Alleluia

Dir: Fabrice Du Welz

2014

***

Fabrice Du Welz is a uniquely talented horror director. His 2004 film Calaire (The Ordeal) was fairly subtle to begin with and then Du Welz changed direction and something rather wonderful happened. It is one of the greatest (and most overlooked) contemporary horrors made in the last twenty years. Nearly a decade later, Du Welz's Alleluia plays exactly the same trick. Unfortunately it has very little else to offer. Based very loosely on the real-life story of the infamous Lonely Hearts Killers (Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck who became obsessed with each other and killed twenty women in the late 1940s) Alleluia sees lonely widow Gloria swept off her feet by the charming Michel whom she meets on the internet. Gloria discovers that Michel is a sociopath and womanizer with a disturbing penchant for the dark arts. Lonely and lovesick, Gloria offers herself to him and soon the pair become inseparable and embark on a murderous venture in stealing money from lonely women before bludgeoning them to death. Michel's sexual needs are met while Gloria relishes her unbridled jealousy in a playful but deadly game of devotion. The film is relatively slow-paced but for good reason. Their relationship isn't rushed and is therefore more believable, or at least as believable as it can be. The interesting thing about this film is that the horror isn't in the killing, it is in the obsession. This is represented beautifully in a stunning scene about 50 minutes into the film. There is a very similar scene in Calaire and while I absolutely loved it, there needed to be more of it, as it almost seemed as if the whole film revolved around it. Everything builds to this moment, so when it is over the film never quite reaches the same dizzying peak and in turn the latter half of the film is a bit of a let-down when it should have been a climactic conclusion. However, while Fabrice Du Welz may have played the same trick twice, there is still nothing like it in current horror. The acting is superb and when combined with a great script, it makes for a completely new kind of horror which is totally original and cliché free. It is one of the rare occasions when I would say that a director needs to play to his own strengths a little more. A good idea should never be overcooked, or repeated probably but here it would have worked and more would have been more. I suppose it all comes down to what you want from your horror films, if you want intelligent and cringeworthy creepiness than look no further, just don't expect any humour, gore or masks.