So a little history lesson because this is needed, Livid is film directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury directors of Inside (2007) this film was meant to be their follow up film but never actually came out until yesterday, it premiered at a bunch of film festivals back in 2011 and was dormant until Shudder bought the rights to the film. Why it never came out until now who knows..anyway let’s talk about the movie itself. Livid is a very interesting little movie, there really isn’t much story going on here it’s more of an artsy experience with some very strong gore. The acting is actually quite decent as well, particularly from Chloé Coulloud who gives a pretty raw performance, the atmosphere is very well done with some very creepy moments combined with the score that gives the viewer a haunting type feel. Livid is unfortunately one of those slow burn horror movies that has a ton of ideas but doesn’t properly explore them, I’m not against films leaving audiences to figure out scenes for themselves but when a huge chunk of the film is like that and it fails to do it in a interesting way that’s when several flaws come in. The plot also did lose me about halfway through, Bustillo and Maury obviously wanted to capture the magic that they had in first film “Inside” (2007) (which is one of my favorite films of all time) however Livid just doesn’t reach the heights of “Inside”. Sure there’s tons of gore and some disturbing moments, but due to the story being way too surreal it falls apart in the end. I definitely think Livid is a far better film than anything Bustillo and Maury would go on to do which would be Among The Living, Leatherface, Kandisha (although Kandisha is decent enough) and The Deep House. Despite my issues Livid isn’t a bad movie, it’s just something that could have been a lot better if you are fan of Bustillo and Maury I recommend checking this one out. Just don’t go in expecting this to be as good as Inside.

Livid is available on Shudder!

7/10 B