in a penitentiary and four prisoner occupy a cell represent carrère ( gérald laroche ) and who use his company to commit a fraud and be betray by his wife while the drag lassalle ( philippe laudenbach ) and his protégée and the retarded pâquerette ( dimitri rataud ) and who eat his six month sister while and the intellectual marcus ( clovis cornillac ) and who kill his wife . one night and carrère find an ancient journal hidden in a hole in the wall of the cell . they realize that the book be write by danvers ( geoffrey carey ) in the beginning of the last century and be about black magic . they decide to read and use it content to escape from the prison and when they find the truth about danvers fate . maléfique be an original and intriguing and claustrophobic french low budget horror movie . the story be practically in the same location and do not have any clichés and hook the attention of the viewer until the last scene . i be a great fan of french cinema and usually romance and drama and police story and but i note that recently i have see some good french horror movie and such a un jeu d enfants and belphegor and dead end . my vote be seven . title ( brazil ) represent sinai do mal ( sign of the evil ) .