NFE—Bustillo and Maury | 💎 Slightly Hidden Horror Gem #117 | 2014

"We will start a new family. We will find a new home. We will get used to the unknown. And disappear among the eyes of the living.

My god that opening sequence. Béatrice Dalle’s cameo role alone makes this film worth watching.

The best part is that there is zero chance it has been spoiled for you, because as far as I can tell, except for two or three Letterboxd friends, this film has been largely overlooked. I'm not sure why; my guess is that there was not a large market outside of France for a horror film that is on occasion this extreme that also requires reading subtitles.

I was looking for something new and this caught my eye so I watched it on a whim, expecting a film with the intensity of Livide. It seemed like this would be a good moment to catch up on Bustillo and Maury, given their upcoming 2024 release. In fact, this is much closer in terms of graphic violence to A L’Interieur, and I was not prepared for how extreme it was going to be. Aux Yeux des Vivants is solid New French Extremity, much moreso than Livide or any of their subsequent films that I've seen.

It is charming how deceptively light (after the opening scene) it starts. School is just out for summer and three friends run away to explore the fields, have a run-in with a barn, go boating, and then arrive at what they believe will soon be the scene of a murder. The carefree summer idyll period is very pleasant and the landscape recalls happy summertimes I've spent in France. This relaxation is fairly quickly extinguished by the film’s events, and about an hour of horror sequences start.

Part of this middle section of this film has been called formulaic. It is. Forgive it, it only lasts for about twenty minutes of predictability before the movie gets back in fine form with a remarkably stressful and violent closing act.

I want to highlight the score composed by Raphaël Gesqua—it is so good. I’ve added him to Spotlight on Composers in Horror. I don’t know how I missed his work in Livide and The Deep House. I can’t imagine this film without it.

I should note that this shares with Pascal Laugier's Incident in a Ghostland and similar films the use of someone born disabled or with genetic abnormalities as a villain. This is problematic; I think we are now much more aware just how problematic it is, and I think that a decade later nobody would be doing this. It works for the plot, it's just stigmatizing and wrong. Luckily, chances are low it hurt anyone since apparently nobody watches this.

Stumbling on a Bustillo and Maury film I’d overlooked has made me want to go through the rest of their filmography so you will likely see more from them soon! As for this film, I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who can handle a reasonable level of violence. Hope you enjoy it!

Some Lists:

New French Extremity—Bustillo and Maury—2014
Spotlight on Composers in Horror
💎 Slightly Hidden Horror Gems
🌱 Hidden Horror Candidates
📽️ Viewing Next
🗂️ Index of Lists (needs an update)

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