Nécrologies (2018) (Blu-ray Review)
DIRECTED BY: Fabien Chombart, Guillaume Defare, Nathalie Epoque, François Message, Alexis Wawerka
STARRING: Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Sophie Jarmouni, Francesco Porcelli
RATED: UR/Region: O/2:35/1080P/NUMBER OF DISCS 1 (BDr)
AVAILABLE FROM Burning Bulb Publishing
Anthology movies are always a bit of a gamble. You can get three great stories and one that feels like somebody found it underneath a couch cushion. Or you can get Nécrologies, a wonderfully weird French horror anthology that basically says, “Why settle for one bizarre horror story when we can cram five of them into one movie?”
Directed by Fabien Chombart, Guillaume Defare, Nathalie Epoque, François Message, and Alexis Wawerka, Nécrologies begins with Ludovic sneaking into a cemetery to take pictures for his website, because apparently trespassing in a graveyard at night is just another form of content creation.
Naturally, the old grave keeper catches him.
Instead of immediately calling the police—as any sensible person would—the keeper decides to show Ludovic his book of tombs and tell him a collection of strange stories about the people buried there.
Because apparently “You’re under arrest” is less interesting than “Let me tell you some shit that happened around here.”
And thank God he does, because that’s where the fun begins.
The anthology gives us several short tales covering everything from creepy phone calls and mysterious creatures to bizarre cults, demonic weirdness, and other things that make you question whether French horror filmmakers were competing to see who could come up with the strangest idea.
The stories are all pretty short, which is a huge advantage. Anthologies can sometimes get themselves into trouble by spending forty minutes on one idea that would’ve worked perfectly well at fifteen. Nécrologies generally knows when to get in, cause some trouble, and get the hell out.
My favorite is probably “The Beast,” which takes a simple roadside encounter and turns it into a pretty fun creature-feature. There’s suspense, some decent gore, and a creature that actually looks like it wants to make your evening significantly worse.
Then there’s “The Return of the Lizardmen,” which is where the movie basically throws subtlety out the window and drives directly into crazy town. You’ve got a bizarre cult, lizardmen, strange rituals, and enough weirdness to make you wonder what was in the filmmakers’ coffee that morning.
And I mean that as a compliment.
There’s also “A Hell of a Bargain,” involving an elderly woman, a shady land buyer, and a very unusual pet. This one has a wonderfully goofy creature-feature quality to it, and it’s exactly the kind of segment that makes anthology movies worth watching. You may not know where it’s going, but you’re probably going to enjoy the ride.
The final story, “The Eye of Taal,” takes a more artsy approach, involving an artist and the bizarre inspiration behind her drawings. It has a different tone than some of the other segments, which helps keep the anthology from feeling like five versions of the exact same movie.
And then there’s the framing story with Jean-Claude Dreyfus as the grave keeper, who might be the best thing holding the whole damn thing together. He’s got the perfect creepy old-guy-in-a-cemetery presence, and you immediately understand why Ludovic should probably stop asking questions and start running.
Of course, Ludovic doesn’t.
Because apparently horror protagonists have never heard of leaving.
The whole thing runs roughly 75 minutes, and that’s another major plus. There’s very little opportunity for the movie to become a chore. If one particular story isn’t your cup of tea, don’t worry—another one is coming along shortly to throw something completely different at you. That’s the beauty of anthology movies.
Nécrologies isn’t high-budget horror, and you can certainly see the limitations. But it has something much more important: personality. The filmmakers clearly love old-school horror and aren’t afraid to get goofy with it. There’s gore, monsters, supernatural nonsense, strange people doing strange things, and even a brief appearance from horror legend Linnea Quigley.
Because apparently even the French cemetery has a Scream Queen division.
What I enjoyed most is that the movie doesn’t seem particularly interested in being cool. It’s perfectly happy being weird, silly, creepy, and occasionally ridiculous. And honestly, that’s much more fun than an anthology that spends the entire runtime desperately trying to convince you it’s Important Cinema.
Nécrologies is essentially a French horror grab bag.
Reach in.
You might pull out a monster.
You might pull out a cult.
You might pull out a demon.
You might pull out Linnea Quigley speaking French.
Honestly, I have no idea which one I’d want most.
But that’s exactly why I had such a good time with this one. It’s a charming, goofy, low-budget horror anthology with enough variety to keep things interesting and enough strange ideas to make it worth the trip to the cemetery.
Just remember: if an old grave keeper catches you taking selfies in a cemetery at night, don’t stick around for story time.
Unless, of course, someone is filming.
Then you’ve got content.
