Sheitan (DVD)
APPROX. 90 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 2006 - MPA RATING: UNK
" ...an oddball affair well suited for late-night viewing.
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Most moviegoers are, perhaps, most familiar with Vincent Cassel as the agile thief, Francois Toulour, in the all-star "Ocean's Twelve." Others might know him for his dark roles in "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "Irreversible", both done in his native France. Cassel once again heads off the beaten path for "Sheitan", a disturbing and surreal affair with equal parts horror and dark comedy.
It's Christmas Eve and three friends, Thai (Nico Le Phat Tan), Ladj (Ladj Liy), and Bart (Olivier Bartelemy) are partying the night away at a dance club. There, they meet up with the bartender, Yasmine (Leila Bekthi), and her friend, Eve (Roxane Mesquida). After Bart gets thrown out for drunkenly picking fights, Eve convinces the gang to drive out to her childhood home in the countryside. To accentuate the festive happenings, director Kim Chapiron throws in plenty of stilted angles and MTV-style camera movement.
While the first act of the film feels like a music video or commercial, the second act is a mixture of "Hostel", "Deliverance", and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", but without all the gratuitous gore. Arriving at the farmhouse, Eve introduces her friends to Joseph (Cassel), the caretaker. To call Joseph a unique individual would be an understatement. Joseph is like a lumberjack, however, one who is most definitely NOT okay. He packs a bushy moustache, yellow teeth, and a constant mile-wide grin ala The Joker. All the while, striding about the farmland with the bowlegged walk of a saddle sore cowpoke. You can easily tell Cassel is having the time of his life playing his part.
You'd think this screwball would be the first warning to get out of there. When Eve brings them to the house and it's filled with dolls, puppets, and mannequins, you'd think that would be the second warning. In fact, Bart wants to leave right away, but Thai and Ladj are far too preoccupied with getting in bed with the girls to depart so soon.
Joseph attempts to make nice with his new chums by taking them around town and introducing them to the local weirdoes. He even tries to hook up Bart with his oversexed niece, Jeanne (Julie-Marie Parmentier), who runs hot one second and cold another. First, she's groping a dog, then Bart, then ripping out a chunk of his hair. During dinner, Joseph serves up a goat and recants a tale about a man who impregnated his sister and worshipped the Devil. And Sheitan happens to be Persian for the Devil.
The final act is your typical horror flick in the form of a group of horny teenagers and a creepy lunatic stalking them. Yet, the ending evokes thoughts of David Lynch and Terry Gilliam, rather than Tobe Hooper or Wes Craven. As the film climaxes, we're treated to several unsettling sequences, including one of the strangest birthing scenes I have ever witnessed. In addition, you never feel sympathy for any of the lead characters, except for maybe Yasmine, whose character never develops any further than that of "the girl." Bart, Ladj, and Thai are all loutish, disrespectful horndogs, each quite deserving of their fate.
