the movie stands out as an atmospheric piece with important things to say, but it always feels like an allegory rather than something authentic.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 7, 2024

Calvaire is a hauntingly grim portrayal of the dangers that a misogynistic society provides for all genders, and with it’s violence, nihilism, and utter lack of hope, it’s a stalwart of the New French Extremity movement.

| Jul 9, 2024

Adjacent to the early noughties’ French extremist movement (see also: Martyrs, Inside, Haute Tension), Fabrice Du Welz’s backwoods horror film is surprisingly lacking its peers’ excessive gore but remains the most troubling of them all.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 27, 2023

A fine example of a notorious cinematic movement, Calvaire lacks the spiteful bite of some of its peers, but acts as a perfect amuse bouche of the sub-genre.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 19, 2023

It’s the way Calvaire unravels reality which really provides its lasting appeal, making its moments of bloodshed more a symbol of its disorder than its chief purpose.

| Sep 12, 2023

Not for the faint of heart, but it undoubtedly accomplishes what it sets out to do.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 29, 2020

A very interesting film that undoubtedly deserves to be seen. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 28, 2019

Du Welz's film acts as a cinematic hypothetical aimed straight at the toxic male ego: what if men treated other men like they do women?

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 29, 2019

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 6, 2012

[Du Welz's] art-house experimentation and performance-art approach to ensemble acting sacrifices plausibility in favour of increasingly pretentious surreal black comedy.

| Nov 16, 2011

A genuine creepy horror movie, employing some good ol' camp themes to great effect.

| Original Score: B | Jun 21, 2007

The film is nasty and barely competent.

| Jan 20, 2007

A glossy rehash that's far less interesting and frightening than the classics upon which it's unimaginatively modeled.

| Original Score: C | Jan 11, 2007

if you've got a black sense of humor you might just find yourself laughing down the vomit.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 29, 2006

Du Welz has definite visual-dramatic talent. (Calvaire was a Cannes festival pick.) But, like Norman Bates' car, he need to get pulled out of the swamp.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 26, 2006

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.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 6, 2006

Not so much scary as just plain brutal.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 5, 2006

So dead-set on being disturbing that it ends up tripping over its own hobbled feet and evoking fewer gasps than curdled little giggles.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Sep 23, 2006

Completely gratuitous. Don't bother.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.9/5 | Aug 21, 2006

By the time it reaches its final act, the film rivals its American counterparts in intensity if not quite in explicit violence.

Full Review | Aug 14, 2006