The actresses are cute and the sets, while simple, quite OK. Apart from this, there is nothing to save from this movie. Incredibly bad acted, dumb to tears dialogues, all-too-expected plot, a lot of goofs and inconsistencies (for instance, a pretty young girl gets hits in the head by a morning star and not only she survives, but barely with a scratch !)... To make it short because it does not worth more, even the fans of the genre can avoid it.
13 Reviews
They don't make movies like this anymore. And there are good reasons why.
El Bacho24 June 2007
In the early 00's, production companies had a short-lived craze for supernatural genre movies in France after "The Crimson Rivers" and "Brotherhood of the Wolf" turned out to be hits, so several movies were green-lit or saved from their "direct-to-video" fate. However, France, as opposed to the US, UK or Italy, has little tradition of fantasy B-movies and it turned out quickly that "Samouraïs", "Bloody Mallory" or the "Crimson Rivers" sequel were ill-advised attempts at recreating a kind of magic that had never existed in French cinema in the first place. As they flopped, producers have gone back to their usual fare: derivative farces or the umpteenth self-referential tribute to French New Wave by a former critic from "Les Cahiers du cinéma".
"Brocéliande" could only have been green-lit during this short window, as it serves no other discernible purpose. It's your by-the-book slasher movie mixed with vague mythological element and horror references and you'll find bimboesque female characters, a French University looking like a US campus and plot twists so lazy you don't even care because you had guessed it by yourself an hour before, even before the movie started.
These elements make all the fun of a 70's or a 80's B-movie and you expect them in a 70's or 80's movie. However, we're not in the 80's anymore and nobody warned director Doug Headline, as this tribute to the slasher movie genre is nothing more than a derivative slasher movie. Headline himself is no rookie and has been writing as a critic about this kind of pictures since the early 80's but as a first time director he shows a lack of skill and ambition that makes "Brocéliande" a bore.
When you put together clichés from a movie subcategory and hand them to a skilled and inventive director such as Wes Craven or Quentin Tarantino, you get a "Scream" or a "Death Proof", movies that are imitations from old guilty pleasures but also magnify these clichés and add a great deal to them. That's called "talent" and that's why you can't confuse these recent movies with their original inspirations shot decades ago.
"Brocéliande" takes the lazy path and only reproduces the worst elements from past movies (unfortunately for the male viewer, the gratuitous nudity is mostly missing). There are very strong similarities (presumably unintentional) between the plot of "Brocéliande" and the reviled "Halloween 3: Season Of The Witch", as both deal with supernatural Druidic evil rituals and some silly attempt at taking over the world on Halloween night. As even the plot of "Halloween 3" makes more sense than this one, it means that something seriously wrong went with "Brocéliande".
"Brocéliande" could only have been green-lit during this short window, as it serves no other discernible purpose. It's your by-the-book slasher movie mixed with vague mythological element and horror references and you'll find bimboesque female characters, a French University looking like a US campus and plot twists so lazy you don't even care because you had guessed it by yourself an hour before, even before the movie started.
These elements make all the fun of a 70's or a 80's B-movie and you expect them in a 70's or 80's movie. However, we're not in the 80's anymore and nobody warned director Doug Headline, as this tribute to the slasher movie genre is nothing more than a derivative slasher movie. Headline himself is no rookie and has been writing as a critic about this kind of pictures since the early 80's but as a first time director he shows a lack of skill and ambition that makes "Brocéliande" a bore.
When you put together clichés from a movie subcategory and hand them to a skilled and inventive director such as Wes Craven or Quentin Tarantino, you get a "Scream" or a "Death Proof", movies that are imitations from old guilty pleasures but also magnify these clichés and add a great deal to them. That's called "talent" and that's why you can't confuse these recent movies with their original inspirations shot decades ago.
"Brocéliande" takes the lazy path and only reproduces the worst elements from past movies (unfortunately for the male viewer, the gratuitous nudity is mostly missing). There are very strong similarities (presumably unintentional) between the plot of "Brocéliande" and the reviled "Halloween 3: Season Of The Witch", as both deal with supernatural Druidic evil rituals and some silly attempt at taking over the world on Halloween night. As even the plot of "Halloween 3" makes more sense than this one, it means that something seriously wrong went with "Brocéliande".
Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful
capcanuk25 June 2005
Yes, absolutely dreadful, And this coming from someone who loves bad movies - but there's a limit. I enjoy all sorts of horror/suspense films, and have seen some wonderful work from European film makers. Broceliande is sadly not among those those wonderful pieces of film-making. The camera work is worse than amateurish. Not the fashionable, shaky MTV "cameraman needs Ritalin" type of camera work so many film-makers use to camouflage their lack of talent. This is simply bad frame composition and terrible image composition. The acting is farcical when it is not entirely two-dimensional. The dialogues are stilted and unnatural - even more so than your usual run-of-the-mill horror/suspense film delving into pseudo-mysticism. I think that what put me off the most was the horribly choreographed fight scenes at the end of the film. These were bad to the point of being ludicrous. I've seen what a small budget can do, and it can do wonders. This was just bad film-making. Very, very sad.
It has to be seen to be believed!!!
dbdumonteil14 January 2005
Really!Here the French cinema hits rock bottom ,and compared to it, the least appealing of the American adolescent horror movies,the likes of "Friday the thirteenth" "Freddy" and co are masterpieces of the seventh art.
It's all the more infuriating as there were exciting original elements :the forêt de Brocéliande and its legends ,the druids and King Arthur ,all were splendid assets for a dreamlike fantasy and horror film.Alas! Filmed ,as an user aptly pointed out in a fake forest,near Paris ,the movie is fake horror,fake Celtic history,fake vestiges -you should see the professor (Wilms who was a wonderful M.Le Quesnoy in "la vie est un long fleuve tranquille) scream for the "invaluable scrap" -which the production probably bought in a dime store-fake characters ,fake excavations...
The boys disguised as druids are unintentionally very funny ;so are the girls who seem to be experts in martial arts.And what can we say of the professors? of the monster? A ten year old would write a better screenplay than this grotesque farce.To think that people can spend money for such drivel when artists are still waiting for a producer!
Word to the wise:Maurice Leblanc wrote a marvelous story dealing with druids and old ceremonies in his Arsene Lupin saga called "l'île aux trente cercueils" .A miniseries was made 30 years ago.Avoid this "Broceliande" garbage and try to see it instead.
It's all the more infuriating as there were exciting original elements :the forêt de Brocéliande and its legends ,the druids and King Arthur ,all were splendid assets for a dreamlike fantasy and horror film.Alas! Filmed ,as an user aptly pointed out in a fake forest,near Paris ,the movie is fake horror,fake Celtic history,fake vestiges -you should see the professor (Wilms who was a wonderful M.Le Quesnoy in "la vie est un long fleuve tranquille) scream for the "invaluable scrap" -which the production probably bought in a dime store-fake characters ,fake excavations...
The boys disguised as druids are unintentionally very funny ;so are the girls who seem to be experts in martial arts.And what can we say of the professors? of the monster? A ten year old would write a better screenplay than this grotesque farce.To think that people can spend money for such drivel when artists are still waiting for a producer!
Word to the wise:Maurice Leblanc wrote a marvelous story dealing with druids and old ceremonies in his Arsene Lupin saga called "l'île aux trente cercueils" .A miniseries was made 30 years ago.Avoid this "Broceliande" garbage and try to see it instead.
I Thought French cinema could not get any worse... it turned out I was wrong.
patrick-green10 May 2006
I HATE THIS MOVIE!!!!!! I have never seen such utter, complete trash in my life!!! I live in France so it turned out that I was in the front line to watch this awful movie. At first, it seemed cool, kind of like something about a cursed forest that chomps people. Unfortunately, it turned out it was something QUITE different: a good start with a girl that meets a guy and all that whatnot, then the girl gets threatening messages in the form of ravens shut up in her bathroom closet(ludicrous), from that bit and on, the movie starts to slide downhill very quickly with a lot of desperate thrashing in the process. The movie ends with sacrificial druids galore and ancient ugly, stinky creatures coming back from the past to kill a few people. Many questions were rushing around my head by then: why the heck did they bring back that scummy monster? Do druids look like maniacs dressed in bedsheets? Why did they even bother making this movie?? The "climax" of the movie was so goofy I laughed all the way through it: the "awful" stinky monster does battle with the two young women(who appear to be expert kung fu masters) and the professor gets sliced in two or something. What surprised me was that the monster was so slow and ungainly in battle, wasn't it supposed to be a god of war or something? Anyway, the movie in it's death throws was a pitiful sight. A brief condensation of the contents of this movie: Kung fu mayhem+druid stones+mysterious murders "à la thriller"+ancient prophecies+shabby ravens+old clumsy boneless war god+nutty professor=complete and utter, diseased, boneless, worm eaten, GODFORSAKEN, GODDAM, RECYCLED, FAKE, WANNABE, LUDICROUS SH*T!!!!!!!!! Things I learned from this movie: -Ancient war gods are lousy at kung fu. -All young women who study archeology at university in France are kung fu experts. -Professors are so resistant they can survive being sliced in two by a saw-mass-whatchamacallit without any injuries.
Chloe the Druid Slayer
effigiebronze3 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
While watching this unexceptional little flicker, I decided to view it as a French version of a BUFFY episode, and in that light it's really not half bad.
The characters totally mirror an American-style TV series, with a bit of oddball Gaelic perspective thrown into the mix. The production values are straight TV (the settings seem to consist of a municipal park, someone's grandmother's house, and a boarding school in the off-season), and the 'effects' are pretty lame. However, the cast is easy on the eyes; I can't say any of them are great actors or anything, but personally I found the Euro-styled appearance of all the characters amusing and diverting.
If anyone's looking for a Godard-type 'un de film' this absolutely ain't it; but as a not-bad riff on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, and especially watching it as though it were a one-off pilot for a French TV ripoff of BUFFY, it works reasonably well. Seriously. If it were a TV series, and nothing else was on, I'd watch more of these.
The characters totally mirror an American-style TV series, with a bit of oddball Gaelic perspective thrown into the mix. The production values are straight TV (the settings seem to consist of a municipal park, someone's grandmother's house, and a boarding school in the off-season), and the 'effects' are pretty lame. However, the cast is easy on the eyes; I can't say any of them are great actors or anything, but personally I found the Euro-styled appearance of all the characters amusing and diverting.
If anyone's looking for a Godard-type 'un de film' this absolutely ain't it; but as a not-bad riff on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, and especially watching it as though it were a one-off pilot for a French TV ripoff of BUFFY, it works reasonably well. Seriously. If it were a TV series, and nothing else was on, I'd watch more of these.
Missed again.
Phroggy15 January 2003
After a few misfires, we are still waiting for THE French horror movie that the critics will certainly vilify, but will launch a new trend. Not this time. Doug Headline can't be accused of not being knowledgable in the genre (He is editor of a high-class fantasy imprint, has worked for legendary magazine Starfix.), but why a scenario that uses EVERY cliché in the book (except maybe the Odious Comic relief) ? Why make it so predictable ? Even the nods towards Argento fails flat. It's not even an euro-teen movie like the German "Anatomy", much better, just a compilation of scenes that barely seems to have any relation one with the other and features LOTS of plot holes. The whole "Celtic" aspect is barely touched. And, after a "revenation" painfully predictable, the screenplay offers us a boring, endless chase in a subterranean necropole which seems bigger than Parisian catacombs. I really wanted to love this film. Really. But even a mother would not. Oh, and writer Valerio Evangelisti was supposed to have a cameo, but I vainly looked for him.
What a crap flick...
sundaysmiler-123 October 2005
What should i say? I only saw this flick for curiosity, and this is truly a shame... I grew up in Brittany with stories of celtic legends, and spent 5 years in Rennes, the town in which this film is said to take place... Shame that not any actor nor camera from this flick ever arrived in Rennes. They could at least have chosen a likely town, or a likely forest, but nothing even SEEM like Brittany nor Rennes... And calling it a film about celtic legends is really making a fool of the audience. Besides those details, it could have been a good film, but it's crap. Silly scenario, silly characters and no originality. Definitely to avoid.
How could they shoot such a... thing ?
Nounoox14 February 2003
Another try, another miss. France may be doomed for not being able to produce a good horror movie. I mean... the least they could do was to shoot the movie in the forest of Brocéliande, but even the forest is fake ! It was shot near Paris ! The subject is useless, the actors are really insignificant and the text makes you wish you were deaf. Nothing could save it.
Bad... to the bone. I wasn't warned. I want my money back.
Bad... to the bone. I wasn't warned. I want my money back.
Fun homage to B-pictures full of winks at Euro movie buffs
slowdriver31 March 2003
A rather enjoyable debut from a director who seems to have a sincere fondness for horror films of a bygone era. In this fairly simple storyline (a murder mystery that turns into a monster movie), film buffs will find a hodge-podge of references to many genre classics, like Dario Argento's thrillers of the 70s or English Hammer films (in particular John Gilling's Plague of the Zombies for its ritual scenes), and even to stranger oddities like Jack Arnold's "Monster on the Campus" or the Avengers British TV series. Add a bit of Celtic mythology for a background, some fight scenes, and stir well... Now mixing all this into a pleasant, if air-headed, B-movie makes for an interesting challenge! It doesn't always succeeds but is certainly better than other French genre efforts in the field. The direction is often stylish and the performers have fresh faces, the music score is quite good.
Of course this is a low budget production (it probably didn't cost more than a couple million dollars), and does suffer from it: several scenes could have been helped by better production values. And there are a few plot holes and a couple of long stretches. But it finally wins the day by retaining its charm to the end just out of sheer unpretentiousness. Not so common a feat, these days.
Of course this is a low budget production (it probably didn't cost more than a couple million dollars), and does suffer from it: several scenes could have been helped by better production values. And there are a few plot holes and a couple of long stretches. But it finally wins the day by retaining its charm to the end just out of sheer unpretentiousness. Not so common a feat, these days.
Typical, but okay
ruspandy24 April 2005
I am gonna be generous for this one because this movie, no matter how bad other viewers say, was able to keep my attention from beginning until the end.
Sure. the plot and twists are very typical. There are times where you wonder, "Where have I seen this before?" or something like that. However, it's impossible for people to watch this sort of movie and expect a Lord of the Rings-style storyline. It only aims to provide light entertainment for us to enjoy without stretching our heads.
Besides, the actors played their part okay and the leading lady Elsa Kikoïne was extremely beautiful. I really want to see more of her in the future.
The movie overall has a good pacing, never drags itself in one place for too long, and enjoyable to watch all over again. A good rental.
Sure. the plot and twists are very typical. There are times where you wonder, "Where have I seen this before?" or something like that. However, it's impossible for people to watch this sort of movie and expect a Lord of the Rings-style storyline. It only aims to provide light entertainment for us to enjoy without stretching our heads.
Besides, the actors played their part okay and the leading lady Elsa Kikoïne was extremely beautiful. I really want to see more of her in the future.
The movie overall has a good pacing, never drags itself in one place for too long, and enjoyable to watch all over again. A good rental.
Not that bad
AliquaSalix10 February 2003
I went to see this movie with the idea that I would somehow help French B-Movies, which have not been doing too well lately. I thought that I would probably regret it. I was wrong. Of course, Brocéliande is not a very good movie. Almost everything in it has been seen before, and they obviously lacked money and time. But this movie has a soul, or at least a true and fresh spirit. One can actually feel that the authors and the director meant to do some kind of tribute to horror and suspense movies. You can feel that they loved their project. If you go and see it in a good mood, if you let yourself slip into the story without thinking too much about its slight incoherences, then you can have a pretty good time.
Enjoyable if somewhat predictable B-movie horror...
trancejeremy18 September 2008
This is pretty much a B-horror movie, but a good effort, I thought, comparable to a good solid outing from Hammer in their heyday. You won't be scared, but you'll be entertained. Somewhat unbelievable plot (in this case, revolving around Druids), very attractive though untalented actresses (who in this case, sadly don't show anything), even more untalented actors.
It's somewhat unusually structured. It starts off revolving around a bartender studying to be an archaeologist. Coyote Ugly meets Indiana Jones, I thought at first, but it quickly drops that angle to focus on the plot, how people on campus are mysteriously being killed or disappearing. The mystery of what is going on is revealed about halfway into the movie, then the later half revolves with the protagonists (now expanding to two, or three) dealing with the culprits behind the mystery.
I was impressed by that aspect of the plot, there are a fair amount of fight scenes, not the helpless trying to get away sort you see from heroines in horror movies, but direct confrontation.
I wouldn't say the acting is good, and it's hard to judge the dialog from the subtitles, but it's not horrible, either.
It's somewhat unusually structured. It starts off revolving around a bartender studying to be an archaeologist. Coyote Ugly meets Indiana Jones, I thought at first, but it quickly drops that angle to focus on the plot, how people on campus are mysteriously being killed or disappearing. The mystery of what is going on is revealed about halfway into the movie, then the later half revolves with the protagonists (now expanding to two, or three) dealing with the culprits behind the mystery.
I was impressed by that aspect of the plot, there are a fair amount of fight scenes, not the helpless trying to get away sort you see from heroines in horror movies, but direct confrontation.
I wouldn't say the acting is good, and it's hard to judge the dialog from the subtitles, but it's not horrible, either.
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