At this point in time we’ve been littered with so many different versions of the vampire sub-genre of sorts that we’re tired of it. When the number one vampire film happens to be a sappy romantic supernatural film that sucks all of the terror and real emotion out of the genre, that means we’re due for a revival of sorts. In enters “Livid,” a well-done dramatic and gore-filled take on the genre that will leave horror fans satisfied with carnage, a strong story and a nice dash of fantasy to go with it.
It’s young Lucy’s first day as a trainee in-house caregiver. She visits Mrs. Jessel, an old woman who lies in cerebral coma, by herself, in her large desolate house. Learning by accident that Mrs. Jessel, a former dance teacher of repute, supposedly possesses a treasure somewhere in the house, Lucy and friends William and Ben decide to search the house in the hope of finding it. At night, they get into the house, which reveals itself to be increasingly peculiar. Their hunt for Mrs Jessel’s treasure leads them into a horrifying supernatural series of events that will change Lucy forever.
Story
Fortunately I had the opportunity to walk into “Livid” without knowing too much of the story line at all which at times makes for a better cinematic experience. This story essentially is a vampire movie that doesn’t beat you over the head with that plain fact. Unlike other horror films where they use little character development and cut straight to the gory chase, “Livid” has them blossom and be more than the next victim that’ll be killed in one grotesque sort of way. Granted, there is a small scene where the movie falls into the typical exposition ramble, but as is forgiven as the true reveals start to unfold. The film relies very little on jump scares and instead injects terror into the protagonists through their own discoveries when they infiltrate the house and the wonderfully done production design, not to mention the subtle use of symbolism that’s trickled into the story line but not beat over your head through the use of blatant coloration.
Acting
Chloé Coulloud’s approach to the role of Lucie works, bringing to her character a mixture of a strong but soft kind of personality for somebody who gets thrown into the unluckiest of situations. Then there’s people like Jérémy Kapone who make a slightly unlikable character very much so thanks to their performance which only shows he did a great job of portraying the seemingly one-track mind Ben. While Chloé brings out the more level-head aspect of her character, it makes the dynamic between her and Anna (Chloé Marcq), along with the overall vampiric situation she gets into, less over-the-top than one would expect from this sub genre of horror.
Direction
It’s easy to tell when horror directors like Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury actually take the time and effort to make a good story instead of cheapening it up just to get a few scares out of the audience. Their soft and skilled vision between the two works just the way it needs to between guiding us in and out of flashbacks, gore scenes and the more touching/dramatic scenes. They turned this into a dramatic film that happened to have vampires in it without making it a blood-gushing vampire movie that had little emotion in it.
Technical
Personally I find it as a form of slight cheating to go and show some of the coolest, and bloodiest, effects in a movie when it’s dimly lit or tinted in a darker hue of blue. That’s more or less what “Livid” was covered in for a fair portion of time but regardless of that they still did an impressive job with the gore and vampire effects. They didn’t make them into the bat-flapping creatures of the night, which is salute-worthy, but the couple of scenes when Anna does show a form of levitation it garnered a couple of laughs from the audience, mainly because the only couple of times a small amount of CG it wasn’t as perfect like with what we’re used to. Still, it got the job done.
Overall
If you want to separate yourself from the depths of horrible vampire films and want to watch a wonderfully done dramatic version of the sub-genre, then try to watch “Livid” whenever you get the chance. Here’s hoping that we see more from the two talented directors very soon.
Story: A
Acting: B+
Direction: A
Technical: B+
Overall: A-