[One of the films of the /slash Filmfestival‘s special European evening.]

La meute is Franck Richard‘s first feature film, starring Émilie Dequenne, Benjamin Biolay, Philippe Nahon and Yolande Moreau.

Plot:
Charlotte (Émilie Dequenne) is driving across the country, without much of a goal. She picks up hitchhiker Max (Benjamin Biolay) and they end up at a rather solitary truck stop. After they are attacked by a group of bikers, who are fended off by the truck stop owner La Spack (Yolande Moreau), Max heads to the bathroom – and doesn’t return. Charlotte wonders and worries. She decides to stick around after La Spack closes the restaurant and look for Max. Which might just be the single worst decision of her life.

If you haven’t heard anything else about the film than what you’ve read here, trust me and don’t look for more information before watching the film. And you should watch it – it’s a tight, atmospheric film with a great heroine, generally good performances and if you don’t know more about it, you’re going to be really surprised. I didn’t like the last ten minutes or so, but other than that, this film is a treat for every horror fan.

Also, if you haven’t seen it, stop reading now, because there will be spoilers. SPOILERS, I tell you!

The film starts off as the usual slasher fare: young girl, creepy truck stop, threats of violence. Richard handles this deftly and quickly creates an atmosphere of actual threat. I probably would have been happy watching an entire film about that.

But Richard has different plans (and it seems to be here that people start either loving or hating the film in its entirety): At the beginning of the second half, kind-of-Zombies show up. And since I hadn’t read much (or anything) about the film before, I didn’t expect that at all. But I loved it. The monsters are creepy, well-made and have an interesting, creative and very fitting origin story – what more could you ask for?

Oh, yeah, you can ask for a scary-ass villain (Yoland Moreau delivers beautifully, as usual) and a strong heroine (Émilie Dequenne and her Charlotte completely won me over). Check and check.

The only thing I really didn’t like were the last 10 minutes. Charlotte is caught by the monsters who start to chew on her leg. And while the camera stays mostly focussed on her face and Charlotte’s moans start to sound a little too sexual, we jump to a short dream of hers where she’s actually pregnant and has taken La Spack’s place. And that whole part was all kinds of unnecessary.

Summarising: Richard does make some mistakes and the movie is far from perfect. But it’s a wonderful first film from a very promising filmmaker. I, for one, will be waiting for what’s next from him.