80
Salon by Andrew O'Hehir
It's an intensely crafted and genuinely memorable horror film from a striking new talent.
The Ordeal (Calvaire)
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Belgium,
- France,
- Luxembourg
- 2005
- · 88m
Director
Fabrice Du Welz
Cast
Laurent Lucas,
Brigitte Lahaie,
Gigi Coursigny,
Jackie Berroyer,
Jean-Luc Couchard,
Philippe Nahon
Genre
Horror
A traveling singer is on his way home for Christmas when his van breaks down in the middle of a strange town. He is taken in by an affable yet creepy innkeeper who is psychologically fragile from his separation from his wife — and things take a violent, sadistic turn.
Stream The Ordeal
What are critics saying?
75
San Francisco Chronicle
What sells this movie is the realistic attention to detail and the bravura direction of Fabrice Du Welz, who draws a gut-wrenching performance from Lucas, who cries, squeals and screams with the best of them.
75
New York Post by V.A. Musetto
Director-co-writer Fabrice du Welz has taken a clichéd premise and infused it with a stylish perversity that should have horror fans squealing with delight.
75
San Francisco Chronicle by G. Allen Johnson
What sells this movie is the realistic attention to detail and the bravura direction of Fabrice Du Welz, who draws a gut-wrenching performance from Lucas, who cries, squeals and screams with the best of them.
63
Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
A stylish, nasty, very well-done Belgian horror movie.
60
The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck
By the time it reaches its final act, the film rivals its American counterparts in intensity if not quite in explicit violence.
60
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Calvaire is pompous, but not without talent or shivers.
60
Empire by Damon Wise
A black comedy with flashes of genius, but let down by a sharp slide into chaos.
60
Chicago Reader by J.R. Jones
This French variation on the backwoods horror movie proves that even a little thematic complexity in the early scenes can yield a substantial payoff when things get going.
50
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
A Belgian "Deliverance," Calvaire (The Ordeal) not only treats us to a few good scares, it also teaches us that Europe has its own rednecks.
50
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
An odd blend of recycled American exploitation movie tropes and snarky Euro-art film attitude.
30
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
It takes so long to get going and fails to generate the necessary suspense to keep viewers engaged, that the horrific final act is too little, too late, while at the same time nearly being much too much.
30
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
The movie hardly has enough beef on its bones to make a meal. The very notion that movies about torture are considered "horror," and are more profitable now per foot of celluloid than any other type of independent film, is what's qualmy.
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