Chad

Undeadcow

I usually like to post some comment, explanation, or plea for forgiveness (may I one day live down Who's Watching Oliver?) with subset films I suggest but eerrrr... this year it's one I haven't seen yet so... look at that amazingly creepy looking ballerina - how can this be bad?

Before making Livid same writer/director team of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury created Inside (2007), which is a near masterpiece of small scale tension, so I have high hopes (even if their other films seem less intense/promising like Among the Living, Kandisha, or the shot under water haunted Deep House... well... none of which I've actually seen either - maybe I'll have a Maury/Bustillo marathon this year).

Livid's United States release was long delayed with rights originally acquired by (newly convicted rapist) Weinstein helmed Dimension Films in 2011. 'Dimension Extreme' mysteriously did nothing to release Livid (rumors were 2012 era remake plans that then got stalled). Livid was finally made available (domestically) just recently when the rights shuffled around after the Weinstein bankruptcy auction to AMC/Shudder in 2022 (credit in part to #metoo movement).

According to IMDB trivia there are a few homages to horror classics; even if the film disappoints we've got 'easter eggs.'

Undeadcow

I appreciated the artful buildup to the more gorey bits; the haunted house style lingering sense of foreboding. From the go with the two colored eyes to the end with the flying birds at the cliff there is teasing foreshadowing; as if the film tells us what is about to happen then it happens but is so fantastic. It seems like the sort of thing that might reward a second watch.

The older home nurse instructor was brilliant straddling between nuturing and evil - slying implying there is a treasure, inviting the girl to take a small book as enticement, and congratulating her for coming into the house against direction (it might have even been a bit too obvious if they wanted it to be a twist later). I didnt quite understand older woman driving on the girl on a bike segment; but I think it was thematic to represent another victim (maybe again the film tell us what is to happen and daring is to believe it). The visuals are sometimes too over the top but it keeps you guessing about whatever might happen next. My favorite touch is the hinting photograph of Deborah and Anna from 1935 (a time out of reference for the age of the flashbacks). Thankfully once it finally gets to a more lurid segment the cat and house chase doesnt overstay and its peppered with context and flashbacks (which work well here and since its so weird dont feel like over explaination). I loved the 'old hag' visuals; which were a twist on the youthful doll and really fogged up what was happening. I wonder if they were not suggesting, maybe as a commentary on parenthood or even education, that the instructor was passing through the body of the child to live on and repeating until something messed up. This is one unique premise and I love how envelope pushing it is.

Spiderbite

Okay...so I liked this movie but it is really two different movies.

The first 2/3 of the film is a quiet, atmospheric haunted house type movie that I thought would be a great introduction for kids to watch. Then the last third gets brutally bloody, gory and violent out of nowhere.

The effects are great, and the movie looks beautiful. Would love to see a 4K UHD of this (but I wouldn't want to own it...just view it).

I had a few interruptions while watching this and I am not sure if I am confused or if the movie just keeps it cryptic on purpose but here goes. What is the old woman and her daughter? Are they witches? Vampires? A hybrid of both? Why did the little girl try to eat the other girl (and the mother made it sound like this is a normal occurrence) and then go float in the yard for a bit? Why did she float away at the end becoming what she once was? Are they ghosts? Did she go to ghostvampirewitch heaven? Why didn't the transformation work on the main "final" girl? Why did the caretaker try to hit another girl on the road? Why kill the boys like they did? For fun? Could they not use them for some purpose?

I guess this likely warrants a revisit for me at some point since I left with so many questions. Did I just completely miss the entire point of the film or is it arbitrary? Even with all the questions, I still enjoyed the film.

My rating: *** out of *****

Trevor

I hope they’re witches or demons because otherwise it doesn’t fit today’s theme.

Trevor

Allmovie has it tagged with demonic possession, so I’m using it for that in our four themes day. Now what witchy movie to watch……

WillieMLF

Ugh, these guys are just royal douchebags. Strong vibes with Don’t Breathe, where both guys were complete tools and the fem is the only one with any redeeming quality.

So the caregiver is transfusing blood from kids into the old lady? All these missing kids fliers pasted all over the bus bench.

jholmes

I can see why this had distribution problems. It starts out strong. Good production values, good cast. The old lady in the coma was creepy and the douchbag boyfriend wanting to break into the house was believable. (Though why the girl didn't say - the other lady has been looking for this treasure for years, no way we're gonna find it in one break-in -- is beyond me.) The interior of the house was creepy. The ballerina girl/statue was kind of awesome.

But the whole flashback stuff was confusing. Were the "strict dance teacher" and her daughter vampires? Then she "breaks" her daughter by pushing her too far. And then what? Where did the other little ballerina demon things come from? It sort of felt like a different movie. But the ending truly jumped the shark. The ballerina daughter and the nurse intern swap bodies and then go off together. The ballerina-now-with-intern-girl's-soul flies off a cliff and disintegrates. Is that from the sun? Why did both girls seem happy at her death? I dunno, It just felt like the second half was a hot mess. Unfortunate. It started out so well. I still mostly enjoyed watching it, the ending was a bridge too far into just strange.

jholmes

Good point. I thought the caregiver was killing them to provide something for the daughter, but it makes more sense that it was to keep comatose lady alive. In fact, when they go to tend her, there's a bag of very dark fluid in the IV holder. The blood from the killed kids, apparently.

jholmes

I think the transformation did work because afterwards we see the intern girl has 2 blue eyes and the ballerina girl has one blue and one brown eye. So they swapped souls.
But I don't get why the intern girl seemed happy to die/disintegrate in the vampire girl's body.

As Willie pointed out, the caregiver was killing kids to get blood to feed the old lady in a coma.

WillieMLF

And the kid in the tub is hooked to an IV bag. It was a quick flash.

Spiderbite

I forgot to mention that I enjoyed the Halloween III: Season Of The Witch reference complete with the jingle.

Undeadcow

Im not sure I understand it but I think the 'two souls' reference from the nursing instructor was a key detail; that the eyes represent "the soul" and two colored eyes means there are two souls.
Maybe in a movie logic way the intern was able to separate into two and/or merge thereby ending the curse of need for transference to avoid coma/decay and being homebound (maybe intern had a soul to spare, better than sucking out blood as a substitute). Although at the end somehow I felt like the intern was trapped in the old lady's body and it was the mother and daughter (in the bodies of the girl and the intern). I just watched Livid it may be one due a rewatch soon for the puzzle alone.

jholmes

Good catch about the two colored eyes meaning "two souls". So maybe just one of them went into the vampire girl. Interesting.