Director: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
Writer: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury (Screenplay)
Starring: Anne Marivin, Theo Fernandez, Francis Renaud, Zacharie Chasseriaud, Damien Ferdel, Fabien Jegoudez
Plot: Three kids skip school in order to explore an abandoned film studio lot where they catch site of a woman being dragged across the lot by a masked man.
Tagline – Certains secrets ne doivent pas être révélés. [Some secrets shouldn’t be uncovered.]
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Brutal Horror
Story: Among the Living starts as we follow three rebellious school kids Victor (Fernandez), Tom (Chasseriaud) and Dan (Ferdel) who skip the last day of school looking to get into more trouble, including clashing with a local, the three end up at Blackwoods Film Studio, long abandoned, where they hear a noise coming from the boot of a car, inside a tied up woman, one they can’t rescue before the abductor returns.
Trying to save the woman, but being chased off by the masked killer, the boys are taken home, where the killer is sent to finish the job and eliminate anybody that might have seen him.
Thoughts on Among the LIving
Characters – Victor is the leader of the group of boys, he has been bitter at the world after his father’s death and needing to accept a new stepfather in his life, he will lead the guys into trouble not caring about the consequences, Tom is the most aggressive member of the group, he gets abused at home, which has led to him acting out this way, though his aggression can be controlled by Victor, when it needs to be. Dan is the final member of the group, often the butt of jokes, he comes from a wealthy family that would rather keep their appointments over spending time with their son. Julia is Victor’s mother that is disappointed in his behaviour, but knows he doesn’t mean the harm he is causing. Isaac is the man that controls his son, the masked killer, he has chosen to hide him from the world, only sending him to clean up any messes.
Performances – Theo Fernandez, Zacharie Chasseriaud and Damien Ferdel are great together capturing the sense of the teen friendship like IT Chapter One and Stranger Things. Anne Marvin is strong once we meet her, she does the determined mother role with ease. Francis Renaud and Fabien Jegoudez are both great too with Fabien creating a terrifying screen presence.
Story – The story here follows three school friends that stumble upon the liar of a serial killer who has captured his latest victim and now they have become the targets of the killers. This story does have a nice friendship tone to start with group where we do see how they work together to get into trouble, we do get a big turn in the tone, when they become the targets and while it might be confusing how the killer knows where to go to get them, it turns into home invasion style story which sees the teenagers needing to fight for their lives. We get a big mystery about what the killer will look like, which makes them somebody that is wanted to be hidden from the world. We do follow a strict one day and night events, which does make this feel just as fast forward as it is meant to and by the end you will be surprised with how it all unfolds.
Horror – The horror in this film comes from the masked killer hunting down the teenagers, it will give us plenty of slasher type moments along with bringing the special effects to the table to bring us disturbing moments.
Settings – The film does us settings which would be the location you shouldn’t be heading too, while the attacks do happen from within their homes.
Special Effects – The effects are used to make the attacks look brutal, with one involving an arm being very difficult to watch.
Scene of the Movie – Victor’s house attack.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – How the killer knew where to go.
Final Thoughts – This is a brutally disturbing horror that will give you a couple of moments that you would need to look away at times through the film.
Overall: Must Watch Horror.
