Shudder Saturday: Megalomaniac (2022)

While this isn't the first feature from writer-director Karim Ouelhaj, Megalomaniac feels like the announcement of an incredible talent worth keeping an eye on. It's dark, grim, and very uncomfortable, but there are also moments of macabre beauty that serve to both interrupt the bleak plot and highlight the impressive eye of Ouelhaj.

The film follows the difficult life of Martha (Eline Schumacher), a young woman who spends time in her workplace being mistreated and abused (and her abuse includes sexual abuse, with Ouelhaj managing to show this in a way that is disturbing without ever being too graphic). When she is at home, Martha spends time in the company of her brother, Félix (Benjamin Ramon). Félix is a killer, and their home also currently houses his latest victim (Hélène Moor). As things start crumbling around her, Martha starts to become more envious of her brother's "skillset".

One of the most impressive discoveries I have stumbled across in recent times, thanks to randomly picking it on Shudder without knowing anything about it, I fear that I've already said far too much to other people who may have otherwise had a similar experience. This isn't just a great film. It's astonishing. Powerful, dark, unsettling, it keeps you alongside a very unpleasant central character that you end up rooting for, and explores the idea of people being shaped by their environment and the main events of their lives.

Schumacher is excellent in the lead role, rarely doing too much during the many scenes in which her character remains passive, but always with the potential to lean into a darkness that surrounds her at all times. Ramon also makes a strong impression, although he's onscreen for far less screentime. His killer is unnervingly calm and composed throughout, which allows him to continue his sadistic lifestyle for such a long time. Moor has to be bloodied and distressed, which she does convincingly, Raphaële Bruneau is a concerned social worker, and Wim Willaert, Pierre Nisse, and Quentin Laszbazeilles play Martha's work colleagues (either participating in abuse or enabling it by not intervening). There's also a small, but vital, role for Olivier Picard, playing Iblis, the late patriarch of the family AKA "The Butcher Of Mons".

Part of me suspects that I will never want to rewatch this, but another part of me thinks that it's something that I may want to own one day. It easily stands alongside some other towering titles in this grimy sub-genre (yes, I think it comes close to being as good as "Henry") and it constantly moves between the darkest horror and the macabre beauty of moments that look like they could have been painted by a freshly-awoken-from-a-nightmare Caravaggio (or maybe Goya, but with more black paint available to him than any other colour).

Ouelhaj has taken something that could have easily been turned into easy exploitation and made something unique and highly disturbing. I doubt that many people will respond to it in the same way that I did, but I hope it starts to develop a reputation that it deserves. Because, as unpleasant and painful as it is, and even I (despite enjoying thinking of myself as a hardened horror fan) had to look away once or twice, this is art.

9/10

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Shudder Saturday: Yummy (2019)

Directed and co-written by Lars Damoiseaux (working with Eveline Hagenbeek), Yummy is a lively and splattery zombie comedy horror, and it's one that manages to keep things moving briskly enough from start to finish without any truly brilliant set-pieces to set it apart from many others.

Maaike Neuville is Allison, a young woman heading to a hospital in Eastern Europe for a long-awaited breast reduction procedure. She is attending with her partner, Michael (Bart Hollanders), and her mother, Sylvia (Annick Christiaens). Unfortunately, something has happened to a number of other patients, which results in your typical zombie outbreak scenario. Joining up with another staff member (Janja, played by Clara Cleymans), Dr. K. (Eric Godon), and the irritatingly flirtatious and horny Daniel (Benjamin Ramon).

Yummy does everything well. Damoiseaux is a good enough director, and the script is competent enough in setting the tone of the film, as well as putting the characters in place and progressing everything along from bad to worse. Where it falls down is in the dialogue, and the lack of any real depth for the main characters. Allison and Michael are sweet, that's about it. Oh, and Michael can't stand the sight of blood. Sylvia is vain. Daniel is lusty. Janja is an attractive nurse who goes about being an attractive nurse.

The cast don't do a bad job, and they fit their characters well enough. Neuville has to put up with her breasts being the focus of the film for most of the opening third, and she does that while also being a good female lead to root for, and Hollanders is a sweet partner for her. Ramon is enjoyably over the top, and he's the kind of character you need in almost every zombie film (the asshole you want to see being munched before the end credits roll). And Cleymans has to look very attractive, and also as if she knows more than she is letting on. She does both easily enough. Christiaens and Godon aren't bad, but they're never the focus of any scene, so you suspect that they're more disposable than some of the others.

The blood is thrown around in generous amounts, and there are some good special effects on display as zombies bite into people or struggle to move around with their own serious injuries meaning a lot of their body parts aren't where they should be, and keeping the majority of the action set in the hospital is a good move. It's not good enough though, unfortunately, and the goodwill it earns with the sheer sense of enthusiasm and fun throughout it is diminished by the lack of any real tension, and a lack of interest in how everything will actually resolve for everyone.

There's enough here to make me interested in everyone involved, however, both behind and in front of the camera. And enough here to entertain horror fans after a fun 90-ish minutes of zombie action.

6/10

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