Belphégor - Le fantôme du Louvre (2001)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Jean-Paul Salomé

Writers:

Arthur Bernède (novel)
Jean-Paul Salomé (writer)

Release Date:

4 April 2001 (France)

Genre:

Mystery | Fantasy | Horror

Plot:

A collection of artifacts from an archeological dig in Egypt are brought to the famous Louvre museum in Paris...

Plot Keywords:

Museum | Egyptian | Sarcophagus | Mummy | Detective

Cast

Sophie Marceau	...	Lisa / Belphégor
Michel Serrault	...	Verlac
Frédéric Diefenthal	...	Martin
Julie Christie	...	Glenda Spender
Jean-François Balmer	...	Bertrand Faussier
Patachou	...	Geneviève
Lionel Abelanski	...	Simonnet
Françoise Lépine	...	Suzanne Dupré
François Levantal	...	Mangin
Jacques Martial	...	Félix
Philippe Maymat	...	Bob
Pierre Aussedat	...	Pierre Desfontaines
Matteo Vallon	...	Cemetary employee
Jean-Claude Bolle-Reddat	...	Cemetary warden
Juliette Gréco	...	Woman in the cemetary

Also Known As:

Belphecor: Curse of the Mummy (Philippines: English title)
Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:U | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:16 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Philippines:PG-13 | Spain:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:16 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Metro Vaneau, Paris 7, Paris, France

Company:

Les Films Alain Sarde

Movie Connections:

References Men in Black (1997)

Ridiculous!

It´s all my fault. They all told me I should avoid seeing this movie because I´m a huge fan of the old TV-series. They were right. While production values are good and the actors themselves (including "don´t look now") Julie Christie aren´t that bad, the whole film displays a cheekiness and self-conciousness that clearly is without any justification. A comparison between the Karloff "Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns 2000" comes to my mind. In fact Belphegore 2000 owes much more to the new Mummy films than to the old series. But then, scripting is terrible, speed there is none and sometimes the film is full of unintentional jokes (The first scene in the tomb looks plain stupid), with cats clearly being thrown when they´re supposed to jump (landing with their backfeet first). Belphegore moves around like a statue on wheels neither impressive nor scary and the psychological drama that unfolded in the old tv series when the heroine had to learn that she´s a villain is completely neglected. This movie is so WASTED (wasted money, wasted actors, wasted blueprint) that it hurts. It´s a below-par Mummy-rip off that´s only good for some laughs but has nothing at all to do with the Greco classic (She has a small role in this movie too - on the graveyard).