if youre one of those who recognise with pleasure such arcane title a book of the dead and book of eibon or necronomicon and then you should feel right at home with malefique and a film which also feature an occult tome and one with the power to change the destiny of all involve . discover by four french prisoner share a cell and the fearsome object have be place in the wall there by danvers and a serial killer incarcerate back in the 1920s while a man obsess with rejuvenation and the black art before he abruptly vanish . finder of the book be carrère ( gérald laroche ) a company embezzler shop by his wife and lassalle ( philippe laudenbach ) who aspire to be a woman but at the same time body build to execute an escape plan and the halfwit pâquerette ( dimitri rataud ) who once eat his baby sister and and the librarian marcus ( clovis cornillac ) and supposedly drive mad by read and who murder his wife . remind the viewer of meat loaf equally bizarre and bosomy male in fight club ( 1999 ) and lassalle begin a the dominant member of the quartet and one who be especially protective of the infantile pâquerette . with the come of the book however and and the overarch need to decipher it dangerous content and marcus assumes great and great significance . at first assure of an early bail and meanwhile carrère take little more than academic interest in event . suddenly he too need an urgent escape option and and a the prisoner experiment and danvers book start to reveal some of it terrify power . stag for the most part within a prison cell and and between four or five character and malefique have a claustrophobic air entirely suit to it subject matter ( as well a the limited budget of the filmmaker ) . only at the start and then at the conclusion do we get to leave the confines of the cell and a necessary opening out which only serve to emphasise the doomed and close in nature of proceeding elsewhere . more than anything and this be a film about be trap and either a a victim of your criminal past or of occult event now unfold . i be go to escape and say carrère at the start of the film and wish more than anything to be able to rejoin his wife and son . whether or not he do it will be at a terrible price and and the great irony of the film be that the ultimate form of an escape may not be one a man might imagine . with all it budget limitation it be greatly to the first time feature director eric vallette credit that his film succeed as well a it do . a critic have notice and it be a film with strong freudian overtone lassalle distinctive mammaries and adult breast feeding for instance while the picture of a vagina which come to life and develop an eye while the grown man who dissolve back into a foetus while danvers original placenta fetish while the dark cell a a primitive womb from which wouldelivery be await and etc . with so many interesting aspect to the script vallette hardly put a foot wrong and and he succeed in create a genuinely unsettling atmosphere out of what and when one come down to it and be just a matter of four guy and four bunk and one folding table and a book . there a genuine and grow and lovecraftian frisson a the men summon up the unnameable darkness from within it page and while one or two moment the aforementioned blinking vagina and or what ultimately happen to pâquerette be unsettlingly memorable . the pacing of many of the dark event in malefique be deliberate and reject the rapid cutting of many hollywood production represent a video culture approach that often subvert the horrified gaze in favour of quick fix action and gore . perhaps this be a particularly european manner and a one recall a similar and measure approach to shock hallucination take in such film a verhoeven the fourth man ( 1983 ) a film that incidentally also share a particularly nasty image base around a prolapsed eye . lensed well in 1 . 85 represent1 and malefique benefit from excellent performance and and if for this viewer at least and the conclusion be not as explainable a it might have be and the journey to the final shot be worth take . come so soon after the release of the similarly well receive haute tension ( aka represent switchblade romance and 2003 ) and this be another reason to be grateful that good horror film be once again emerge from the french industry and this after a time when it seem the only worthwhile product come from asia .