Before I sat down to watch the 2006 French horror film Sheitan, I was told that it was really good. However, I was given a caveat. This horror film is not nearly as extreme as other recent French offerings like Inside or Martyrs. All right, that was a little disappointing as I have become accustomed to these intense French horror experiences. I was then told, by the same person, that despite it being less graphic, it does have a feel reminiscent of Frontier(s). All right, that's something I can work with.
Sheitan begins innocently enough. A few friends are out at the club. The three are having a good time drinking, trying to dance with the ladies, and generally acting the fool. One of them, Thai, goes over to the bar where a lady friend is tending and tries to hit on one of her attractive acquaintances. Meanwhile, the goofball of the bunch, Bart, gets a little too aggressive in his pursuit of a lady on the dance floor and ends up in fight. As you might expect, our goof ends battered, bloodied, and tossed out of the club.
Figuring it is time to leave, but with no one really wanting to go home, the group takes up the offer of their newfound friend, the lovely Eve (Roxane Mesquida), to go to her home in the country. Off they go on the long drive out of Paris into the country. Not just any country, but out in the middle of nowhere kind of country where your house is looked over by a wild-eyed guy named Joseph (Vincent Cassell) and where your house is strewn with doll parts inside and wandering goats outside.
Now, this is where the horror fan watching the movie can see, hear, and feel the alarms going off. For me, the voice was screaming inside my skull. Don't trust her. Don't trust him. Does anyone else see something wrong here? Take a look around, there is nothing else for miles around. Did you see what is in his house? This not normal. Get out. Run. Go back to Paris. GO NOW!
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