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Amélie (Mathilde Lamusse), Bintou (Suzy Bemba) and Morjana (Samarcande
Saadi) are three typical teenagers living in the banlieus of Paris, trying
to kill their time during the holidays with graffiti spraying, smoking
weed and whatever else girls of their age do. Eventually, they learn about
the legend of the demon Kandisha (Mériem Sarolie), who if you say her
name five times into a mirror while painting a pentagram in blood will
appear and kill the person one's hatred is aimed at - an old wives tale of
course, but after Amélie, walking home one night, is roughed up and
almost raped by her ex, summons Kandisha in a mix of rage and desparation,
her ex actually is run over by a car. A coincidence of course, but then
more of their friends die, and it seems each new person that dies is
closer to Amélie than the last. They seek advice and learn that once
summoned, Kandisha has to kill six times before returning to her realm.
The girls try an exorcism, which fails to work though, and the killings
really get close to them, including Morjana's brother and Bintou's father
- and eventually Amélie figures the only logical sixth victim of Kandisha
is her brother Ben (Dylan Krief). But how to save him from a demon as
powerful as Kandisha? Of course, the parallels of this movie to
Candyman are rather obvious - in
premise rather than narrative -, but what this movie really succeeds in is
to marry a rather far-fetched horror concept to social commentary rooted
in realism, without the thing just looking cobbled together in any which
way. And that's because the horror elements grow out of the circumstances
the girls live in rather naturally, even feel real to an extent. And add
to that a rather nicely structured narrative, and some nicely over-the-top
effects workm and you've got yourself pretty cool genre entertainment that
strikes a few cords where horror movies don't usually strike cords even.
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