Rating: B
Dir: Eric Valette.
Star: Gérald Laroche, Philippe Laudenbach, Clovis Cornillac, Dimitri Rataud.
This almost entirely takes place in a single location: a prison cell, home to four inmates. The new arrival is white-collar criminal Carrère (Laroche), who is convinced his wife will bail him out in time for their son’s upcoming birthday party. Also resident in the cell are long-term inmate and prison librarian Lassalle (Laudenbach), transsexual bodybuilder Marcus (Cornillac), and mentally challenged cannibal Daisy (Rataud). Rehabilitation does not appear to be on the agenda here, shall we say. During the inevitable subsequent squabbling, they stumble across an occult journal written by a previous prisoner, Charles Danvers. Initially dubious, they eventually discover the rituals it describes have genuine power, and could be their way out of incarceration.
You will likely not be surprised when I tell you, things aren’t quite that easy. Sure, prison lore talks about Danvers vanishing from his cell. And as Carrère works on deciphering the book, his need to find an alternative way out increases, with his wife not so much on his side as initially hoped. There’s a price to pay for leveraging the book’s power: whether by the one casting the spells it contains, or those merely in the vicinity. Turns out Lassalle – a man of few words – gave up reading, for fear the books were driving him mad. Bit of a red flag that, for someone now confined in the same room as a powerful, almost Lovecraftian tome, with an apparent will of its own.
This feels as if it could almost be an entry in the Hellraiser franchise, needing just a few minor tweaks. Replace the book with a puzzle-box, have a Cenobite pop in now and again, that kind of thing. It has the same sense of people faffing around with powers beyond their comprehension – and certainly, beyond their ability to control. It goes about as well for the participants as Hellraiser too. However, there’s a twisted malevolence in the way people get their desires, like a pissed-off dungeon master after somebody casts a ‘Wish’ spell. If Pinhead and his pals were lawful evil, fulfilling deals they made, the book here is chaotic evil. “You want to not grow old? Sure. But you aren’t going to like it very much.”
Those probing for occult power being criminals adds another level. Because the proverb about there being no honour among thieves is definitely true here. They’re in prison for a reason, after all, and everyone is happy to use anyone else, to achieve their own ends. The (lack of) reaction to brutal death proves that. Valette turned this into a ticket to Hollywood where he was responsible for the terrible One Missed Call remake, before returning to France and rebounding with The Prey. I guess, sometimes, you’re better off sticking with what you know. The other takeaway might be that the French penal system sits somewhere between Thailand and Russia in terms of brutality. Although wine appears to be a constitutional right.