Left Bank (Linkeroever) (2008)
Studio: MPI Home Video/IFC
Release Date: October 13, 2009
Directed By: Pieter Van Hees
Cast: Eline Kuppens, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sien Eggers, Marilou Mermans & Robbie Cleiren.
Review By: Annie Riordan

After a serious sports injury literally puts marathoner Marie out of the running, she is advised by her doctor to take several months off to recover. Marie is invited by her brand new boyfriend Bobby to stay with him at his high rise apartment located on the exclusive Left Bank of the River Seine. Her enforced vacation, which at first seemed like the end of all of her hopes and dreams, soon becomes an idyllic holiday as she and Bobby attend rockin’ rave parties and happily boink each other at every available opportunity.

But soon, a shadow of suspicion falls over the apartment building. Marie learns from a neighbor that the previous tenant mysteriously disappeared seven years earlier. A little digging turns up articles about a mysterious black pit in the high rise’s basement and an unsavory history dating back thousands of years involving cult activity and human sacrifice. As Marie and Dirk – the missing woman’s boyfriend – form a tighter bond, Bobby becomes more possessive and weird. His position in the archery guild may have ties to the ancient cult who once owned the Left Bank, and with another sacrifice due on All Saints Day, Marie has good reason to worry.

Left Bank contains all the best elements of such classic horror flicks as Rosemary’s Baby and The Wicker Man and moves along at a slow but deliberate pace, building up the tension and paranoia over a slick hour and twenty minute run-time, until it all literally explodes in a shocking climax which manages to be both horrifying and weirdly happy, albeit in the most unlooked for way. And though there’s plenty of homage going on here, Left Bank still manages to stand uniquely on its own, delivering a solid story which unfolds like the grimmest of Grimm’s dark fairy tales.

The cast is down to earth, the settings grim and cold, and the overwhelming atmosphere of dread palpable. As the apartment building and its shadowy tenants close in around Marie, it closes around the viewer as well like a suffocating pit of black quicksand in a dank and creepy basement. I gotta admit, I’ve been getting good and tired of watching cheapshit throwaway slashers, to the point where I was going to fucking scream if I had to sit through one more. Left Bank was just the shot in the arm I needed.

Brutal As Hell Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5