Thanatomorphose (2012) (DVD Review)
Directed By: Éric Falardeau
Starring: Émile Beaudry, Eryka Cantieri, Roch-Denis Gagnon
Rated: UR/Region: 0/Widescreen/Number of disc: 1
Available from UNEARTHED FILMS
Thanatomorphose is an hellenic word meaning the visible signs of an organism’s decomposition caused by death. One day, a young and beautiful girl a wakes up and finds her flesh rotting.
I bet Éric Falardeau is a big fan of Lars von Trier. I say this because not only does this film have that vibe it is also styled in the ways of Lars von Trier films. The comparison is one our director here needs to get use to because he will be hearing it a lot in both the positive and negative way. The film pushes the gross-out buttons on anyone watching mixing in sexual stuff with very stomach turning visuals. It all is done with very good effects and it is also all done and progressed very slowly. There isn’t much of a spark to what we see here, but the film is depending on you just being so shocked when it hits it’s marks that you don’t mind. If I hadn’t seem the worst of the worst and the sickest of the sickest already in my movie watching I’m sure it would have hit it’s goal.
The film is creative in a way, but I’m not sure I got out of this thing what the director had hoped. The movie has great make-up and effects work, but the story seems a little too simple and it never does seem to really answer any questions that you will probably be asking after watching it. This will be a very hit and miss movie for all who watch it and while I do appreciate what it is trying to do and admit that it does some things VERY well, at the end of the day it just wasn’t what I was hoping for and I didn’t get that much out of it.
– Making of Thanatomorphose
– Faladeau’s short films Crepuscle and Purgatory
