Bart gets into a fight in a night club and is thrown out. When standing outside the place with Ladj and Yasmine, their friend Thai comes out from the club together with a girl named Eve. Eve invites the foursome to her place in the country, they're all up for it and hits the road. Once there, they're introduced to Joseph, who's the cheerful, but at the same time very strange housekeeper, and that has a pregnant wife in the house, spending most of her time upstairs. When going to take a swim in the hot springs together with Joseph and Eve, the group are introduced to some of the other villagers who are all very special to say the least, and the group figures that something's not right. Being Christmas Eve, they later have dinner in Eve's house when Joseph suddenly starts getting ínto a conversation about incest and Satanism. And the conversation is soon about to turn into action.
Where a lot of horror movies tend to fail due to that the folks behind them do not dare to cross the line between what's just about enough or what's too much, Sheitan delivers in one way because it's not afraid to take that extra step. Sheitan (the Persian word for Satan) is a film that is demented, but you never get the feel like it's just trying to be that for the sake of it, but that it actually comes natural - be it because of the fact that it's French, or be it for the fact that too many other horror movies just looks and feels too alike. What reasons doesn't really matter, but what matters is that it works, and it works really well.
I think for the fact that it is a French movie, it helps a lot. It has a different mentality and a different feel to it, whether you compare it to Asian or American horror. The good thing here is that we're talking quality over quantity with the French not releasing too many movies all the time, but when they once in a while do release a horror film, it usually turns out quite all right, because of the fact that it's still something that is a bit rare. Chapiron dares to be different, and most of all dares to be shocking where a lot of other film-makers would've taken the other safer path instead. I liked the fact that he let the movie to be brutal at times and also to be completely weird, demented and absurd without that it ever felt like they were just trying to be as shocking as possible. Like I said before, it comes naturally, and works perfectly.
 
Vincent Cassel is of course the highlight of the film and if it wouldn't have been for him, I'm not sure if the movie would've been half a good. I think this is the best I've seen the guy in so far, and when given enough space, he delivers one helluva performance. The good thing though is that this actor is the type of actor that can play anything. He can be funny and likable as well as really freaky, and in Sheitan he's all that and more. Another thing that was great about Sheitan was that even though it was demented, weird, sick and bloody - it was also very comical at times, delivering comedy that really worked, much thanks to Cassel. Some moments featuring the guy were even so much fun that you kinda got the urge to rewind to re-watch those scenes again.
I don't really feel like diving into and explaining the plot, since I believe that the less you know about Sheitan, the better. All I can say is that the film is just as disturbing as it is hilarious. It has the energy as well as the confidence, and takes you on a ride that you'll remember for quite some time after that it is over. It might not be a movie for everyone, but if you keep an open mind and don't read up too much on it before hand, I'm sure you'll have a great time watching it.
In some ways, Sheitan reminded me a bit of the other French film Calvaire as well as it made me think of Haute Tension too, but those movies doesn't have too much going when comparing them to Sheitan which easily rises above, at least when talking about Calvaire. If you're open for new things and wants to see a film that combines horror and comedy in an excellent way, (something that doesn't come easy), give Sheitan a shot. Highly recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Satan
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: Kim Chapiron
WRITING CREDITS: Christian Chapiron, Kim Chapiron
GENRE: Horror, Comedy, Thriller
CAST: Vincent Cassel, Olivier Bartélémy, Roxane Mesquida
COUNTRY: France
RUNTIME: 92 min
RATING: 9/10
Sheitan Website/IMDB Click here
Sheitan Trailer Click here
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