Movie Review: Sheitan (2006,Tartan/Palisades)

By Hal Astell

A suspiciously ethnically diverse group of youths get kicked out of Club Styxx the day before Christmas Eve because Bart is even more of an idiot than the rest of them and starts a fight with a bouncer. Luckily, or so they think, one of them has pulled a young lady called Eve, and so they now have somewhere to go for Christmas: Eve's place in the country. Unfortunately as her name would suggest (there are lots of symbolic names in this film), Eve has enticed them into something beyond anything they expect.

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Eve's place is large but not in the greatest shape, something I'd love to own. However it's also a pretty freaky place, partly because of the proliferation of dolls the belong to her father but mostly because of the people, especially Joseph. Joseph is the goatherder, shepherd or housekeeper or whatever, but he's played by Vincent Cassel so is completely out there with all the sort of psychotic charisma that you'd expect if you've ever seen him in anything at all, not least La Haine. He has plans, twisted ones for sure, but plans nonetheless and he's not someone you'd generally want to mess with.