Livide (Livid) - New French horror

According to amazon.fr this has a release date of May 3rd. and appears to have English subs and be region free. Anyone hear anything different? No US release date so I was thinking of importing it.

Lucie (Chloe Coulloud), a young woman who has just taken on a new job as an assistant helping the elderly in their homes. However, one of Lucie's patients is a unique case, and no amount of training could have prepared her for Madame Jessel (Marie-Claude Pietragalla), an elderly comatose woman who is as dilapidated as the creepy Victorian house she resides in.

After her employer "conveniently" tells Lucie about a rumor that Madame Jessel has a lot of money hidden in her home, Lucie gives in to temptation and brings her boyfriend and his brother with her to break into the Jessel manor in search of fortune. Unfortunately, this trio has picked the wrong mansion to rob as they soon realize there are insidious forces of evil waiting to torture and butcher the insatiable group of friends. Thrills, chills and confusion ensue.

From Dread Central - At the premiere both directors addressed the fact that their second horror feature is a love letter to the classic Hammer films and Argento's giallos from past decades, and although it is clear that Livid is certainly not as timeless as those venerated predecessors, it effectively pays tribute to a more old school era of horror cinema. Then again, is this highly stylized Gothic horror film enough to please those who were scared witless only four years before?

Like Susperia the trailer screams atmosphere to me. I just placed my order and will post some comments once I've watched it. Another member in the dvd forums posted that they already have a remake in the works for domestic release

Here are a few review excerpts I came across.

My amazon.fr order shipped today so I should have a review for y'all within the next couple weeks

Just in from France:



I popped the disc in just to make sure it would play and I can confirm that it is region free and does have French DTS-HD MA 5.1 with English subs and the PQ looks solid to boot! More to follow in my review. I was planning to watch this tonight but my wife is taking the kids to see her mom this weekend so I'm saving it for Friday with HT cranked and lights off.

Yeah, me too... not sure what happened with his order as I thought we ordered it about the same time.
I'll have a review up Friday night. I did notice about 2-3 of the previews must have been in PAL because I got audio and no picture but after skipping them the movie auto played, just had to hit the pop-up menu to get the English subs.

Livide is a classic haunted house story at it's core. The time period it takes place in is never clearly established but it appears to be early 1980's with flashback scenes going back to 1935ish. The story centers around Lucie who tags along with an independent elderly care provider to visit some old folks in different homes and administer medication, change sheets, etc. The last woman they visit Jessel is comatosed and requires regular blood transfusions. Jessel used to run a ballet dance studio from her home which is a fantastic large and macabre labyrinth filled with wall to wall stuffed animal heads. Jessel's caregiver tells Lucie that the key around Jessel's neck is to "her treasure" but she doesn't know what that treasure is. Lucie is talked into breaking into the house to search for this treasure with her boyfriend and his buddy late that night... bad idea.

Livide was a movie to me that did not seem quite sure where it wanted to go. It gave hints about the taxidermist background but no real explanation. The mystery of the house, Jessel, and her daughter Anna are inadequately explained leaving more questions than answers which I found somewhat distracting from the successes of the film which were atmosphere and some genuinely creepy moments. The runtime of 90 minutes was a bit short to me given the holes needing filling. There were some good scares and a few good goreiffic scenes that I wont spoil. Overall I found the film enjoyable and satisfying with my biggest complaint being that I wanted more to have a complete picture of the story being told. This may be a film that will require repeat viewings to pick up on missed subtleties and fill in those blanks.

The picture quality was somewhat inconsistent. The opening credits looked fantastic with superb depth of image. A low to moderate amount of grain added to the gritty feel of the film however black levels seemed a bit high in some of the indoor night scenes. Detail was well preserved throughout the film and flesh tones were consistent with the primary colors used in the film which had a blue tone in most scenes with the exception of the flashbacks which were dominated by sepia tones, warm and earthy.

The DTS-HA MA 5.1 track had to be turned up about 7 levels higher than my normal confortable volume. Dialogue was clear and consistently audible. The mains and rears were not overly active, the audio track overall was somewhat dull save a few scenes. The LFE was near non-existent which was a let down as I felt with bit more dynamics in the score the film could have had more impact.

As I said I did enjoy this film and would still own a copy had I rented it first but the previews make this out to be scarier then it ended up being so I may not have rushed to import this had I seen it first.

Thanks!

I'd recommend seeing it. Keep in mind I went into this one with very high expectations and with the exception of Avengers that usually does not play out. I know my review sounds like I was a bit down on it but it really is worth seeing and had some pretty creepy things going for it.