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…

I have been messed up my whole life and I am pretty messed up now for sure but never have I been as messed up as years 11-16. I was perverse, violent, capricious, uncommunicative, unable to function in any sort of society, let alone go to school properly and study, make friends, etc. Everyday life was a horror novel turned inside out and I was the horrible thing expelled from fiction, having to do things in the world, wrongly or badly or not at all. Mostly I stayed in my bedroom and read horror novels. I read a lot of Stephen King, like, a lot a lot. I wasn't enough of a person to even try being a person and…

This French horror movie from Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, the co-directors of 2007's Inside, took me completely by surprise. I'd heard next to nothing about it until reading a review by fellow Letterboxd user Grimbo last week, I thought it sounded decent so ordered the DVD and from the bat-shit crazy opening prologue that nicely sets the disturbing tone, the film had me hooked.
The film follows young troublemaker Victor (Theo Fernandez), who along with his two best friends, decides to ditch detention on the last day of school before the summer holidays. They spend the rest of the afternoon messing about in a field before one of the group decides to set fire to an old barn, after…

Inside is my favorite horror movie of the 21st century. I just directed a home invasion film last month that was heavily influenced by it. When it came out, I was so sure that Maury/Bustillo we're going to be huge. They followed it up with Livid, which I cannot find anywhere, but hear it's great. Then they were long rumored to direct a Hellraiser reboot, which fell through. They were then given a Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel, which is considered bad (though I defend it), and in the middle of it all, Among the Living came out and was off my radar completely.

I finally gave it a chance and my expectations both really helped and hurt the movie. Having…

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Eu já entendi, rapaziada, vocês não têm recursos o bastante para as mortes, vocês não precisam cortar a cena antes do personagem ser atacado pela décima vez.
Construção de angústia digna de um mestre, sendo merecidos os créditos por quem quer que esteja no controle da câmera, mas acaba não servindo de nada no momento que o filme deixa essa atmosfera pronta para a colheita, mas nunca a colhe. Você espera e espera e as expectativas aumentam e você percebe que só restam quinze minutos e o filme ainda está montando esse suspense, para então o clímax ser mais do mesmo. Personagens presos no enquadramento da câmera, isolados dos outros dentro das quatro paredes de nossas televisões, enquanto eles…

It’s hard to shake expectations and “another slasher from the Inside directors” is a big one. It’s an unfair shadow that has loomed over every film since from Bustillo & Maury, each of which has been extremely different from their debut while also sharing its grisly strengths. Livid was their Hammer gothic fairytale, Kandisha their Candyman-ish urban folk horror, The Deep House their spookfest darkride. (Haven’t seen Leatherface yet!) In that vein, Among The Living is their twisted Amblin romp filtered through New Extremity scuzziness and violence. After a delirious and bloody opening, it’s also a quite restrained film as we follows a trio of friends who skip school to mess around the local abandoned backlot…only to stumble into the midst…