didnt work because it was never explained. plus they did that shitty dream sequence thing that EVERYONE does in their movies nowadays and its just not effective...more of a cop out. its like the director is lying to me, yet its not my fault for believing him because he presented me footage that did not otherwise signal was false.

C+ for me

Well, well, well..finally saw this little gem.  I was impressed for the most part, and definitely enjoyed its sick, twisted tone.

James, as always, your review is very impressive, and I agree with you, except there's no doubt in my mind that I enjoyed it and thought it was well done, over all.

A couple of things I want to add and highlight...

The male Protags are all such complete assholes, it's hard, maybe impossible to root for them.  Just complete idiots and IMO, a problem that would have been so easy to fix, or tone down.

The 2 lead females were complete babes, IMO.  Both the Frenchie and Algerian were smoking hot, and both did a very admirable job in the acting department, as well.

Vincent Cassell rocks as always.  Maybe a tad overblown but like James mentioned, much like Nicholson in The Shining, to the point where he's so whacked, it actually works and keeps you guessing, as it's hard to fathom a guy would/could be this demented.

Although the ending/finale isn't bad, it is a letdown, IMO, and should have been ramped up another notch.  I also was not impressed with the dream scene, as it made me very worried it was going to end up all being a dream, but at least that wasn't the case.  Didn't like at all how Yasmine's fate was left completely out.  She was way too cool a character to leave hanging like that.

Biggest issue I had is the premise/setup.  This is something I bring up over and over again, be it in an actual movie, or in a script I'm reviewing.  Could have been so simple to fix this up, and would have given the movie complete credibility as well, which it really lacks because of the completely unbelievable premise, as Albino mentioned.

Here's the deal...

3 stupid, irritating dudes are hanging at a club.  1 of them hooks up with a Frenchie babe.  Another one is friends with the hotass Algerian bartender.  And the 3rd gets kicked out for fighting and being a complete jackass.  The jackass has his dog in the car, also, BTW, for some stupid ass reason.  It also happens to be Christmas Eve.  It's made pretty clear that none are Christian, but still, c'mon...

So, the Frenchie suggests they all come over to her country home and...hmmm, not sure what they're all supposed to do there.  Anyway, it's a long ways away, and it's Christmas morning when they finally arrive, meaning the party's over already and any real partying kid wouldn't be doing this, whether or not he's going to bang the hottie, get into a Menage, or bang the hot bartender, even though his girlfriend is calling his ass constantly.

And it's a HUGE problem and right from the getgo, the film loses credibility.  So simple to have them arrive while it's still dark (party time) and have them continue partying and crash there, cause they're all hammered.  Then, start everything up right where it already is, the next morning, and you're golden.  BUT NO...

Anyways, the flick is whacky enough to keep me watching and I'm glad I did.  The long scene at the hot spring is creepy and well done.  You can say nothing really happened in it, but I'd disagree and say it was a highlight of the entire movie.

There were a number of what seemed like important plot points that were glossed over and therefor, the actual "story" was hard to understand...for me, at least.  I bet some stuff got cut out that explained exactly what was going on, and probably shouldn't have.  Or maybe the writers didn't really have a clue.  Hard to say.

Very enjoyable for me, however and recommended.