The Spanish speaking boar makes this movie a must see. If the boar doesn't have his own sequel, then these film makers aren't doing their jobs! Give the people what they want!
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xdovahkiinx31 July 2018
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gavin694221 July 2017A band of students comes to celebrate the New Year in an old manor house isolated from everything. But soon after their arrival, strange events disrupt the atmosphere, before the party turns squarely into a nightmare.
"Le Manoir" is a film that requires a little bit of patience. If you were to only watch the first ten or twenty minutes and then walk out, you would leave thinking this is just another slasher film about twentysomethings getting picked off one by one. For some people that may be a good film, but others will find it to be something that is a tired genre. If the 1980s did not beat the slasher into the ground, the early 2000s killed it.
But wait! Wait! This is not just another slasher. It is a farce, an inversion of the classic slasher with some spot on humor that is desperately needed. In much the same way that "Tucker and Dale Versus Evil" twisted the redneck / hillbilly trope around, "Le Manoir" successfully bends the And-Then-There-Were-None trope into a comically exhilarating mess.
When the young folks are not busy being killed off one by one, often in humorous ways, we are treated to some strange jokes that only those with a dark sense of humor can appreciate. A man who is ridiculously well-endowed has it used against him. Some folks have never heard of "taxidermy" before, apparently. Animals that seem more at home in Lars von Trier's "Antichrist" make some cameos. And a collar-popping party boy runs into bear traps. Oh, wait, what about the running joke about Oscar Pistorius? Poor taste or comedic brilliance? All the stereotypes are here, from the shy girl to the loose girl to the drug addict and more. But they may not turn out to be used in the stereotypical way. On top of this, it is a costume party, so looks could be deceiving. French humorist Ludovik appears as Ron Weasley, and this makes him appear less formidable than he would otherwise be, for example.
"Le Manoir" is a challenge to review, but a real joy to watch. This is the sort of horror comedy that would play well with an audience and could easily grow in reputation as it ages. The film screens at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 21, 2017 and is sure to be a crowd pleaser. -
Reviews_of_the_Dead10 January 2019This was a film that I originally heard about when it was making its festival rounds and some podcasts I listen to had reviewed it. I decided to check it out during my round-up of 2018 films during the month of December. I did come in as blind as I possible could as well. The official synopsis is a band of students come to celebrate the New Year in an old manor house isolated from everything. But soon after their arrival, strange events disrupt the atmosphere, before the party turns squarely to the nightmare.
We kick off with a maid that is freaked out about something. She goes to flee and she is then killed. It then shifts to New Year's Eve. We have a group of college students, who are about to go their separate ways coming to a mansion in the middle of nowhere to celebrate. Nadine (Nathalie Odzierejko) is the one that found the place and planned it. Her boyfriend is along, Fabrice (Marc Jarousseau). They also have a dog named Kitty.
The group also includes Bruno (Ludovik Day) who is a nerdy, momma's boy. Jess (Delphine Baril) appears to be in training to be a police officer and is into some kinky things. Djamal (Mister V) is an aspiring actor with dreams of moving to Hollywood. Drazic (Vincent Tirel) is the drug user of the group and brought a suitcase full of his stash. Sam (Vanessa Guide) is there with her ex-boyfriend, Stéphanie (Jérôme Niel). She is quite promiscuous and he is controlling. The group is completed by Charlotte (Lila Lacombe), who is quiet and the cousin of Sam.
We get introduced to each character in their room as they head down for dinner. It is a themed party, but Steph doesn't participant. Everyone starts to drink as they ring in the New Year. Bruno gets sick and throws up. He goes out to get air and finds the head of Kitty. Nadine catches it and she freaks out. Also at this time, Drazic gets Charlotte high with a cupcake and she wanders off into the woods. They were told not to go into them per the owner's request.
Things start to take a turn though when they go to find the missing Charlotte. Another guy, Enzo shows up and a strange figure in a skull with elk horns is stalking them. The past of this place must be uncovered to figure out who the masked figure actually is and why they are killing everyone off.
I do have to say that this film does have some good aspects to it. I like that setting and the concept. Being isolated out in the middle of nowhere is pretty creepy. The house they are in is huge and we learn that there are some secret passageways in it as well, which can make it even more deadly. It also is isolated, which helps to do away with cellphones.
Something else that was good with this film is the dynamic among the characters. We see that they are a group of friends, but there is that melancholy that this could be the last time they are all together. On top of that though, not every character is who they seem. The film does well at portraying some red herrings to the truth and I even have to give credit, I didn't see the twist coming. When it was revealed, everything clicked.
The major problem I had with this film though was that it was too much comedy. I did like some of it. Drazic cracked me up. I thought he was quite hilarious and just his reactions. The film though struggled to build tension, because it seemed to want to be more of a comedy than horror. This is fine, but not really my cup of tea. I thought it had the potential to mesh the two more and it decided not to.
Building off that, I think it has some pacing issues. The film meandered for me and I think a lot of that came from the film has a horror film feel while being funny. It takes too long to get us to the horror elements. Once it finally gets there, I was actually on board. I thought the twist was good and the ending was fitting for the rest of the film.
Acting was also pretty solid for the film as well. Jarousseau and Odzierejko I thought were fine in their roles. Fabrice gives kind of a heartwarming speech which makes the ending all that much more interesting. Odzierejko I felt bad for with what happened to her dog. Her in the end is another thing that I thought was intriguing. Day was funny, but his gag gets a little bit repetitive by the end. He was solid though in his character arch. Neil is a psycho and I think it is good for a film like this. How much it is contained, I think you need this hothead as it helps the mystery. Mister V was fine for his role. Tirel was my favorite and he cracked me up. Guide was easy on the eyes and her character was fine. Baril and Lacombe I also thought were both good in their roles as well.
The effects for the film I didn't really have any issues with either. I do believe we get some CGI blood, but there's not a lot of it. I actually don't really recall a lot in the way of effects. There are some things that are induced by taking drugs, but those look just fine to me. I would have to say that overall the effects are decent, but this is mostly to just a lack of them that stuck out.
Now with that said, this film could have been better for me. Many of you that follow me will know that I'm not the biggest fan of horror/comedies, but I have come around to the ones that do it right. This film unfortunately focused too much on the comedy portion of that. I do think this actually hurt the pacing of the film. The film did have a good story, concept and setting. The twist that happened I didn't see coming and thought it was good. The acting was solid and the effects were fine for what they needed. The score didn't stand out to me, but it also didn't hurt the film. I will say that this film is slightly above average for me and I did enjoy it. If this sounds intriguing, I would recommend it especially if you like horror/comedies. I will warn you though; this film is from France and Belgium. I had to watch it with subtitles, so if that is an issue, I'd recommend avoiding this one. -
datorsiers226 August 2018Hard to judge this movie to be honest, it's supposed to be horror/comedy, well it kind of is, but then again it feels really weird. The humour in this movie is really dry, never knew the french could make a movie like this, quite surprised.
As far as horror is concerned it isn't scary nor was it meant to be by the producers, so not being scary and at the same time not really being a comedy it really leaves this movie quite empty. Can't really describe it as cliche, since the whole setup here is way different than that of a Hollywood horror/comedy movie, sadly this movie just doesn't feel satisfying, the plot twist is quite horrible too. The acting isn't the greatest either, so really don't know what to make of this mediocre french horror flick.
I wouldn't say this is something really worthwhile, as there are a lot of great movies of this genre out there, for example, ''Tucker and Dale vs Evil'', ''Shaun of the Dead'' and ''Zombieland'', just to name a few, i noticed some people here are comparing this film to these movies and i strongly dissagree as this film does not deliver on any of the fronts the above mentioned horror comedy classics do.
Overall not a great watch, do not listen to people comparing this mediocre movie to great cult classics only due to the fact its foreign, i get that people are thirsty to appreciate art outside of the well known Hollywood layout, which is a posittive side note, but a movie being different does not always make it amazing! -
"Le manoir" is a french film that I watched in my natural language, french.
So, they wanted to do a horror-comedy movie : they missed it.
The characters are stereotypes as usual (virgin guy, shy girl, "always high" guy, and so on...). The plot is simple : some friends want to have fun in an old house, what will go wrong ? Everything ! The lines want to be funny, but they aren't. It's just plain dumb, as the jokes. After watching 30 minutes, I just wanted all these annoying characters die quick !
Of course, I got a few smiles sometimes, that's all. The best thing in this movie, is the ending twist. Don't watch this, you'll be disappointed. -
zainahmad-9082012 September 2018I bunch of stupid reviews here are claiming that this one's like tucker & dale vs evil, which is an ok horror comedy as a parody of some classics.
This one doesn't do anything like it at all, the humour here just makes me cringe. The characters were unlikable and unrealistic, none of their decisions made any sense, the motivs of the characters are so cheap they probably didn't even think about it before filming the movie to the ending.
I wanted all the characters to die after only watching the first few minutes and not even that was delivered, the death's were boring and cheap . -
Platypuschow8 March 2019The Mansion is a French comedy horror that despite diving headfirst into the usual tropes and cliches actually manages to be fairly enjoyable.
It tells the story of 10 friends who rent out a mansion for the night to celebrate new years. But in traditional style people begin to get picked off one by one.
Comedy? Check, plenty of laughs are to be had. Sure a lot of it is "Stoner" humor but it works, in fact fans of Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010) may well appreciate this as it's in a very similar vein.
Horror? Check, but not a vast amount. If this was a scale it would lean heavily towards comedy but there is enough horror to justify the tag. We have an antagonist, we have a couple of jump scares, but it's still light on the horror as a whole.
I laughed out loud a fair few times, I think not only were many of the jokes great but the delivery from this mostly unknown cast was done well.
This is a fantastic example of people needing to break out of their little mainstream Hollywood bubble and see what world cinema has to offer.
Plenty of flaws but nothing crippling, an enjoyable goofy comedy horror.
The Good:
Some great laughs
Decent character development
The Bad:
One needlessly grosse scene
Leave the pets alone for crying out loud
Stock scream -
shieldfire1 August 2018I've tried to watch this rubbish twice. I can stomach about 15 minutes of it each time. I've given up. First time - I tried to watch it as a horror movie. It fails horribly. Second time - I tried to watch it as a comedy. It fails horribly.
Why? Shallow brain dead characters, brain dead "acting" (running around screaming is not acting - unless you are in secondary school), a script that sucks so hard it would swallow Mount Everest, plot twists (as far as I could see this) that has been seen and done gazillion times before - and a gazillion times better.
Someone said they probably wanted to do something akin to "Scream". Possibly. They failed badly. -
flurbinflarbin30 December 2019It was silly, kinda dumb in parts, but also entertaining and hilarious! And pretty good FX too. I enjoyed it!
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clintstevens31 July 2018I'm thinking the filmmakers were going for a kind of 'Scream' takeoff, but unfortunately, it was neither a horror movie nor a comedy. It had a slapstick quality to it, but 'quality' is a word that shouldn't be used when referring to 'The Mansion'. The fact that it wasn't the least bit humorous should come as no surprise. It was filmed in France, the country that considers Jerry Lewis to be a comedic genius.
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vam-vm12 February 2022I can only imagine that many reviewers came to this film with preconceived notions. Starts off with the worn out trope of young folks going to party at an abandoned building of some sort and bring alcohol and drugs only to be killed off by some unknown evil.
There are scenes in this film that are laugh out loud funny. Watch with subtitles. Dubbing sucks. I'm going to watch this again in case I missed something in the first viewing.
Give it a chance, you might be glad you did. -
coachjacques12 August 2018Leave your brain aside and just enjoy a French (I think) part-parody of the string of US 'college friends in a haunted house' scenario. We watched it on Netflix tonight and had a fun time.
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ehernandez-2798025 August 2018All I have to say is this is a joke. Pure garbage. Poor acting, an inferior plot, dirt "comedy" and foolish sound effects. Spread the word without even watching, this is terrible and should have never bee created.
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lighterthanair-8256913 March 2021One of those movies that's not bad enough to turn off, nor good enough to keep your attention. I did chores meanwhile, and when the music heightened I knew there would be a good murder, I watched those parts.
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calaquendeli20 August 2018The title says it all. This is the very first movie that compelled me to leave this review. It is supposed to be a horror-comedy, but what it achieved was neither horror nor comedy. Full of clichéd characters and full of lines that are so freaking overdone that there is not even a drop of comedy in it.
Don't waste your time on this trash. -
stvstt7 August 2018Well, the acting was fine, the filmography was good, and the direction was ok. Trouble is that this movie was none of the above. In trying to be a comedy horror, it singularly failed to be either of these. I found it lacking both in content and exposition. The outcome was a very unsatisfactory & dull movie. The given charm of being an international movie (ie non English language) fails to ignite any additional interest. My only advice is to find something better to do in the two hours this car wreck of a movie lasts.
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Tweekums13 January 2023This Belgian film is centred on a group of student friends who are celebrating the New Year at a remote manor house. As is so often the way it is quickly established that there is no phone signal and no Wi-Fi so when things inevitably go wrong there will be no calling for help. The group contains the expected mix of character types and before long things start going wrong. First innocent Charlotte eats some 'special' cupcakes and walks into the woods; then mother's boy Bruno steps in something unpleasant and finds something even more disturbing. Tensions rise and somebody, or something, starts picking of the friends.
Horror comedy needs to succeed in two ways; it needs to be scary and it needs to be funny; that sounds obvious but often films fail on one or both counts. What is scary and what is funny are highly subjective; I found this film provided mild scares and some good laugh out loud moments. The deaths are suitably varied and in amusingly poor taste; the way the first body is found will have people wincing and laughing at the same time... if they have a slightly twisted sense of humour. The cast is solid enough; they are fully aware that they aren't starring in the next 'Citizen Kane' and play their parts accordingly; never too seriously. The setting is impressive; one just has to look at the house and forest to know bad things will happen. Overall a decent enough horror comedy which plays with genre stereotypes in an enjoyable way. I'd certainly recommend it to horror, especially slasher, fans looking for some amusing, mildly gory fun.
These comments are based on watching the film in French with English subtitles. -
Calicodreamin11 October 2020This may well be the stupidest horror movie ever made. The storyline didn't make much sense, and was hastily put together in the last five minutes. The dialogue was all over the place. The humor was off. I couldn't find anything to like about this.
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lollyfizz17 August 2018Somebody already mentioned this movie being of tucker and dale ilk, and I concur wholeheartedly. This movie made me lol from start to finish. I never knew the French could be so satire and dry, but they pulled it off here! No it's not scary but there really are some almighty lols and the special effects/make up team were awesome with some gruesome visuals!! Def not life changing but an enjoyable ride with no lulls and some real comedy gems!
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Seneca8427 November 2020Some of the jokes might have landed, if only someone in the cast was funny.
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I wasn't sure if I would like it at first, cuz I felt like I couldn't tell if it was a comedy or a horror flick. But honestly this is the first time I think that a movie had equal parts of both. Go into the movie knowing that it will be randomly funny. But also have it's creepy parts
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terrancegore2 June 2021I nearly stopped watching after about 20 minutes, deciding that this was a film that offered nothing new alongside a cast of irritating and unsympathetic characters.
But I persevered and was rewarded by a second half that was funny, scary and surprising. Ignore the overall rating and give it a go. -
lindalozar10 June 2020French movie done in French with English subtitles. If you speak/understand French, maybe it's funny. If you don't & are relying on the subtitles, don't bother. I have watched foreign language movies with subtitles, but these are generally German, which I understand most of or Japanese kaiju movies. Between the subtitles & the acting I get a better idea of what is going on. So, if you don't understand French, may not be a good fit.
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trashgang13 March 2019This is a French horror they said with an overlay of comedy. I must say that in my entire life I never laughed with French humour but I do adore their horrors. Over the top gore mostly or straight in your face.
Sadly, Le Manoir doesn't contain one piece of that. The humour is so childish that I rather thought kill 'em all in stead of run run. On part of the horror, it's really never there. You must wait until the last 30 minutes until things go wrong but it's low on gore or let's just say horror. The effects on the other hand are really well done and above mediocre.
Maybe the funniest part is the Spanish speaking boar. And maybe teens could have a laugh with the sex jokes told. Is it worth seeing for the geeks, well, if you haven't got anything else then you could see it but otherwise it's a waist of time.
Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5