Fantasia Day 13 - La Meute

I have to admit to feeling a bit weary. We are past the halfway mark and I haven't had an evening at home in over a week. This is probably colouring my less than enthusiastic response to the last 4 films I've seen. I'm getting that "been there done that" feeling that I was worried about at the beginning of the festival this year. La Meute was a great example. I was really happy at the beginning, which had a great sense of the unknown, a spunky, appealing star and a creepy location. And then 20 minutes in and she is in the cage of a basement of some creep farmers who are clearly going to use her as some kind of food. And from then on, I was basically disengaged. It wasn't a terrible movie. The location and sets were great, a depressing and dreary old french farmhouse and a small village with a little restaurant. Everything had a slightly American Route 66 look. The actors were good. The gay, loudmouthed bikers were a pleasant comic relief. There were some slight twists and turns in the story that weren't bad.

But ultimately, La Meute just felt like a pastiche of other horror movies we've seen before. I didn't really care what happened and the main twist at the end was obvious. Is a movie like this a work of passion for the director? It felt more to me like it got bankrolled because of the success of the genre, rather than an artistic inspiration (unlike, say The Revenant, which was clearly the result of a personal, creative vision).

It was preceded by a very clever (and appropriately themed) short called "Tous les hommes s'appellent Robert" which starts out with a fleeing naked man being pursued in the woods. Good stuff.

I'm off tonight to see South African hip-hoppers Die Antwoord. Let's hope this show has some energy, because I need some chi after the last 4 mediocre Fantasia offerings.