Them – Ils (2006)

Directed by: David Moreau, Xavier Palud | 77 minutes | drama, horror, thriller | Actors: Olivia Bonamy, Michaël Cohen, Adriana Mocca, Maria Roman, Camelia Maxim, Alexandru Boghiu, Emanuel Stefanuc, Horia Ioan, Stefan Cornic, George Iulian

The revelation of the nature of the threat in the true “Ils” (“She”) is disturbing, but just as terrifying is the road that leads to it. The set-up of the scenes, the camera work, the use of (environmental) sounds: it all works together to forge a nail-biting film of seventy-seven minutes. French filmmakers David Moreau and Xavier Palud are already working for an American producer on various horror remakes, including Wes Craven’s ‘The Last House On the Left’ and ‘The Eye’, the hit film by the Thai brothers Pang. It may be disappointing that it isn’t original material, but if ‘Ils’ makes one thing clear, it’s that the great strength of Moreau and Palud lies in the execution rather than in the story itself.

After all, how original is it to have a couple in a remote house besieged by a mysterious killer? But Moreau and Palud prove very adept at the imagery of horror films and leave the viewer with a long-lasting feeling of unease while watching the film. For over an hour you sit in suspense and worry about the fate of the characters in danger. This mainly concerns the couple Lucas and Clementine, but the mother and daughter who run off the road with their car also know how to keep the viewer busy in the nerve-wracking prologue.

Attention is diverted from the car ride, which takes place in bad weather, by emphasizing the stiff communication between the mother and her obstinate teenage daughter. The viewer thus ends up in an unsuspecting daze, where only the characters themselves and the minor irritations in the car are considered. Until mother suddenly sees something on the road, has to swerve and slams on the brakes. Their heart, and that of the viewer, stands still for a moment. The daughter’s irritations return when mother can’t get the car to work anymore. So mother gets out, lifts the hood and this is where the real trouble begins. After some strange noises and an icy scream, it becomes frighteningly quiet. A brilliant way to generate tension here is the raised bonnet which obscures the view. As a viewer, you have the feeling that the hood can be knocked down at any moment, revealing the scary monster that is undoubtedly behind it. A nerve-wracking opening. And interestingly enough, the frictions between daughter and mother have actually strengthened the bond with the viewer, since they need each other so much right now and everything else falls away. The sequence is a great introduction and a good indication of how the film will grip the viewer by the hand for the rest of its running time.

A lot longer than in the opening, normality and tranquility are sought in the lives of Lucas and Clementine and a bond is built with them. They have just settled in their beautiful new home in Romania when, one night, the calm here too is brutally disturbed by direct threats outside, and later inside the house. Just like in the beginning, the behavior of the characters comes across as realistic, so the viewer isn’t too worried right away (although of course he knows that something dramatic is about to happen). It is the well-known scenario: the woman hears a noise during the night, wakes up the hubby, who is hard to prod for this. In addition, the sound is naturally gone when he finally sits up in bed and starts listening for himself. But when the man goes outside to look, his wife turns out to have seen no ghosts after all. In other words, no ghosts of the imaginary kind. It is the beginning of a practical non-stop threat to the characters, and a lasting attack on the viewer’s nerves.

The way in which directors Moreau and Palud time and again terrify the viewer through, among other things, confrontational and close-to-the-skin camera work, perfect framing, and well-timed sound effects, is admirable. Especially the cheerful anticipation of what may come, which was also so effectively present in the opening scene, means that the viewer constantly experiences the scenes with their heart in their throat. Now the tension is not kept at the same level all this time. When really all stalking or chasing scenarios are covered, the fatigue sets in a bit. For a long time the couple is attacked in their house, but in the last act the action moves outside and the whole thing loses some intensity. Those strange noises again, without the perpetrators coming into view. And of course one of the two sprains his ankle, and they eventually split up. At a certain point, as a spectator, you have seen it a bit. As much as the filmmakers may master the horror clichés in their execution, there is also such a thing as overkill.

Still, the film remains exciting for an amazingly long time and fortunately the end is another nice goosebumps moment. It is therefore not surprising that ‘Ils’ was awarded the Zilveren Meliès for best European fantastic film at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival. The film may not have a strong story, but the filmmakers, on the other hand, know better than anyone how to give the viewer heart palpitations for over an hour. In short, go see it.