Livid (2011)

What it’s about: It's young Lucy's first day as a trainee in-house caregiver. She visits Mrs. Jessel, an old woman who lies in cerebral coma, by herself, in her large desolate house. Learning by accident that Mrs. Jessel, a former dance teacher of repute, supposedly possesses a treasure somewhere in the house, Lucy and friends William and Ben decide to search the house in the hope of finding it. At night, they get into the house, which reveals itself to be increasingly peculiar. Their hunt for Mrs. Jessel's treasure leads them into a horrifying supernatural series of events that will change Lucy forever...

Review: The creators of Livid also made another film called Inside. Inside was a tight, focused film centering around two female characters that fight over an unborn fetus. It’s an intensely graphic, gory film that quite honestly had me on the edge of my seat. Livid is pretty much the opposite of Inside; it takes its time to develop, and its far more about the imagery than it is about the story (which is just as convoluted as the interior of the house that this film is mainly set in). Basically, when you get down to brass tacks, this film is about bloodsucking vampire ballerinas, and if that doesn’t pique your interest I don’t know what will.

Seriously, what's it going to take?

Lucy’s first day as a caregiver seems to be going along just fine until her instructor doesn’t want to take her into one particular house. The home is that of one Mrs. Jessel, a renown ballet teacher who is currently lingering on in a coma-like state. Viewing her is pretty unsettling, but that’s really just the beginning of the strange sights that Livid has to offer. Later that night (which happens to be Halloween), Lucy meets up with her boyfriend and his friend, describing to them the events of the day. The friend tells them about a rumor where Mrs. Jessel supposedly has a treasure buried deep within the confines of her house.

After some coaxing, the boyfriend and friend convince Lucy to help them break into the place and steal the treasure. Of course, not everything goes to plan when you step inside the house of a vampire in the middle of the night. And the treasure doesn’t turn out to be the gold coins and jewels that the group was expecting – instead, it’s a giant, wind-up ballerina girl that seems incredibly lifelike.

Overall, the best thing about Livid is the sumptuous imagery that’s laid before you within Mrs. Jessel’s house. It’s filled to the brim with strange artifacts and items, as well as the few lingering ghosts of past memories that most would rather forget. It’s the story of an overbearing mother who could not bear to lose her child. Altogether, the film sounds great on paper, but when you see it all in action it seems like a whole lot is going on for no real reason other than the creators couldn’t bear to part with a single idea. It’s honestly pure madness, but going along for the ride is part of the fun in itself.

Even attempting to explain this stuff will take away your enjoyment of this film.

You might be able to imagine what happens to Lucy, considering what happens to girls named Lucy in films about vampires, but the ending you might assume is not what truly comes to pass. In fact, the ending doesn’t really fit in at all. If you thought the rest of the film was strange, the Guillermo del Toro-twisted-“happy”-ending will probably confuse, flabbergast and potentially infuriate you. The middle of the film is honestly the strongest part, where Lucy and company sneak into the house and end up grappling with the inhabitants.

The film is incredibly unique, and overall definitely something you should see if you’re a fan of haunted house films, if you like antique supernatural horror that’s buffeted by Victorian backdrops, or even if you just like gore. Livid has some great kill scenes, with buckets of blood. But it’s not going to drench you in the stuff, not like Inside does. There’s some grace to the kills and some reason. Overall, the best thing about Livid is the imagery, which is quite breathtaking (even if said imagery is not always adequately explained). It might take repeated viewings for this film to really take hold and sink in, but it’s definitely worth it.