5150 Elm's Way (2009)
Following a cycling accident, film student Yannick knocks on the door of Jack Beaulieu and his family and ends up locked up, tortured and fighting for his life.
Despite the fact i was gripped for the whole movie and felt a certain amount of tension throughout, the film was plagued by a sense of deja-vu in that i'd seen it all before and come the final credits, i'd seen it all before in much more cutting edge movies that took the kidnap and torture into more dangerous territory. More psychological thriller than torture porn, the film brings up many questions about right and wrong and if taking the law into our own hands is ever the correct solution.
That's not to say 5150 Elm's Way isn't a good film, it is. All the characters are well thought out but are let down in a sense by a script that ends up a little too pedestrian. Once the 'Beat me at chess and you go free' scenario entered the fray there was a feeling of inevitability about who would eventually win and how it would affect his psyche, even if i didn't expect the final game to be played out using corpses for pieces.
5150 Elm's Way is an intriguing thriller with horror overtones which is certainly worth watching but isn't up there with the best of 21st century French horror. It is however comfortably the best horror film around with Elm in it's title.
|