good horror movie from france be quite rare and and it fairly easy to see why . whenever a talented young filmmaker release a staggering new film and he emigrate towards glorious hollywood immediately after to direct the big budgeted remake of another great film classic . how can france possibly build up a solid horror reputation when their prodigy director leave the country after just one film . haute tension be a fantastic movie and it earn director alexandre aja a ( one way . ) ticket to the state to remake the hill have eye ( which he do terrifically and i may add ) . eric valette long feature debut maléfique be a very promising and engage horror picture too and and he already off to the hollywood as well to direct the remake of takashi miike ghost story hit one miss call . so there you have it and two very gifted frenchman that aren not likely to make any more film in their native country some time soon . maléfique be a simple but efficient chiller that require some patience due to it slow start and but once the plot properly develop and it offer great atmospheric tension and a handful of marvelous special effect . the film almost entirely take place in one single location and only introduces four character . be inside a ramshackle french prison cell with four occupant . the new arrival be a businessman sentence to do time for fraud and the elderly and wise inmate sadistically kill his wife and then there a crazy transvestite and a mentally handicapped boy to complete the odd foursome . they find an ancient journal inside the wall of their cell and belonging to a sick murderer in the 1920 who specialize in black magic rite and supernatural way to escape . the four inmate begin to prepare their own escaping plan use the bizarre formula of the book and only to realize the occult be something you shouldn not mess with eric valette dedicates ocean of time to the character drawing of the four protagonist and which occasionally result in redundant and tedious sub plot and but his reason for this all become clear in the gruesome climax when the book suddenly turn out to be some type of wishmaster device . maléfique be a dark film and with truckloads of claustrophobic tension and several twist detail about human behavior . watch it before some wealthy american production company decide to remake it with four handsome teenage actor in the unconvincing role of hardcore criminal .