Sheitan (2006)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Kim Chapiron

Writers:

Christian Chapiron (writer)
Kim Chapiron (writer)

Release Date:

1 February 2006 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Christmas Eve...

Plot:

'Sheitan' tells the story of a group of youngsters who exit a disco late one night and accidentally run into a shepherd who has prepared himself for a night of Satanic worship.

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Fight | Disco | Club | Robbery

Cast

Vincent Cassel	...	Joseph
Olivier Bartélémy	...	Bart (as Olivier Barthelemy)
Roxane Mesquida	...	Eve
Nico Le Phat Tan	...	Thaï (as Nicolas Le Phat Tan)
Leïla Bekhti	...	Yasmine
Ladj Ly	...	Ladj
Julie-Marie Parmentier	...	Jeanne
Gérald Thomassin	...	Maurice
Quentin Lasbazeilles	...	Gilou
Guillaume Bacquet	...	Bébert
Alexandre Borrel	...	Jérôme
Georgette Crochon	...	Marie
François Levantal	...	Le pompiste / Le chirurgien
Monica Bellucci	...	La belle vampiresse
Oxmo Puccino	...	Client boîte

Also Known As:

Satan (International: English title) (literal title) (UK) (DVD title)

Runtime:

France:94 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | France:-16 | Australia:R (2006) | Australia:R | Finland:K-15 (self applied) (TV rating) (2007) | Finland:K-18 (self applied) (DVD rating) (2007) | UK:18 | Italy:VM18 | New Zealand:R18

Company:

120 Films

Truly different story with a horrific ending.

If you took the movies The Devil's Rejects, The Hills Have Eyes, Rosemary's Baby, and Psycho, and then stuck them in a blender, your end result just might be Sheitan, the second film from French Director Kim Chapiron.

The film revolves mostly around three men, who after a night of partying at the local discotheque, meet up with a young girl named Eve. Eve encourages the three friends (plus a girlfriend of the three men) to come to the countryside, to stay at her house. Shortly before arriving at the house the characters meet up with Joseph, the supremely creepy housekeeper to the rundown manor (played by French actor Vincent Cassel), where Eve lives. A very minimalist plot, but if this were a Hollywood movie, the housekeeper would have brutally murdered the guests one by one, and this would have been your run of the mill slasher flick.. But this is not a Hollywood movie, and it's not a slasher flick, and this is what makes Sheitan so refreshingly different. The film instead elects to take the viewer on a different path, which turns out to be infinitely more disturbing. Instead of becoming a blood bath, Sheitan starts out quite normally, but at the same time the viewer is left with the thought in the back of their head, "What is wrong with these people." From then on the film seamlessly balances black humor with a genuine creepiness, which continues up to the very end, and then brace yourself. The film closes with an extremely disturbing 15 minutes or so, of family dysfunction on a grand level.

The acting isn't especially well done, but is adequate for the story. The cinematography is pretty straight forward and typical, although the opening features some Mtv inspired, fast paced camera work, but the film still works well regardless of these two-weaknesses.

The only real weakness the film has, is as the credits roll, the viewer is still left with a lot of un-answered questions. Don't get me wrong, some of my favorite films have open-ended conclusions, but in Sheitan, some of the unanswered questions involve major plot points, and undoubtedly some viewers will be frustrated by this.

All in all, the film works quite well. If you're a fun of twisted, strange, disturbing movies, Sheitan is for you, if demented films aren't your thing avoid it, and go rent Bambi instead.

My rating 8 out of 10. (Truly different story, with a horrific ending, but too much Ambiguity )