CLIMAX

"...all about people creating something together, and failing in the second half. It’s like the story of the Tower of Babel. Mankind can create big things. And then with the influence of alcohol, or some accident, everything falls. [...] I remember as a teenager when I was 14, I would host parties at my home. And I liked sangria, it was the first alcohol I ever drank. But you seriously don’t need drugs to lose control, alcohol is more than enough. I’ve seen so many more fights linked to alcohol – it can turn you crazy."

-Gaspar Noe

Climax is a 2018 experimental psychological horror film directed, written and co-edited by Gaspar Noé. Featuring an ensemble cast of 24 actors, led by Sofia Boutella, the plot is set in 1996 and follows a French dance troupe holding a days-long rehearsal in an abandoned school; the final night of rehearsing is a success, but the group's celebratory after-party takes a dark turn when the communal bowl of sangria is spiked with LSD, sending each of the dancers into agitated, confused and psychotic states.

although Noé conceived the premise, the bulk of the film was unrehearsed on-the-spot improvisation by the cast, who were provided no lines of dialogue beforehand and had almost complete liberty as to where to take the story and characters. 

Recently, I've been having the urge to watch another Gaspar Noe film. With his pop art color pallets and constantly beautiful direction, he has established himself as one of the greatest (and certainly my favorite) directors in the French extremity genre. That being said, almost all of his movies suffer from the same problems. 

Gaspar Noe is undeniably pretentious, shoving greater quotes from greater works into his movies mostly to comment on creating art. Mostly focused on style over substance, this little French fucker loves his long conversations that had absolutely nothing to the actual story. You can quite literally Skip 42 minutes into this movie and get exactly what you paid for with almost an hour and a half to go before the credits roll. 

For a director who's famously extreme and unflinching when it comes to graphic scenes of pure human suffering, this movie is just as difficult to watch as all of his other films. I think most horror movies have their standout moments of pure agony, but this movie just keeps getting worse and worse with no real breaks and tension. I would describe all of his films as dreadful and difficult, in this movie is no exception. But hey, you knew this was an experimental film going in, right?

As much as a raged on it so far, actually enjoyed this movie about as much as one could possibly enjoy something like this. It's a level of pure chaos and terror you really don't get from any other places, to the point where it feels almost surreal to have such a nightmare directed by such an artist as Noe. The camera really is its own character in this movie, whirling around deliriously just like everyone else.

There are a few small lines in this movie, that hit harder than any other kill in horror history ever could.

10/10