Kim Chapiron
Sheitan

Sheitan. In Arabic, Satan. Sorry if I warn you that the title is misleading: no satanic cults, no "religious murders," and nothing to do with the Church.

Drawing inspiration from "Calvaire," "High Tension," and Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," this French film (yes, French again) was released in theaters in 2006 but being poorly advertised, it became hard to find. "Sheitan," directed by first-time director Kim Chapiron and produced by Vincent Cassell, is becoming a true subject of debate: some call it a cult, others an impressive mess. But as we know, sometimes the truth lies somewhere in the middle...

The French director, among porn contaminations, drugs, and grotesque scenes (one of them featuring a girl and a dog), tries to mix various influences to get a film off the ground that is actually quite trivial. Referring also to films like Mathieu Kassovitz's "La Haine," Sheitan recounts the adventure of some youngsters who, on Christmas Eve, after being thrown out of a nightclub, decide to spend the holidays together. They will thus go to Eve's residence, one of the girls, given the absence of her parents. They will be greeted by a series of figures with disabilities and severe psychological problems. There will come a moment when our "survivors" realize they have arrived in a mad place, and even Eve's behavior will begin to change...

Violence will be shown without any warning and in a clear way, tension will rise significantly but without creating that suspense worthy of a memorable horror. Dolls, grasshoppers, and nighttime chases among the unbalanced are all useless devices when actors not worthy of their roles act in a "flat" manner devoid of any hint of pathos. Vincent Cassell, however, is superb in the role of Joseph, an absolutely crazy local farmer.

If Chapiron tries in some way to raise the fortunes of a film he knows is not noteworthy with several ideas including the ending, the actors show nothing for which they can be defined as "actors". On their part, the leads have the mitigating factor of being in their first real test of their career, all being non-professionals.

A "contaminated" horror that has nothing original but is redeemed by Cassell's superb performance and some noteworthy directorial ideas. Kim Chapiron demonstrates that he has ideas, even recycling some from other French horror films. All of this, however, is lost in an atmosphere of déjà vu where tension is lacking for long stretches, creating various directorial voids.

P.S.: dubbing, in my opinion, is terrible.