Nature Morte (2006)

Director:

Paul Burrows

Release Date:

26 February 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

An undercover French cop and an American art critic travel to a mystical island to verify the source of a painting of a scene that only the infamous "Marseilles Monster" serial killer could have created. |

Plot Keywords:

Island | Murder | Painting | Poison | S&M

Cast

Troy McFadden	...	Oliver Davenport
Carole Derrien	...	Blanche
Laurent Guyon	...	Lec
Jeso Vial	...	Georges
Morrigan Hel	...	Elizabeth Dahlia
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Timothy Azarian	...	American rubber trader
Karly Baker	...	Movie victim
Paul Boguslavsky	...	Bouncer 1
Jean Luc Comtet	...	Bouffant
Isle Dumont	...	Viva Satorious
Michelle Esclapez	...	Livia
Cherry Forever	...	Redhead
Joy Godard	...	Joy
Sabrina Grimwood	...	Marseille policewoman
David J. Heeney	...	English Barman
John Lamond Jr.	...	Randall Sparx
Lydia Morgan	...	Polly
Adam Osborn	...	Bouncer 2
Paul Osborn	...	Ejectee
Kane Parsons	...	Movie killer
John Purchas	...	Silas
Romain Roll	...	John Stevenson
Supawadee	...	Randall's girl 2
Jiraporn Thaipakdee	...	Randall's girl 1
Jon Watt	...	Frank Parry
Lolo Yai	...	Confused dinner guest

Directed by
Paul Burrows

Produced by
Paul Burrows	....	producer
Carole Derrien	....	producer

Original Music by
Arban Ornelas
Steven Severin

Cinematography by
Gwynn Clark
Ryan Godard
Fraser Keddie
John Raggett

Film Editing by
Paul Burrows
Carole Derrien

Art Department
Pascale Michalski	....	assistant art director

Special Effects by
Pascale Michalski	....	special effects

Production Companies

• NM Productions

Runtime:

UK:89 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

France

Company:

NM Productions

Horror Movie in Good Story Shock

I saw his film last week at a test screening in London. I read some other website reviews on this before I saw it and to be honest I expected to like it. It as it had been compared to Jean Rollin and commented on by Jess Franco, two of my favourite lunatic directors. Buit I didn't like it, I loved it.

A word of warning, it's a pretty complex tale for a low budget horror flic and you really have to watch, the guy in front of me didn't understand it at all. Perhaps it was George Bush.

But, I like complicated movies as long as they make sense, and this does, and it's got lashings of kinky lesbians and general sex and violence.

A story and sex and violence? In the same film? Shurley shome mishtake? And there's more....it's got a fantastic villain in the skeletal Frenchie Laurent Guyon, and a really great sultry female lead in Carole Derrien as his bonk- anything-mentalist girlfriend.

Nature Morte is a massively ambitious project, get this: it takes place in London, France and Asia and features cool old cars, weird costumes (check out Lec's suit), massive houses, a boat, some pretty seamless SFX, and it looks terrific (particularly for a DV movie) with a lot of wild use of colours. Oh yes, and the excellent score is by ex-Banshee Steven Severin and his missus, Arban Severin.

Before I get too carried away, there are some so-so bits, and the budget occasionally creaks under the strain of something that was probably written with a much, much bigger production in mind.

But it's original, and that's a big big plus, there's nothing like this out there. A refreshing change from the current crop of Hostel copies, oh- so predictable Hills Have Zombie Saws III and desperately unfunny horror comedies (Severance excluded, I loved that one).

As it turned out, Nature Morte isn't really much like Rollin (apart from the kinky lesbians), and it's less like Franco (not enough kinky lesbians for that) but, I tell you what, I absolutely loved it, and not just because of the kinky lesbians. Highly recommended.