Boris Lutz, Clovis Cornillac, Didier Benureau, Dimitri Rataud, Geoffrey Carey ...( see more  see more... ) , Gérald Laroche , Paul-Alexandre Bardela , Philippe Laudenbach

In a penitentiary, four prisoners occupy a cell: Carrère (Gérald Laroche), who used his company to commit a fraud and was betrayed by his wife; the drag Marcus (Clovis Cornillac) and his protégée, the...( read more  read more... ) retarded Paquerette (Dimitri Rataud), who ate his six months sister; and the intellectual, Lassalle (Philippe Laudenbach) who killed his wife. One night, Carrère finds an ancient journal hidden in a hole in the wall of the cell. They realize that the book was written by Danvers (Geoffrey Carey) in the beginning of the last century and is about black magic. They decide to read and use its content to escape from the prison, when they find the truth about Danvers' fate.

Flixster Users

67% liked it

477 ratings

Unrated, 90 min.

Directed by: Eric Valette

Release Date: November 9, 2002

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DVD Release Date: April 15, 2008

Stats: 52 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (52)


  • October 6, 2008
    I loved this. Tiny set, never lets up on the strangeness, deals with the occult alongside real-life horrors, and still packs in some great gore.

    Using the tinniest of settings - one prison cell - the film stages a grand odyssey and one never tires of the setting.

    As usual, I'v...( read more)e got to complain that I don't think the trans character was handled in a manner consistent with the aspirations of trans-aware advocate-artists like myself.

    All of the (four main and one temporary secondary) characters are complex and intriguing. For once, I'm not really that incensed at a "twist" ending, though I do think it was not appropriately foreshadowed and a montage of clips that were supposed to foreshadow the reveal shown right before the reveal is way too cliche and should have been cut.

    Overall, the feeling of being utterly trapped with something so cryptic and powerful and surrounded by dangerous people is perfectly conveyed. I do wonder if there are modern prisons that are this shitty, though.
  • April 18, 2008
    A very entertaining film that keeps the pace going with a decent story, well written dialogue and good characters. Reminds me of a lot of the older horror films where plot actually meant something.
  • January 24, 2009
    absurda historia de terror francesa con algunas situaciones gore interesantes
  • September 16, 2008
    It took quite a while for Eric Valette's somber four-man prison drama (with an irresistible supernatural hook) to make its way over to us, but this little movie is every bit as sweet as I always knew it would be. Proof of what can be done with very limited resources and a lot of ...( read more)creativity. Slated, inevitably, for the hack Hollywood remake treatment. But money can't buy the sort of mood and menace Valette so effectively conjured here.
  • July 31, 2008
    This kind of reminded me of Lord of Illusions to me. I read that it is was very gory but it really wasnt. But the movie kept me very interested all the way to the end.
  • July 10, 2007
    Well I wouldnt call this Movie as Horror. It was more a Bloody Psycho thingy. Somuch didnt make sense...
  • April 15, 2007
    Wonderful French movie regarding the occult and the claustrophobic confines of prison.

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