Lack of good storyline.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

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.

Three boys decide that they want to start their summer holiday early, so they skip the last day of school to have a little fun. Their day gets them into a little trouble, which causes them to wander to an abandoned film studio on the edge of a town called Blackwood Studios. The boys are horrified when they see a man in a clown mask dragging a chained woman across the lot. They to flee and try to get the police involved, only for the police to assume that they are causing more trouble. They end up going back to their homes, unaware that the masked man and his father are planning on taking their revenge...........I was pretty weary about seeing this, I've never seen Inside, I've heard it's very good, but the content does seem very disturbing, almost too disturbing for its own good, so having a cameo from Béatrice Dalle during the opening only reminded me of that films content.But I shouldn't have been so judgemental on something that I have yet to see, because if it's anything like this film, it's going to be something else.To describe this film in a sentence could be 'Rob Zombie does Stand By Me', but that's only the first twenty or so minutes. The three boys bump into The Devils Rejects type family who are atypical in every Cannibal/Texas Chainsaw/Nuclear Fallout type horror film, so this could have been just your normal stalk and slash movie.But then a little conversation about soft toys in one of the boys bedrooms turns the film into one of the most chilling horrors of recent years, and the fact that it doesn't go down the Blumhouse road of Quiet............Quiet...............Quiet..............Bang!!!!!! way to cattle prod your audience into jumping is quite unique theses days, it's the atmosphere and the setting up of each individual house siege that makes the film as scary as it is.The only hing that really let's the film down is the revealing of one of the stalkers as some kind of androgynous being, almost alien like, that takes away the reality of the horror that is unfolding.If it were a normal person, rather than what is unveiled, the film would have had a more effective ending rather then the fantasy it turns into.So all in all, it is a really effective horror come house invasion movie, but one if the characters makes it less plausible.

I watched "Among the living" at the Melbourne Film Festival the other day not knowing that it was directed by the team who made "Inside" which is a favorite of mine and a great example of a horror done right with brutal violence and palpable tension. If I had know I would have had even higher hopes for this film but after watching it can see their hand all over it."Among the Living" is about 3 boys who witness someone being abducted and what occurs afterwards. I won't spoil it for anyone here but would thoroughly recommend this film. There are some great scenes in this one and I was creeped out a number of times. 9 stars from me.

Today, directors Alexander Bustillo and Julien Maury returned to the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Films to introduce their newest effort, entitled "Aux Yeux des Vivants", which more or less translates in English as "Amongst the Living". Nearly everyone in the public was also present at this exact same spot a couple of years ago already, for the premiere of "À l'intérieur" a.k.a. "Inside", and thus we all knew to prepare for another potentially sickening and heart-wrenching horror film with explicit violence, disturbing atmosphere and nearly unendurable suspense. Bustillo and Maury are truly gifted and visionary young film makers who really understood the secret formula to genuinely terrifying and successful horror! They don't avoid any taboo subjects or sensitive themes and confront the viewers with their deepest fears and darkest nightmares. "À l'intérieur" entirely revolved on an extreme terror siege against a 9-months pregnant woman (with some of the cruelest torment sequences ever registered on film), while "Aux Yeux des Vivants" shamelessly handles about physically deformed children and shamelessly depicts uncompromising violence against innocent women and underage children. More importantly even, it's has been a very long time since I witnessed so many utterly intense and uncomfortable scenes of non-stop suspense. The usually always noisy and over-enthusiast crowd at the Brussels' Film Festival often turned very quiet and timid when gazing at some of the expanded and massively unnerving scenes where the young protagonists are stalked in their own houses. It's the last day of school before summer vacation and the troublesome trio Victor, Tom and Dan decide to leave early for a bit of exploring the countryside and committing a bit of random petty crimes like arson. They end up at the abandoned exterior film studios Blackwoods and witness how a masked figure drags a kidnapped woman out the trunk of a car and into an underground lair. We viewers already saw during the intro of the film that the studios might be the hideout place of what's left of a severely dysfunctional family. The boys return home and get punished for their acts by their parents, but that's nothing compared to the horror that awaits them later that night… The mysterious figure followed them home and plans to silence them forever. Strangely enough, quite a lot of the violence occurs off-screen, but still the suggestive terror and intense atmosphere is almost unbearable. I will, for example, always remember a specific scene featuring a ringing mobile phone and an icky clown's mask…Now that is what I call real horror! Bustillo and Maury are even so talented that they manage to make the oldest and most clichéd sentence in horror cinema history – "There is something under my bed" – still as petrifying as never seen before! And, for the sick puppies amongst you, don't worry too much about my remark regarding off-screen violence, as there still is plentiful of gore and bloodshed featuring on-screen as well. The three young protagonists give away remarkably stellar performances and they receive excellent support from more experienced French actors and actresses like Francis Renaud, Anne Marivin and Béatrice Dalle. Personally, I still regard "À l'intérieur" as slightly superior – mainly because the nature and motivation of villain is more realistic in this film – but "Aux Yeux des Vivants" is nevertheless also a must-see horror movie for the true and most courageous fans of the genre!