p-stepien In the claustrophobic environment of a prison facility four wretched inmates discover the diary of Charles Danvier (Geoffrey Carey), a man famed for escaping the prison through the use of dark occultism. Carrère (Gérald Laroche) conscientiously committing fraud at his company is newly admitted to the cell and despite his intense interest in the memoir has little interest in escaping, still awaiting his wife to post bail. Transsexual Marcus (Clovis Cornillac) and his demented protégé Pâquerette (Dimitri Rataud), prone to eating everything including watches. The fourth party is the reclusive and utterly passive, but well versed Lassalle (Philippe Laudenbach), committed for murdering his wife during breakfast. When incantations found in the dilapidated book turn out to have real power, the group slowly becomes enticed by the possibility of escaping prison through supernatural means...Despite several gory scenes "Malefique" must be kept apart, due to theme as well as form, from the brutally visceral new wave of French horror movies, such as "High Tension" or "Inside", owing its allegiance more to "Hellraiser" or "Warlock". In a world of mysticism somewhat recognisable with organically malevolent magic collapsing on weaknesses of characters, enticing into self-inflicted torture and pain. "Malefique" equally well could be perceived as part of the universe of Cenobites, as the existence of evil has a deceptively analogous similarity.Unlike however many of the "Hellraiser" sequels or contemporary French horror films the movie is soundly structured around a well-construed premise with the claustrophobic confines imbuing a sense of inevitability, strongly wrapped around four well-conceived, albeit outlandish characters. Although seemingly treading down recognisable dramatic corridors and using reclycable clichés "Malefique" does come out honest and powerful, a large part thanks to the the cast fronted by a rigid and conceited Carey. Ending on a high with a welcome twist, which may not invite rapturous applause, the end scene should create a vile smirk on the faces of its satisfied audience.

Billy_Crash Four men want to bust out of jail – with the help of a little black magic.French horrors have been quite riveting the fast five or so years. Although this movie may not fit in with the disturbing MARTYRS and INSIDE, this fantasy delivers a quality story with a wonderful group of eclectic characters.Alexandre Charlot and Franck Magnier bring together a tight script with idiosyncratic characters to keep the audience on their toes. Stylishly directed by Eric Valett, with exceptional cinematography by Jean-Marc Bouzou (who makes us all feel like we're the fifth prisoner), we are taken on an intriguing ride. And it's such a great trip we forget that the movie is four talking heads in a French jail cell.This fast-paced mystery is sure to attract more fans around the globe with its ensnaring tone, excellent dialogue and stellar cast.

Anthony Pittore III (Shattered_Wake) Four prisoners share a single cell: the domineering transvestite, Marcus (Clovis Cornillac); Marcus's idiot savant buddy, Paquerette (Dimitri Rataud), who will eat anything in sight including pocket watches, cockroaches, and his little sister; Lassalle (Philippe Laudenbach), the intelligent librarian who murdered his wife; and Carrère (Gérald Laroche), the new guy who was caught up in corporate fraud and is now focused on escaping. After a brick falls from the wall of the cell, the men discover the hidden journal written by a 'Fountain of Youth'-obsessed serial killer who occupied the cell in the 1920s. Is this journal the secret to their escape? Or is there something much more sinister behind it?I was a little weary about getting into this film because the only other experience I have with Eric Valette was the dreadful One Missed Call (2008), which I consider to be the worst theatrically released film I've ever seen. However, much of what was wrong with One Missed Call could probably be attributed to Klavan's awful script, because (as I remember) Valette's direction wasn't the worst part about the film (unless he chose to include the baby). Anyway, Maléfique was a good way to get my respect back. . . it's a French film (obviously something I like) and it takes place in prison (which is my second favourite horror setting after asylums). So that's two points for him before the film even starts. Luckily, Valette had me once the film ended as well. Maléfique is a rather deep, rather complex, rather compelling story of obsession and desperation. . . the desire and need to bring fantasies to reality. While it's not a terrifying film in the traditional sense, the oddity of its power makes it pretty damn frightening. The period between the climax and conclusion was some of the best film I've seen in quite some time and I would wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a decent psychological thriller with some pretty cool gore.Final verdict: 8.5/10. Quite a bit of respect earned back by Valette.Note: Paramount picked up the rights to make an American remake (surprise surprise). It's due out in 2009. I'm not sure why, to be honest, as this doesn't seem like something that would be a big moneymaker here in the states. But, I've been surprised before.Vive La France! -AP3-

oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx Maléfique is a very interesting movie. It is an unholy alloy of triumphs and failures. The central concept is great, three inmates with bizarre personalities are joined by a fourth (who the audience identify with) and they try to escape from their cell using a book of magic that they find within the walls of the cell.The atmosphere is well-woven, it reminds me of reading about the prison stay of Edmond Dantes' in the Château d'If (prior to becoming the Count of Monte Cristo). The director sets up the feeling that the characters are tied to the cell, particularly the character we are meant to identify with (Carrère - a white-collar criminal whose crime is not specified, but it's obliquely suggested might be fraud). On one occasion Carrère dithers when leaving the cell for exercise and has the cell door shut on him; we never leave the cell, the claustrophobia is unbroken. There are also no shots of the prison outside the cell, and the view through the bars is a longing sunset over a generic prison wall. So even though the film appears to be very modern, it has a very old world feel of incarceration.The characters are intriguing. We have Marcus, a violent pre-op transsexual who plays an abusive mother to Pâquerette (French for Daisy) a heavily retarded young man. Pâquerette likes to eat everything he finds beautiful, and unfortunately this included his baby sister, hence his current predicament (I like this comment on internalisation, very primitive). Lasalle is a withdrawn, possessed elderly man, in for brutally murdering his wife.The central message of the movie is that your desires will annihilate you, and there's a ritual that goes with that. I think that's what disturbs me the most, seeing people destroying themselves ritualistically. It has a real life ring to it. The quite simple soundtrack backs this up well, every step deeper into the quicksand is accompanied by the dull ringing of a gong. I'm actually hearing the gong now every time I do something self-destructive.I think one of the plot problems is that the ends of the characters don't really reinforce the message consistently, particularly with Carrère, also the concept of the book seems to alter throughout the film, not in terms of a successive revelation either. I also think that some of the images we see are a bit amateurish, more by design than execution, such as the famous "vagina eye", and the sodomy of Lasalle, for me, totally hollow images.At the end the movie it feels like the director is in a rush to get it over with, and some things don't seem logical, for example we've been clumsily led to believe different things about Carrère's child. This doesn't change the fact though that what we have here is that rare bird, a "pure" horror movie. There is no comedic dross or genre segueing, like Cube (1997/Natali), the obvious movie to compare it to, it's a total immersion experience, where you feel as if you are in the cell with the characters. This last comment I make about it being a "pure" experience I think is something others have mentioned as well so that is a fairly unanimous point.On a personal note my favourite part of the film is when Lasalle talks about his past as a librarian. He very vividly describes a scene where he goes to work one day and sits down in his usual place in the centre of a room where all the books are arranged in a circle around him. The books seem to be chanting to him that he will never contain their knowledge. This prompts Lasalle to go insane. That really is the problem with an obsession with understanding and knowledge. It's something I myself have felt.One final comment is that two of the quite well-received comments on the board have confused the characters' names. To convince yourself that Lasalle is the older librarian character, simply click on Philippe Laudenbach's page and you will see he was born in 1936.