Movie Review: Sheitan

A group of hip, young, sex-starved friends accompany a saucy little number named Eve to her beautiful secluded farmhouse in a small French village miles from civilization. Once there, they are greeted by a goofy yet frightening man by the name of Joseph (an almost unrecognizable Vincent Cassel), who Eve introduces as the groundskeeper. Though jovial and quick with a joke, you can tell there's something sinister lurking just behind his bright yellow smile. Is it because he enjoys drinking goat milk right from the teat, or is it due to the unusual amount of attention he pays to rude homeboy Bart? Or may, just maybe, it's something much darker in nature. You never can tell.

Soon he's coaxing the friends to join him for a dip in a nearby hot spring, a decision which introduces the gaggle of twenty-somethings to the other freaks and geeks who reside in the village. It's here that Joseph begins to show his darker side, especially during a violent game of chicken that results in the removal of a small section of Bart's sensitive scalp. What the hell is going on here, anyway? Why is Joseph so obsessed with a young man he's never met before in his life? And who is that long-haired woman lurking around Eve's house with a creepy little baby doll clutched in her paws? Before the night is through, all answers will be revealed, complete with a hefty dose of incest, violence, and the unnatural birth of something child-like. More importantly, who will survive to tell the tale?

Kim Champion has crafted a truly unnerving experience that would even make shock director Todd Solondz choke on his semen-coated corn flakes. Sheitan starts out innocently enough, focusing on the drunken shenanigans of some club-going kids and their predilection for anonymous one-night stands. Upon arriving at Eve's farmhouse, however, the film slowly takes a turn towards the wonderfully surreal world of David Lynch. Though their hosts are friendly enough on the surface, you can tell right away that these libido-driven chums are in for a night they won't soon forget. The beauty of Kim and Christian Champion's script is that they take their time getting to the good stuff, adding layer upon layer of deep-fried kookiness to the proceedings at an even pace. So when the excrement finally hits the fan, when they finally let the secret out of the bag, it literally drop-kicks you in the gut and empties your bladder.

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Article Author: T. Rigney

T. Rigney was specifically designed for the mass consumption of B-grade cinema from around the world. His roughly translated thoughts and feelings can be found lurking suspiciously at The Film Fiend, Fatally Yours, and Film Threat. …

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