March 2009 - Horrorphile

Horrorphile

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Horrorphile - March 2009

Linkeroever (Left Bank)

March 31st 2009 23:48

Apart from Harry Kumel’s excellent vampire flick Daughters of Darkness (1971) - which I’ve still yet to review! - Belgium isn’t known for its horror movies. But director Pieter Van Hees and co-screenwriters Christophe Dirickx and Dimitri Karakatsanis have added a superbly dark and atmospheric tale of black magic and supernatural weirdness, the top-notch Linkeroever (2008), which refers to a reclaimed riverside area of Antwerp known in English as Left Bank.

Marie (Eline Kuppens) is a 22-year-old track athlete, training to run for the world championships in Portugal. But she has exhausted herself and her immune system is so low that her menstrual cycle is all screwy. Her doctor rules out further training, much to her dismay. She is approached by archer Bobby (Matthias Schoenaerts), whose forwardness and good looks she is instantly attracted to. He’s the dean of the archer’s guild which stretches back to the Middle Ages, and he lives in a housing commission-style apartment block on East Bank, an area once used in medieval pagan rites.

Left Bank Matthias Schoenaerts and Eline Kuppens

Matthias Schoenaerts as Bobby and Eline Kuppens as Marie

Marie and Bobby have passionate sex on their first date, and Marie decides to move out of the home of her overbearing, suspicious mother (Sien Eggers) and into Bobby’s pad, even though his neighbours are strange. She suffers from morning sickness, or is it something else? After injuring her knee when she goes for a jog (against doctor’s orders), experiencing unsettling dreams, and discovering Bobby’s previous tenant had disappeared, she begins to realise that all is not quite right in her world, or her body. She seeks the truth with the help of Dirk (Tom De Wispelaere), the boyfriend of the vanished young woman.

Linkeroever aka Left Bank

Left Bank can be compared to other diabolical cinematic incarnates such as The Wicker Man (1971), Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) and Rosemary's Baby (1968), but it’s more odious and freakier than those movies. In fact, the ending of Left Bank is one of the most wholly original and nightmarish endings I’ve seen in a long time, yet at the same time is imbued with a disquieting resolution. It’s the kind of ending Hollywood executives would be scratching their heads at, then shaking them vigorously muttering “No, no, no, no, we can’t be having that nonsense!” The Italian nightmare-merchants Dario Argento and (the late) Lucio Fulci on the other hand would be raising their goblets and toasting director Van Hees for his bold and darkly imaginative vision.

Sien Eggers as Marie's anxious, clairvoyant mama

The production values are of a high calibre with striking moody cinematography, tight editing, and effective use of sound and music. The performances are good, with Eline Kuppens delivering a very confident and uninhibited feature debut (especially considering she spends a lot of the time nude or in her underwear).

Left Bank Robbie Cleiren and Eline Kuppens

Marie's injured knee becomes grossly injected

The central themes of pagan re-birth and demonic intervention are taken from a medieval sacrificial rite known as Samhein, which takes place on the a date more commonly known as All Saint’s Day – November 1st, and involves a very sinister dark pit which happens to exist in “cellar 51” of the Left Bank apartment block, an apparent black hole referred to in legend as the Devil’s Cunt or Diabolic Vulgate (a charming description if ever I heard). It is in ritual essence the time of descent into darkness from which new life will ultimately spring. It is here where Marie’s real problems lie in wait.

Bobby's a dab hand with a bow and arrow

I went into the screening of Left Bank, which is part of the Sydney film festival A Night of Horror, with low expectations having been less than impressed with the previous night’s movie Plague Town (2008), but within minutes I felt reassured, and as the narrative began to steadily unfold with its David Lynchian moments and Euro-sensibilities, I felt embraced. The dénouement was deeply memorable in its phantasmogorical vision. My wife, who had joined me for the fantastic festival opening night movie, The Broken (2008), was very impressed with her choices.

Diabolic vulgate incarnate

I fear, however, this movie will be swallowed by Hollywood and spat out as a remake in due course; these days a movie as richly influenced, yet strikingly atmospheric and powerfully nightmarish as Left Bank, doesn’t escape the Hollywood regurgitation machine for long. If you like your shadows prickly, sensual, creepy and oneiric, seek out the original Linkeoever.

Here's the Euro trailer (with subs):

And as a total contrast here's the U.S. trailer:

And as added bonus here's director Pieter Van Hees' outrageous 9-minute short Black XXX-Mas (1999), which takes twisted inspiration from Little Red Riding Hood