Picturenose

Grim scary tale

In this age of carbon-copy horror, of excreble sequels and ‘three-quels’ (and ‘four-quels’, and ‘five-quels’?), such as with the Saw franchise, it is refreshing to see that there are still directors out there who are capable of putting the audience through it - the most recent genre example, before Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek (2005), was Fabrice Du Welz’s Calvaire (2004) but, such is the intensity of McLean’s vision, Calvaire seems like a picnic in the woods by comparison…

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Wholly terrifying

In terms of that cold heart-thump, the scare that’s so sought after by strange people such as myself but so rarely found, David Fincher’s Se7en (1995) is probably as good as it got during the past decade or so, at least in the US, while Fabrice du Welz’s Belgian horror show, Calvaire (2004) kept up the European end.

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Terror vision

This is an astonishingly grim picture - quite simply, it redefines horror. Rarely (all too rarely) is a director courageous enough to transcend the clichés and clunkers associated with the genre, to remain true to his vision and offer audiences an opportunity to discover what a fear film can do, when it’s done right. The last example was Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - a tour de force which, despite its title and reputation, was actually short on blood and guts but very long on atmosphere, sweaty claustrophobia and ‘Oh-my-God-make-it-stop’ terror. Make no mistake - at this level, the horror film is simply out to get you. And Calvaire, which was the first feature from young Belgian director Fabrice du Welz makes Massacre look like a rural idyll.

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