In which Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière continue to absolutely crush it in the Dumas/swashbuckling/period epic space. Leans so hard on the injustice and revenge plot from the novel that its landing on an ultimate theme of forgiveness feels entirely earned rather than some kind of cop out. A gorgeous, sumptuous film in every sense of the word.

The only thing I would change is the title card drop. There's a very obvious place it should've gone, dammit!

I don't think I appreciated this film enough when I saw it upon its initial release. At the time, I suppose I assumed the video game(s) (which I hadn't played, and still haven't) were fairly similar to the film. Now, knowing more about the differences between the two, I adore Christoph Gans' painterly tone poem about death that much more. In a landscape where film producers were giddily turning horror video games into over the top action vehicles, it's kind of remarkable that a movie this visually inventive, this moody, and this arthouse-y slipped by. As good an American/Canadian/French version of J-horror as there ever was.

Character: let’s not drag this out any longer

Coming Home in the Dark: *proceeds to drag it out longer*

Speak No Evil is this year’s* “punch you in the dick” misery movie**, the kind I sorta wish the Midnight folks would stop programming. Has its moments during its lengthy Haneke-style sadism, but amounts to little. Brutal doesn’t automatically equal Profound***, folks. 

*in the grand tradition of Coming Home in the Dark!

**as opposed to “punch you in the gut”—that type of assault has depth and meaning behind it. A dick punch is just there to cause pain!

***sacred choir music AND a classical art painting during the credits! Guess that makes it deeper, huh?