Livid – original title: Livide – is a 2011 French supernatural horror film written and directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (Among the Living; Leatherface). It is their follow-up to Inside.
The movie stars Catherine Jacob, Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Chloe Coulloud and Chloe Marcq.
Plot:
Within a vast, desolate and slowly decaying mansion an ageing woman lies in a coma, kept alive by a life support machine. Assigned to look after her, a young care worker named Lucy discovers that the old woman is Madam Jessel, previously a ballet teacher of some repute and rumoured to have hidden great riches inside the house.
Determined to find the treasure, Lucy and two of her friends break in at night and uncover a darker secret that will throw them into a deadly labyrinth of hell…
Reviews:
“ …Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury have begun to carve their niche, proving their adeptness at switching tone and subgenre while crafting recognizable and intriguing style and thematic obsessions all their own. Thankfully, that style elevates an admittedly thin story and lack of cohesion into a surreal, lyrical and moving nightmare.” Fangoria
“Livid homages so many different kinds of movies – from those of Guillermo del Toro to J-Horror to haunted house movies to vampire films to Universal Monsters to even a reference to the directors’ own unmade Hellraiser remake as well as Inside – that it never creates an identity all its own. These pieces don’t fit together, and so by the time the film gets to its ending, which is weird and conceptually brave, it’s impossible to give a sh*t.” Badass Digest
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” …despite some moments of chilling beauty, Livid is a somewhat benign enterprise, and never builds enough momentum to keep viewers interested, let alone terrified.” The Hollywood Reporter
“ …Livid throws elements of a half-dozen horror subgenres at the wall to see what sticks, tossing in slashers, flesh-eaters, eye-stitching freaks, butterflies emerging from human mouths, a floating ghost-cum-angel, and Beatrice Dalle as Lucie’s mom. Exactly how all these terrors fit together isn’t clear, and the writer-directors don’t establish enough of a camp vibe to signal that the pic ought to be taken that way.” Variety
Cast and characters:
- Chloé Coulloud — Lucie
- Jérémy Kapone — Ben
- Félix Moati — William
- Catherine Jacob — Wilson
- Marie-Claude Pietragalla — Jessel
- Chloé Marcq — Anna
- Loïc Berthezene — Lucie’s father
- Béatrice Dalle — Lucie’s mother
- Rajan Maman — Tony’s Son
Filming locations:
Loocronan, Port du Rosmeur, and Quimper, Finistère, France
Paris, France
