Livid – 2011 – A bloody ghost story
I’ve had Livid for quite a while without watching it. Probably because it’s in french and I don’t care for reading subtitles late at night. That’s a time when it’s unnatural to be awake in the first place. Of course I realize how this sounds but I don’t have a problem with subtitles. I have lots and lots of movies that are in a language I don’t understand. Everything from Japanese to Russian is represented in my collection. In fact, I like european films and I seldom let the language barrier get in the way.
But it has to feel right. I’ve heard that this particular movie was odd and unusual and that I needed all my senses to be able to comprehend it. I’ll have to say though, this isn’t such a hard movie to understand. There’s actually nothing about it that makes me think that. Sure, there is some unusual storylines and you might not know who is the good and bad guy all the time. None of that matter. It all comes down to a scary flick anyway. This isn’t very different from American equivalents even if the directors seem to think so. There are effect designed to make you surprised just like in any other film. There are gore and there are scary elements. Simple as that really.
Basically it’s a ghost story and as such it’s depending on suspense. These days my favorite movies are suspenseful. In my youth I liked gory flicks without any meaning but now I want clever stories that force me to think. Ok, maybe Livid doesn’t have the straightest of stories but it’s really not that complicated. We have these kids that hear about a treasure belonging to an old lady and they break into her house to find it. it should be easy enough since she’s in a coma and is just waiting to die. Of course there are some complications and they get trapped in the house. And… the old lady isn’t as dying as they thought.
They discover the truth about the treasure and about the old lady too. If there is such a thing as the truth. Livid makes it kind of doubtable. We can’t be really sure of what going on and it’s not necessarily the case that everything is logical. Some of it actually doesn’t make sense at all. There are some contradictions a perhaps even paradoxes in there. But I see this movie as something straight forward meant to scare to audience so I really don’t have a problem with that.
As a whole I am pleased that I took the time to watch it. I’m not overwhelmed by it. There are many other movies, French and others that are better and more challenging for the intellect than this one. But for a couple of hours worth of entertainment this is nice.
