Fella_shibby After watching Bustillo n Maury's Inside n Livid, i was very impatient to watch their Among the Living. This movie was on my radar for a very long time. Finally saw this on a pirated DVD. The movie starts with an intense and gruesome opening. Thru news on TV v come to know the adverse effects of radiation n other war effects. Fast forward n v r introduced to three adolescents who bunk their skool on the last day before summer vacation to avoid detention. So obviously these r your mischievous n trouble causing kids. The early sequences are brightly shot and filled with warmth with some beautiful cinematography. The greenery, the lake, meadows, barn n the abandoned studio r all captured very well. The kids wander about n land up in an isolated n abandoned studio. From this moment the movie takes us into the dark and frightening journey when the three kids happen to witness something they never should have seen.... The kids acted well. The movie works effectively because of its pacing and build up of suspense and frights. I found it to b refreshingly unpredictable on the whole. Kudos to the makers for not showing any harm towards the kids. Most of the kills r offscreen but the tension is throughout. Viewers may find shades of Hills have eyes, Stand by me, Insidious, Halloween.

Tom Dooley The plot is that three young boys bunk off school on the last day of term and get up to some very anti social behaviour to while away the time. Then they happen upon a disused film lot/studio. What they do not know is that they have discovered the lair of two refuges from the real world and this 'family' do not welcome visitors, unless of course they have abducted them.What follows is a fairly good watch. There are a few moments where the kids do the stupid thing, but then it gets into a thriller stride and becomes a better calibre of film. Also if you get miffed over bad police procedures being portrayed in film then this will wind you up no end. If Le Gendarmerie really behaved like this then they would all soon be looking for low rung security jobs.This is not a splatter gore fest though there is some blood letting and the main 'evil person' is not really 'creature feature' scary either. Where it does score fairly well is in the suspense and the acting. All three kids do a really good job. So it does have flaws but if you ust sit back for the trip then this is a fairly passable effort. Original title was 'Aux yeux des vivants' and it is in French with sub titles.

jean-lager First of all I would like to say that I really love the work of Bustillo and Maury, they are really nice guys and really talented. Let's start with what is wrong and then with the good part :) I was really really disappointed with the rhythm of the movie... Seriously there must have been a huge problem during the writing of the script because there are many moments that are out of tempo, with the actors waiting in front of an immobile camera... It's almost unbearable. I think there has been a problem of preparation and nobody knew what to shoot on set. But there are many good points: the music, the photography, the acting (for a French movie it's exceptional), the "boogeyman". I am still looking forward new movies from these guys, but I hope these problems will be solved for the next one :)

george.schmidt AMONG THE LIVING (2014) *** Zacharie Chasseriaud, Damien Ferdel, Fabien Jegoudez, Francis Renaud, Theo Fernandez, Anne Marivin, Beatrice Dalle, Chloe Coulloud, Dominique Frot. French filmmakers Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury create a knife-edge old-school horror film that echoes Carpenter's HALLOWEEN & early Cronenberg with a touch of Craven about a trio of tweens who on the last day of school come across an abandoned film studio open lot that has more in store for what they bargain for: namely a deformed, deranged murderous young man and his equally homicidal brute father who, once discovered of their existence, enact a vengeance of payback. Graphically violent and peppered with intense suspense and outrageous kills. Nifty homage to contemporary classic horror.