Movie: Litan (1982)

Premiere: February 24, 1982
Country of origin: France
Director: Jean-Pierre Mocky

Writer: 
Jean-Claude Romer, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Patrick Granier, Scott Baker, Suzy Baker

Production Companies: Films A2, M. Films
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Surreal Fantasy
Runtime: 1h 28min
Starring: Marie-José Nat, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Nino Ferrer

If you mix Roy Andersson’s minimalistic style with Dario Argento’s stylistic horror language, you get something close to this one.

This story takes place in a small French mountain town called Litan during a strange local event known as Litan Day. From the very first moments, the film refuses to settle into a traditional narrative rhythm. Instead, it presents fragments that feel like a trailer structure, as if we are seeing glimpses of events that are already in motion or not yet fully formed.

 

The story then follows Nora (Marie-José Nat), who awakens from a dream in this town and moves through an environment where instructions, encounters and destinations never fully stabilize into clear meaning. People she meets often behave in ways that feel slightly off, not in an overtly surreal way at first, but in a subtle emotional disconnection that slowly builds unease. Conversations feel functional rather than natural and reactions do not always match the intensity of the situations unfolding around them.

 

The setting itself plays a major role in this effect. The mountain landscape, heavy stone architecture and fog filled open spaces give the town a mythological quality. There is a growing sense that the environment is part of the narrative mechanism, where caves, factories, hospitals and event sites feels connected.

It is recorded in Saint-Victor-sur-Loire in France, a small historic area near Saint-Étienne shaped by steep rock formations and reservoir landscapes. That real geography feeds directly into the atmosphere, giving the place a grounded sense of terrain that still feels detached from normal everyday orientation. From the very beginning, the massive surrounding rock formations and narrow streets give the entire setting a Lovecraftian feeling of isolation and something ancient pressing in from the edges.

What makes the film especially striking is how it layers different cinematic languages on top of each other. There is a strong European art film foundation, where space, silence and observation carry much of the weight. At the same time, it repeatedly interrupts this calm surface with bursts of horror energy that feel more aligned with genre cinema, especially Italian giallo traditions. The score shifts between ritualistic tension, classic suspense cues and sudden sharp horror stings, creating the sense that multiple film traditions are colliding inside the same narrative space.

There is a clear sense of fragmented storytelling, instead of strict cause and effect, events feel like symbolic pieces that gain weight through recognition. It shares some structural similarity with Alejandro Jodorowsky’s surreal storytelling, although this film is more grounded in connected scenes and clearer spatial continuity. There is also a strong echo of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), where meaning almost forms before dissolving again, leaving behind only traces rather than answers.

At the same time, the film feels close to how the games Limbo (2010) and Little Nightmares (2017) construct their worlds. You are not guided through explanation, you are moved through space and understanding comes from observing the environment itself. Background details, repetition and atmosphere become the primary way of reading what is happening, while the story continues forward without pausing to clarify itself.

The film rarely gives space to process information before introducing the next fragment. Each moment arrives while earlier ones are still unresolved. Because of this, understanding never fully stabilizes, it constantly shifts just out of reach while the narrative keeps moving forward.

It can feel overwhelming at times, with so much happening in such a short span of time, but overall it is a very unique and refreshing experience. I found myself constantly trying to make sense of what was happening, but at a certain point I just let go of that and accepted the film for what it is, rather than trying to fully decode it. Even with all the confusion, it was a memorable watch and worth the experience.

I give it a solid 7/10.

This was an interesting trailer, it is kinda just the start of the movie , Noras dream, in the movie it played out as a trailer so make sense to have it as a trailer then. 
 

This next trailer was a bit strange, it show a scene at the start that was not in the movie.

 

IMDB
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163716/


Article written by: Sonny Mikszath

Movie: La rupture (1970)

(The Breach)

Premiere: August 26, 1970
Country of origin: France, Italy, Belgium
Director: Claude Chabrol
Writer: 
Charlotte Armstrong, Claude Chabrol
Production Companies: 
Ciné Vog Films, Euro International Films, Les Films de la Boétie
Distributed: A.R.T.E.
Genre: Psychological Drama, Thriller
Runtime: 2h 4min
Starring: 
Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Jean-Claude Drouot, Michel Bouquet   

I randomly came across the streaming site A.R.T.E. (Association Relating to European Television), a European cultural platform that shares films, documentaries and curated programming for free. While browsing there I found this film and decided to watch it without knowing much in advance. I just found it interesting to randomly find a French film from 1970 there.

The film opens with a domestic rupture that already feels slightly out of rhythm with expectation. A violent incident involving Hélène (Stéphane Audran), her husband,Charles (Jean-Claude Drouot) and their child, this sets the tone, but even this moment is not framed in a fully conventional dramatic way. Emotional reactions feel slightly displaced and the scene carries an odd calm underneath its surface intensity. From the beginning, the film seems less interested in clarity and more interested in perception.

What follows is not a linear unfolding of events, but a gradual shift in where meaning sits. Hélène becomes the center of an attempt to influence the outcome, where her father in law, Ludovic (Michel Bouquet) brings in Mr. Thomas (Jean-Pierre Cassel) to construct a case against her. From there, Thomas gradually moves into a central focus position, sometimes even more present than Hélène.

A large part of the film takes place in a contained environment, a boarding house near the hospital becomes the main setting, where different lives overlap, observe each other and slowly affect one another. Over time, it takes on a quality similar to an Agatha Christie setup, not because of a classic mystery structure, but because of how contained it is and how much meaning comes from interaction rather than action.

  

Within this house, a small ecosystem of personalities forms. The Pinelli couple run the space, with the woman acting as the main social anchor while the man is more the janitor. Three gossiping women dominate much of the social rhythm, spending their time playing cards and exchanging judgments that quietly shape the atmosphere. 

An outspoken actor moves through the space with a louder presence, shifting attention whenever he enters a scene. A doctor connected to the nearby hospital appears in fragments, sometimes grounding events in a more factual register. Among them is Elise, a socially distant young woman who initially feels peripheral but gradually becomes drawn into the same network of influence and pressure.

In terms of tone, the film reminded me of works like Repulsion (1965) and Persona (1966) in the way identity and emotional stability feel unstable and hard to pin down. At the same time, the way information is revealed through small interactions and controlled framing gives the film a very particular flow. There is an unexpected ease in how people behave and speak, even when the situation underneath is tense or unclear. Combined with the slow, slightly mysterious unfolding of events, it creates a rhythm that oddly recalls The Adventures of Tintin, not in content, but in how straightforward interactions carry the story forward through movement, encounters and timing rather than explanation.

What stands out most is how the film trusts fragmentation. It rarely gives full answers in dialogue or exposition, instead letting meaning emerge through partial views, shifting context and what is left unsaid. Understanding is always slightly delayed and interpretation becomes part of watching rather than something done after the fact.

One of the most memorable tonal shifts comes with the scenes involving Elise, especially a sequence built around a 16mm projection of a very authentic looking erotic film, likely made by Thomas girlfriend that seems to be play an erotic actor. It appears almost out of nowhere and changes the atmosphere in a way that feels both unsettling, very dark and strangely detached. It is always interesting to see a film inside a film. The 16mm film was some erotic ritual short. 

It was an interesting experience following this manipulative thread and seeing where it leads, even as the perspective keeps shifting and certainty never fully settles. The film is well acted and the stakes are high, especially around a child’s future and a mother pushed into instability. That gives it a darker weight underneath the shifting social dynamics and interpretations. I enjoyed it,
7/10

Would had love to see that 16mm film separated in full. I found the ritual aspect of it adding an interesting layer.

Links:
Watch it on arte.tv - Available until 14/07/2026
https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/127428-000-A/the-breach/

IMDB
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066318

Check out this very interesting trailer, with clapperboard present. 

Article written by: Sonny Mikszath

Movie: Phantasmagoria (2014)

Premiere: 
May 20, 2014 (Cannes Film Festival)

Country of origin: Italy / France

Directed by:
Mickael Abbate, Domiziano Cristopharo, Tiziano Martella

Written by: 
Mickael Abbate, Domiziano Cristopharo, Tiziano Martella

Distributed by: EuroObscura
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Drama, Thriller
Runtime: 1h15min
Starring: Venantino Venantini, Maya Dolan, Sophie Pâris

The reason this caught my attention is because of the Italian actor Venantino Venantini, known to me from Paura nella città dei morti viventi (1980) (City of the Living Dead). In that film, he plays a very brutal father, not a huge role, but very, very memorable. 

(Paura nella città dei morti viventi (1980)

I was curious to see what more he had done and found out about this movie, wonder if I’ll even recognize him. 

This film Phantasmagoria was provided to me for this review by EuroObscura.

Jumping into this anthology movie, we start with a solid, long, old-school intro credit, then we are taken right into a Tales from the Crypt-style segment. A carnival-like, fortune teller skeleton is our host and presents the first story. I love this setup, Tales from the Crypt is one of my favorite shows. 

 

Diabolique – Director: Mickael Abbate – 15 min
The story follows an Italian film team in the south of France: three women and one man, seemingly set to record a sci-fi movie. A fun little touch, they start humming the X-Files intro, which I absolutely loved. But almost immediately, you notice something isn’t right.
 

It reminded me a lot of Blink Twice (2023). The setting adds to the unease: an abandoned mansion called La Diabolique where the townspeople acting strangely, that gave off a faint Twin Peaks vibe. The short starts strong, but unfortunately, it loses momentum toward the end, wrapping up too quickly. I kind of lost track of what was really happening before it concluded. The only super sad part was that the film crew in the short never really got to shoot anything for their sci-fi movie, they just talked about it a bit and then relaxed and all the strange story happens around them. 

WAKE UP!

I give this 4/10 – Because good effort, but it’s too personal for others to really grasp fully.

 

Our skeleton host guides us into the next story.

 

 

My Gift to You – Director: Tiziano Martella – 20 min
In this segment, I knew we would see Venantino Venantini, listed on IMDb as playing the grandpa, so let’s see if we find him.

The story starts on October 31, 1993—Halloween.
What a brutal start. A very memorable scene. A young girl, Sarah, walks in on her loving grandfather, well played by Venantini, as he shoots himself. Before doing it, he says, “this is my gift to you.”
That’s an incredibly heavy moment. For a child to witness that and then to frame it as a “gift”… it immediately sets a deep psychological weight. It’s not just shocking, it lingers.

Nineteen years later, in 2012, Sarah is still trying to understand why he did it. What she finds doesn’t come as a clear answer at first. It feels more like a dark psychological dream than an explanation. But eventually, something does emerge, just not something she was ready for.

The story stays quite open-ended. You understand most of what happened, but the details are left for you to piece together. It leans heavily into dreamlike and symbolic visuals, which fits the very, very dark themes it explores.
I’d give it a 5/10. The psychological terror comes through well, especially because of what Sarah experienced.

 

 

After another short visit from our skeleton host, we move into the third and final short.

 

A Snake with a Steel Tongue – Director: Domiziano Cristopharo – 30 min
This one starts off very bloody, with what appears to be a prostitute killing her client. It sets up a mystery right away. Who is the killer and why? The face is hidden, possibly behind a mask and it’s not even clear if it’s a woman or a man. That gave me strong giallo vibes, I was hoping it would turn into more of a detective-style story.
We follow a man who checks into a sketchy motel. It seems like the place has been closed for some time, but he’s allowed to stay there for just one night. The place and its innkeeper gives it an uneasy feeling. As things progress, the motel clearly isn’t what it seems and the connection to the opening murder becomes more and more intriguing. The innkeeper repeatedly insisting that vodka is the best choice right now adds to the strange atmosphere.

By the end, the story shifts and becomes a bit confusing, though that seems intentional. It leans into a slow, looming thriller style where you’re constantly wondering what will happen next. The end was interesting, even if the path there feels a bit uneven. Unfortunately, the audio mix was also somewhat inconsistent, which took me out of it at times.
I’d give it a 4/10. It has a nice and interesting twist, but overall it didn’t fully land for me.

After a short wrap-up by our skeleton host, the movie ends with the credits and its great 80s vibe soundtrack!

 

So overall I say it was not a bad watch, not at all. It is always interesting to see how these anthology works, what is special most of the time is how one tries to fit a short story that is intriguing to watch and how complex one can make it.
I give this full movie 7/10 – Charming skeleton host and one did feel transformed into the worlds of these stories. It was nice to see the part Venantino Venantini was playing also. 

Links:
IMDB: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3026102/
Homepage: https://www.facebook.com/Phantasmagoria.the.movie

http://www.euroobscura.com/

Article written by: Sonny Mikszath