From my not too wide experience with French Horror films (basically Martyrs and The Inside) I've learnt that they could be quite sick. Malefique isn't so much sick as it is disturbing and slightly depressing. It's not your ordinary everyday Horror film, but it does have it's Horror-like disturbing moments and aspects of the story. It's also the first Horror film I've ever seen that takes place in a prison.I can't say much about the screenplay and script as I don't speak the language, but the story was pretty average and all that original. Some prisoners find an old journal that used to belong to another prisoner, and deals with occult black magick. The audience is told the tale of their everyday routine as cons, then the changes it and they undergo upon finding the book and attempting to decipher it. The cinematography is also quite ordinary, with few scenes shot as seen from a video camera, like in a found-footage/mockumentary film. The impressive bit is that the entire film takes place almost solely in a prison cell (except for two short scenes, one in the visiting room and one at the prison office), so it's basically single location. I always like seeing how directors face the single location challenge, and in this case Eric Valette has done well.As probably said before, what really makes this film is the characters, who are bizarre to the point of being fantastic and unrealistic at the same time as being as realistic and compelling as they come. Protagonist/Antagonist Carrère (Gérald Laroche) used to run a company and it's implied that he "took some shortcuts", probably financial ones. He's almost obsessed with being bailed out so he could be with his son. There's Marcus (Clovis Cornillac), a brute force character who likes to use his strength to get what he wants. He's also a very masculine drag- queen with breasts, make-up and everything that is obsessed with working out and keeping fit so he could escape by climbing the prison wall with 50 kg on his back. The 50 kg refer to Pâquerette (Dimitri Rataud), a funny demented retard who behaves like a hyperactive 5 year old, Marcus's protégé and my favorite character, excellent acting performance by Rataud. And then there's Lassalle (Philippe Laudenbach), a seemingly harmless elderly fellow, not quite obvious if very smart or insane, or both. The dynamics between the characters, who share the cell, is what keeps the film going and the audience enthralled to the screen.All in all, the story, ending and small plot-twist are good, but not excellent. There's never a dull moment, but it's not the story that makes this film worthy, nor even the acting. It's, as mentioned, the characters and their dynamics. I'd highly recommend this film to anyone who's had their share of Horror films and wouldn't mind seeing something a little different, a little new, and while not a masterpiece - very impressive in my opinion!

In a French prison cell a sociopathic transsexual with very large breast implants cuts off his insane lover's fingers, one by one, whenever his lover wishes to spend some time in the prison's infirmary. His lover, a giggling mentally-challenged masochistic mess, had been raised in a pig-sty, and when he had escaped from it the first thing he saw was his little sister, whom he then proceeded to cannibalize. The transsexual occasionally "breast-feeds" this loon. The third celly is an old, quiet, well-educated geezer who killed his wife "during two minutes of dementia", and who blames books for the murder. The old man allegedly isn't gay, but he occasionally requires the sociopath to sodomize him, simply because "it means I make choices which means I have freedom".You get the picture.Yes, this is very much a French movie. No opportunity is missed to wallow in perversion, debauchery, sexual violence, degradation and gore, that's how movies are made over there, especially in recent years. What is it with the French psyche that makes them so over-the-top nuts? Their cinema has become the no.1 world leader in perversion and sadism, even Japanese films can't compare, and if you think this is a coincidence, think again. Two words: French Revolution.The scene of the retarded kid eating his little sister is strangely absent from the movie, but don't think it's because the director thought it was too tasteless. Most likely the reason was so all the events stay within the prison walls. Otherwise we would have doubtlessly been forced to watch that, too, in all its full big-screen "glory".While the movie is well-acted and interesting, the first half has to be somewhat endured rather than enjoyed. Watching old men getting nailed by a muscular transsexual with large droopy boobs is not my cup of tea by any means, so it's almost a relief when the movie finally moves into horror-movie territory. The last half hour is a marked improvement over the preceding events, turning this into quite an original horror flick.And yet I believe there was potential for a much better movie. If only a competent, level-headed American or British director had tackled this script. (I am not implying this director is incompetent, but merely French.) That could have resulted in a brilliant horror film, without all the unnecessary "French perversion baggage".

I really don't have any clue why this feature got so many positive reviews and is even considered as a cult movie by some. There are many great fantasy and horror movies coming from such as "Vertige", "Proie", "Vidocq" and many more but this movie simply can't catch up with these movies.The movie kicks off quite slow and introduces some more or less interesting characters that share a cell in an ugly French prison. First of all, it is quite exaggerated to show this kind of prison as the French prisons are surely not used to be this disgusting. That's where we have the first little goof.Four prisoners share this cell. The businessman Carrère that got in prison because of a fraud. He is played by Gérald Larouche who simply gives a bad interpretation of the character that seems quite faceless and stupid. He wants to break free from prison to pick up his son from his wife that is asking for a divorce. This idea is just stupid as everybody knows that he would never be able to see his son again if he breaks out from prison and break into the house of his wife. The emotions of the man that suffers from the divorce and the separation from his son are not at all played in a realistic manner and slows down the movie and makes me lose interest from the beginning on.The second prisoner is the intellectual Lassalle who worked in a library. One morning, he decided to randomly kill his wife. This character is just strange. First, he doesn't want to read the strange book that they find and then suddenly he wants to. He seems to dominate the angry Marcus in the beginning but later gets abused by the same without saying a word. At least, this character portrayed by Philippe Laudenbach is intriguing but he doesn't act in any normal manner.Prisoner number three is the drag Marcus portrayed by the famous Clovis Cornillac who does a fairly good job here. We don't get to know much about him and his character isn't so well developed. We don't know why he is so attached to the retarded cell inmate Pâquerette or what crime he committed. The character seems interesting but isn't developed as profound as it should have been.The last prisoner is the retarded Pâquerette portrayed by Dimitri Rataud. This character is well played. He is a retard that ate his own sister. But it's not logical at all that this guy is in a normal prison with three inmates. That doesn't make any sense, especially as Marcus cuts off the fingers of Pâquerette. The reason why he does it isn't quite clear to me, too. Anyway, a fragile character that gets butchered like this can't stay in a prison cell with three other inmates. He would be a danger for himself and the others and would need permanent surveillance. Once again, this is a point where the movie doesn't make much sense.After so many strange characters that act in very senseless and unusual ways, the thin plot consists of finding an old book behind a brick inside the cell. Once again, this doesn't make any sense. First of all, modern prisons don't have this kind of bricks. Second, these prisons are inspected in detail by guards and other staff and they would have found the book without a doubt. Third, the book was caught in the walls probably eighty years ago and it's quite impossible that the prison didn't get renovated as time went by and the book stayed at the same place all the time. Once again, this doesn't make any sense.The four characters find out that the book deals with black magic and the instantly believe in this and even if the first tries go horribly wrong, they are sure to be able to escape from prison with some of the formulae written in the book. It's really difficult to believe that the characters are that dumb and superficial.I don't want to tell a punch but one of the guys dies during one of the first experiments with black magic. Instead of investigating, the prison guards believe the thin story that the guy fell from his bed and died and don't harm the other three prisoners. Seriously, once again, this is a horrible goof and doesn't make any sense at all.In the end, each prisoner gets butchered and dies a horrible death instead of getting out of prison. There is some senseless violence and gratuitous gore for nothing and the movie ends with a surprising twist but with a rather stupid ending.In the end, as you can see, there is not much positive or special to be told about this movie. The characters are mostly bad, the story is not credible and quite stupid and the movie has many goofs. I give a few points for Cornillac and Rataud, a few good special effects and the interesting apparition of the mysterious character Hippolyte Picus in the last third of the movie.On the other side, don't believe the positive hype around this movie. It's true that there are many amazing French horror and fantasy movies but this one is one of the worst I have seen in my life. Don't buy this flick and don't even rent it even if the description of the story seems intriguing. Go for "Le Pacte Des Loups", "Eden Log", "Proie" or any other French horror or fantasy movie of your choice instead.

I didn't feel that this film was quite as clever as it seemed to think it was but enjoyed it nevertheless. It is original, although reminded me a little of two other French films, Vidocq and City of Lost Children, mostly for the colouring but also for the edgy quality of the close ups of the characters.Set in a prison cell but do not let this put you off, this film seemingly goes further than many a multi locationed blockbuster.Always interesting, with the perennial 'Black Arts' well to the fore and very good characterisation making some only too believable! Scary with some gore this is well worth a viewing.