Chad

Trevor

I had little idea of what to expect going in. Part way in I expected it to be too much like a TCM or a Hostel for me to enjoy. But the story is just strange enough to keep me interested, and the performance by Vincent Cassel enthralling enough to keep my glued to the screen when he is on camera.

Sadly, he's not on screen quite enough to get this to highly recommended status for me, but it's well worth a viewing imo. Thanks for the selection dcrw6!

ViewAskewbian

33 years separate this film and Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things but the two films, even with such a gap between them, even from two very different generations of horror filmmaking and, yes, even from two separate countries have something in common. Both are nearly 90 minutes long with 60 of that 90 being excruciatingly dull.
Like CSPWDT, here we also have a band of tedious and annoying young folks that I couldn’t give a shit about. Seriously, where is it that the bulk of horror movie “teen” groupings are a bunch of douchebags leaving you wondering why they even decide to befriend each other what with the teasing and towel flicking. Unlike CSPWDT, Sheitan was leading me down an unpredictable path and it held my interest at the outset as I felt something was going to happen…and I waited…and I waited…and I listened to the douches attempting to get laid…and I waited…and somewhere between minute 52 and 54 the movie lost me. You are basically waiting for two triggers to be pulled here: 1) some kind of “horror” to kick in and 2) somebody, anybody, to get some…but, Christ man, not the dog! As I learned in May, weird and different doesn’t make for good cinema alone. Take David Lynch, for example. Lynch is not everyone’s cup of tea, I understand, but a film like Eraserhead (which I have seen at least 20 times and still have trouble comprehending a lot of it) holds you because the weirdness of it all is so compelling and, in some cases, ugly you just can’t turn away from it. In Sheitan, France’s answer to Deliverance I suppose, the main characters just aren’t compelling enough to propel the absurdity. Vincent Cassel is a fine actor and the film becomes tolerable when he is on screen. However, you keep waiting for him and the film to deliver the goods instead of deliver the doll. I have read online that this has elements of comedy and horror and I found little of either. Seriously, right on the poster is says “wickedly funny”. I understand some French and this still resulted in nary a chuckle nor a scare. In fact, all I really fell right now is gyped. The end result…picture yourself waiting in line at the carnival for the new attraction we’ll call the BallRipper…never in the history of carnivaldom has there been such an amazing ride. So you wait in line for 4 and a half weeks and finally the barker ushers you own through and you are there, you can’t believe it, sitting on the BallRipper. As the gates close the people still in line give you a jealous gaze. You small. The music for the ride, Thunderstruck!, kicks in…the barker says “Awaaaaay we go” and the button is pressed…the ride moves for a second, you close your eyes and…the fucker breaks down. Maybe I’m supposed to sit down real long after this film and give it a good think about to fully give it a fair shake but, naw, this isn’t Mulholland Drive. The ads for this film also call it “hip”. Well, color me unhip. How I thought you pronounced this film is exactly what I thought of it.
Rating: *.5 (the point five is for Cassel)

rbrown498

Wow. Just wow. This film was nothing like I was expecting, and the second time this challenge that I've been completely bowled over by a film. First Dead Snow, and now Sheitan. I can only think of one person that I know that I can recommend this to; if I were to recommend it to ANYONE else they'd probably never trust my judgement again. So be it. As Sheitan is set in the French countryside, it reminded me a (very) little of High Tension--but the films are two very different birds altogether. If you haven't seen this one (and you're up for something completely different, as Monty Python would say), don't read anything about it beforehand. Just get on for a sensationally wonky ride. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

cproaps

Jeepers creepers, where'd you get those peepers? Okay, rent this so you can say you saw it and then pop High Tension back in to remind yourself how good modern French horror can really be.

ViewAskewbian

Nice.

J. Farley

Caught this a few years back and hated it. Some of the most grating characters in a horror film and a story that goes nowhere. Honestly, Haute Tension and Martyrs are the only recent French horrors I've been impressed by, the former being one of my absolute favorites. Cassel is good here, but that's about it.

rbrown498

Different strokes, I guess. I absolutely loathed High Tension, so one's feelings toward that film may give an indication about how well one will receive this one.

I enjoyed this one because I had absolutely no idea where it was headed and, like The House of the Devil, the fun was in the ride, not the destination. I didn't like any of the characters, either, but I enjoyed seeing how stupid they could be. I generally have a problem with cult-ish titles that strive for quirkiness; however, Sheitan never felt forced to me. It seemed "organically" quirky, for lack of a better term.

Watching a movie is like meeting a person. You generally know pretty quickly rather you'll like it or not, and more often than not you can point to the exact moment when you knew that you liked it. For Sheitan, it was the first close-up of Vincent Cassel and his insane grin. At that point, it had me hooked.

I certainly can't (and don't even want to) convince anyone that this is a great film--either you enjoy it or you don't. I did. No apologies.

Dick Laurent

I thought during the swimming hole scene that things were just going to go crazy. That whole thing just felt unnerving. But of course nothing happened.... for like 45 more minutes.

Thanks for introducing me to Roxane Mesquida, though!

llandros

I first saw Vincent Cassell in "Derailed" - since then, in several other films. Great actor but he REALLY gives me the creeps (which is the point).

That whole swimming hole scene was just wrong in so many different ways. I about lost my dinner after the 'dog' scene.

Strange movie, and not sure how soon I want to see it again, but glad to have been made aware of it.

Dick Laurent

This is kinda cool: Sheitan 3D