10/29: Left Bank

Yesterday's horror film:

10/29

Today's horror escapade (man, I'm really running out of ways to say this) was the Belgian horror film Left Bank. A young runner is injured, causing her to take time off from her dreams of being the best. She is notoriously never happy however good she may be, and her injury spirals her even deeper. That is, of course, until she meets a dashing used car salesman (don't think I've ever put those words together before) who shows her a whole new world known as Left Bank. A swanky apartment complex on a dying island, Left Bank is home to an inordinate amount of weirdos. The girl even discovers that a woman went missing from the complex and she begins to explore the reasons why. 

Left Bank is, to put it simply, a different horror movie. It's not pigeon holed into any genre necessarily and certainly tells a story all it's own. From a mutant hairy knee cap to a killer archery cult, this movie walks to the beat of it's own drum... which isn't always a good thing. It's sometimes horrifying, sometimes fascinating, but also it's sometimes boring and meandering. It's trying to say something about folklore and finding purpose but seems to wander occasionally along the way. It's a slow burn and the pay off almost gets there but does leave you wanting. I appreciate how different Left Bank is and the shocking nature of the final scene (seriously, it was so weird I loved it); it is woven with a deeper meaning of the cycles of growth and the nature of time. Ultimately, though, it falls short of anything truly great and ends up just being an interesting, if somewhat forgettable, horror film. 

8/10