DVD Review: RESONNANCES (2006)

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RESONNANCES

Directed by: Philippe Robert

Studio: Synapse Films

Distributed by: CAV Distributing

Year: 2006

I recently sat down to watch the French Horror film, RESONNANCES. I had never heard of this movie before watching it, so to be honest, I wasn't really too excited about seeing it. I figured if it was any good I would have heard about it, right? Wrong! This was a very entertaining and well made film. I am very surprised I hadn't heard about it before now.
Before I go any further, here is the basic plot from the Synapse Films website:

A perfect getaway for a group of friends turns into a nightmare in this amazing French micro-budget horror/sci-fi film! Thomas, Yann, Vincent and three female friends hop into their cars and travel to the French mountains for a relaxing weekend trip. On their way, a dangerous psychopath escapes from prison and there’s even talk of a ghostly female apparition haunting the area. After picking up a suspicious hitchhiker, a thick fog envelops their cars and sends them all over a steep cliff! Barely surviving the fall, they soon discover something even more horrifying. An ancient creature lives under the ground… listening and waiting. It’s ready to devour anyone and anything in its path and this group of friends is very much on tonight’s menu!

While this is obviously a low budget film, the filmmakers do a really good job of making seem like a bigger movie than it in in terms of production costs. The creature effects in this film are really well done, although we really don't see too much of the creature. We mainly see the hump of earth moving as the creature plows through the ground toward his next victim. This is a very well done effect, though, prompting me at many times to ponder how this effect was done so well on such a small budget. The film compares itself to the film TREMORS on the back of the DVD case, and I would have to say that is a pretty good comparison, except this film has far less comedy in it than TREMORS did. Now there are a few humorous parts, but overall this film is meant to be more serious than TREMORS was. The creature in this film is attracted to sound, just like in TREMORS, so that comparison is very valid.

While a lot of the effects in this film are CGI, there are some practical effects as well. It is a pretty good mixture and I applaud the filmmakers for keeping some effects practical, without relying solely on CGI like some films do. The acting in this film is really good for the most part and the film does a great job of keeping the suspense and never letting the film get slow or dull. If I had to have a complaint about the film, it would have to be from a technical aspect. The film is very dark in some scenes, to the point were it was kinda hard to tell exactly what was happening. Other than that, the films is a fun watch and one I would recommend for sure! This was director Philippe Robert's first full length film to direct. He does a great job here and I look forward to future projects from Mr. Robert.
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CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
CLICK HERE to buy the DVD

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