The Eyes Below is a 2022 French horror film about a journalist trapped in his bed by a supernatural creature.
Written, produced and directed by Alexis Bruchon (The Woman with Leopard Shoes). The movie stars Vinicius Coelho and Pauline Morel.
Plot synopsis:
A journalist named Eugène (Vinicius Coelho) goes to bed. Everything is calm and silent. As he is about to fall asleep, something creeps up his legs, his stomach and then his chest. A mass, so heavy that he realises the night won’t be as peaceful as he thought…
Reviews:
“Director, writer, editor, composer and set designer Alexis Bruchon has assembled a test of your nerves; if you’ve experienced sleep paralysis or waking nightmares, this might be too much for you. It’s a full-length film with no dialogue and only action between the natural and the supernatural. It’s definitely worth you taking a look.” B&S About Movies
“Bruchon manages to conjure up countless nightmarish sequences with some incredible cinematography plus a bombastic score which really elevates some sequences. The other achievement of The Eyes Below is that it manages to be a near silent movie, with pretty much no dialogue but this never feels a detriment to the narrative.” Bloody Flicks
“At times it loses the audience, with the terrifying set pieces, stunning cinematography and sound lacking some breathing space. However, at its core, The Eyes Below is an intriguing and creative slice of horror that defies the limitations of its small budget to offer us something many big-budget films fail to deliver—psychological terror.” 3.5 out of 5, Cinerama Film
“One thing’s for sure, the sound adds to the feeling of claustrophobia, something that is evident Bruchon likes to explore. This feeling is helped by the single location and the fact that Eugene is almost always lying in his bed “trapped” like a prisoner in a cell, or a prisoner in his mind? The idea that this is his own mind playing with him is infinitely questioned.” 3.5 out of 5, The Fright Club
“The Eyes Below has a limited framework from which to tell its story. But through symbolism, clever camerawork, and some fantastical imagery, blurring nightmare and reality, which is able to creatively take us past the bedposts, Bruchon manages to create a narrative that just about warrants its feature length, not to mention an end reveal that satisfyingly ties into the enduring aesthetic.” 3.5 out of 5, Horror DNA
” …thoroughly works out the space it inhabits – everything from the textures of the bedclothes to the precise, gnarly look of the creature’s hands is considered and controlled. Coelho is extraordinary, acting without dialogue but with a range of expressions of degrees of terror.” The Kim Newman Web Site
“The Eyes Below is an excellent horror which is filled with tension, suspense and atmosphere.” 4 out of 5, Movie Reviews 101
“Part mystery thriller, part surrealist fantasy, part bedridden mythopoeia, The Eyes Below draws on the semiology of Umberto Eco, the surreal montages of Jan Svankmajer, the masked villainesses of Louis Feuillade and Georges Franju, and the DIY constriction of Weston Terray’s Precarious (2020). All its arbitrary-seeming details come together beautifully in the end, while still retaining something of their dream logic.” Projected Figures
“Bruchon has made an art form out of the unsettling here: he clearly understands that nightmares are essentially very lonely, with elements which distance the individual from all the trappings of normality. Everything here, from the panning shots to the camera angles, the interplay between dark and light, right through even to the opening scene focus on the psychedelic-seeming pattern on the bedding – these all establish a weird, foreboding atmosphere.” Warped Perspective
Trailer:
Technical specs:
1 hour 17 minutes
Aspect ratio: 2.35: 1
