Clementine is a school teacher who has moved to Romania with her husband, Lucas. What starts off as a simple night at home together turns into something much worse...
Ils (Them) is a real kick to the human psyche. We do not like to step outside our comfort zone, and when that is challenged, we end up trying to build excuse upon excuse as to keep ourselves away from thinking of the worst possible outcome. This sometimes proves to be a terrible flaw in human logic.
It starts off with a weird phone call. Prank? It must be... Then the music coming from outside. It's probably nothing! Let's just take a step out to see. Then you notice your car isn't quite parked in the same position you left it. By now, you've caught on. Something isn't right. And then it all begins...
Ils is not a typical horror flick by any standards. The film does appear to play on a few horror cliches (the house suddenly turns into a labyrinth, but redeems itself with an abandonment of morals by the apparent deus ex machina character. It's a film filled with eerie atmosphere, a dreadful tone, and quite a few subtle, but frightening sequences.
The soundtrack by Rene-Marc Bini is very on spot. He takes a very minimalist approach, and the music is not used simply for a build up, but for a tone. An absence of music is what really saved a lot of the scenes of violence. The music felt more like an emotion than a soundtrack.
The script, written by co-filmmakers David Moreau and Xavier Palud was very natural, as was the direction. There was not excessive dialogue, and it felt very genuine. The filmmakers take on situational terror with a nice fragility. They're not thrown in and skewed all over the places for a few cheap scares, although you do get quite a few nice scares in the mix.
In conclusion, Ils is a film that the passionate horror fan may enjoy quite a bit. In such a desolate time for horror, we really have to go to the ends of the Earth to find worthwhile flicks, and while this one lasts only 77 minutes, I think it's a fair assesment to say that Ils is the closest we'll get to genuine fright in times to come.
-Ben South
2 comments:
this movie was a rager. short, to the point, all killer no filler. great example of a simple concept done really well. spot-on review.
I have to say that I disagree. I honestly just wasn't scared by it- I mean, are noises and things turning on and off really that scary? Come on now. The Haunting this film is not.
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