Three French school kids bunk off, burn down a barn then stumble across something horrific that will cost them and their loved ones dearly. I think the French are quite possibly at the forefront with horror cinema at the moment, this is a movie that I could imagine Rob Zombie wanting to make but it simply wouldn't be at this level. Here we have an interesting, though simple plot. There's gore, some pretty strong, but the film's strength for me was it's tension, reminded me of say John Carpenter's "Halloween". Very well filmed. I picked this up for a mere £1 from my local Poundland shop, what a fantastic bargain it turned out to be. I really don't understand the current 5.4/10 score. Perhaps many people don't like having to read subtitles!?

I mostly enjoyed this. The film taken as a whole seems pretty slight, not just in terms of plot (which is standard for the directors) but also in effect. The film is creepy and nasty. There's a horrifying "monster" in this played with great physicality by Fabien Jegoudez. There are scenes of absolute intensity, with beautiful haunting mise en scene. Yet the whole thing feels a bit undercooked. What starts as a dark side of the Spielbergian kids on a mission story turns into a home invasion thriller and then into something else. It's not enough of any but it's fun watching it try. There seems to be a sociological context to it all that was a bit lost on me. Maybe it's a French thing - this worry about toxic gases from the military affecting the children. But should we fear them or pity them? No matter.

After watching Bustillo n Maury's Inside n Livid, i was very impatient to watch their Among the Living. This movie was on my radar for a very long time. Finally saw this on a pirated DVD. The movie starts with an intense and gruesome opening. Thru news on TV v come to know the adverse effects of radiation n other war effects. Fast forward n v r introduced to three adolescents who bunk their skool on the last day before summer vacation to avoid detention. So obviously these r your mischievous n trouble causing kids. The early sequences are brightly shot and filled with warmth with some beautiful cinematography. The greenery, the lake, meadows, barn n the abandoned studio r all captured very well. The kids wander about n land up in an isolated n abandoned studio. From this moment the movie takes us into the dark and frightening journey when the three kids happen to witness something they never should have seen.... The kids acted well. The movie works effectively because of its pacing and build up of suspense and frights. I found it to b refreshingly unpredictable on the whole. Kudos to the makers for not showing any harm towards the kids. Most of the kills r offscreen but the tension is throughout. Viewers may find shades of Hills have eyes, Stand by me, Insidious, Halloween.

AMONG THE LIVING (2014) *** Zacharie Chasseriaud, Damien Ferdel, Fabien Jegoudez, Francis Renaud, Theo Fernandez, Anne Marivin, Beatrice Dalle, Chloe Coulloud, Dominique Frot. French filmmakers Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury create a knife-edge old-school horror film that echoes Carpenter's HALLOWEEN & early Cronenberg with a touch of Craven about a trio of tweens who on the last day of school come across an abandoned film studio open lot that has more in store for what they bargain for: namely a deformed, deranged murderous young man and his equally homicidal brute father who, once discovered of their existence, enact a vengeance of payback. Graphically violent and peppered with intense suspense and outrageous kills. Nifty homage to contemporary classic horror.