New Belgium Extreme: A review of "Megalomaniac!"
They never caught the Butcher of Mons, but they found his victims. In 1997, their remains were found, but the case went unsolved and the murders ceased. That is, until today when his two adult children continue the twisted legacy of their father. Such is the plot of “Megalomaniac,” a gloomy piece of work out of Belgium that won the top Jury Prize for Best Feature at Fantasia last year. From writer/director Karim Ouelhaj, “Megalomaniac” might just be the feel-bad film of the year if, like me, you were lost in the extreme implausibility of “See No Evil.” But that’s another article.
Despite the characters speaking French, it’s a bit of a stretch to say “Megalomaniac” is part of the New French Extremity subgenre. It’s more of a neighbor, albeit a creepy neighbor who watches from the shadows like Felix (Benjamin Ramon), the eldest of the aforementioned siblings. Felix stalks and kills women just like his father, while controlling his meek and subservient sister, Martha (Eline Schumacher). The two of them live together in a crumbling townhouse, paid for mostly by Martha’s night shifts at a janitor in a factory. If you think her existence can’t get any more bleak, just wait until she’s sexually assaulted several times by her co-workers.
Martha’s been going through a lot.
Schumacher is compelling as a woman stuck between impossible situations, but we never go beneath her surface. When she appears to show signs of the psychosis that runs in her family, it’s unclear whether Ouelhaj wants it to be a shocking turn or a stark inevitability. It’s not that her character feels exploitative, but there’s not much there to hold onto besides her moment-to-moment acting. Meanwhile, Ramon, pale, sinewy and quietly menacing, has a full career playing vampires if he wants it.
Are we sure Felix isn’t a vampire?
“Megalomaniac” is so relentlessly dreary and dark that it reads like an adaptation of a splatterpunk novel without much of the splatter. While the film boasts a good amount of blood, we're not exactly in Alexandre Aja territory here. Felix and Martha spend so much time together, I was half-expecting a “Haute Tension”-style twist, and their house looks like a gothic update of the “Fight Club” house, but that’s just Ouelhaj presenting their extreme isolation. The cinematography by Francois Schmitt drains the color out of everything, yet makes the film feel alive. When Ouelhaj shows us visions of people with obsidian-black skin with blood-red eyes, it doesn’t quite make sense, but Schmitt makes them visually memorable and frightening.
The Butcher of Mons was apparently a real person, or at least their crimes were. Curiously, Ouelhaj never makes a case for basing the film on an actual killer with fictionalized offspring. He could have easily just made up his own serial killer, and the lack of an explanation furthers the mystery of the film. “Megalomanic” doesn’t entirely come together, but Martha and Felix will stay with you until long after it ends.
“Megalomaniac” is in theaters September 8th from Dark Star Pictures
Stay up to date with “The Dark Side Of Pop Culture” by following MacabreDaily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
