Director: Julien Botzanowski
Year: 2021
Country: France
Alternate Titles: Les Autarciques
Genre: Home Invasion
Plot:
Hoping for a quiet holiday together, a couple looking for a chance to reset their struggles and get on track with their lives suddenly find the house under attack by a crazed group of antisocial hermits who don’t appreciate them living in the house and must team with a reluctant ally to escape.
Review:
This was a fairly enjoyable feature. One of the stronger aspects here is the somewhat enjoyable setup that provides this with a lot to like/ the early half here getting a handle on the couple and their trip, why they need to be there, what the intent behind it is for, and how they interact with each other, provides the kind of fun starting point to get to know who they are for the later shenanigans to have an impact. That comes off incredibly well with the brutality and viciousness that come about with their intervention into the house and conduct of the overwhelming assault that takes them hostage. These scenes come about with an alarming sense of cruelty for the confrontations are quite unpredictable with how it all plays out, with the vicious streak of the intruders making it hard to predict what’s going to happen next and it causes some incredibly fun back-and-forth contests to emerge featuring some brutal moments to come about throughout here.
All that aside, however, the film still manages to feature a few major drawbacks to hold it back. The main detriment here is the usual factor that comes about with found-footage films in that it’s incredibly easy to predict what’s going to happen since the genre only has two storylines. This one tends to follow the first setup, where the main couple are under attack by vicious criminals and must try to survive their brutal onslaught which doesn’t provide much of a chance to do something original or unique with the material. Rather, it tends to follow along many of the usual beats here with the expected outcomes all managing to be utilized here so that the only real difference in what’s going on is done by the brutality on display. As well, there’s also an assortment of issues here about the main family that comes in to terrorize them who have no real purpose and a lame motive for wanting to do them in which results in some lackluster and somewhat underwhelming sequences.
Overview: ***/5
A likable enough if somewhat flawed genre effort, this one has a lot to like about it while being let down by several minor drawbacks that it can’t help itself from.due to the style and format it is. Those who are intrigued by the style at play or are not bothered by it’s flaws will want to give it a shot while most others out thre should heed caution with this one.
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