Walled In (2009)

Walled In (2009) Dir. by Gilles Paquet-Brenner

A young woman who recently graduated from engineering school travels to a remote location to supervise the demolition of a mysterious building. She soon discovers the horrifying secrets of the building and its past inhabitants, many of whom were victims of a vicious murderer who entombed his prey alive within its walls. Now she must turn the tables on the killer before she becomes his latest victim.



Based on the best selling French novel Les Emmurés' by Serge Brussolo, Walled In is a unique experience of a film by putting together other types of film. It is definitely a great checkmark on the horror resume of first a first time horror director. It has elements of what feels like Japanese horror. It has the characters for a serial killer horror. It has the paranormal feel of a good ol' fashion ghost story. The thing I loved the most about the film is that none of those themes outweigh the other, and the are really distributed evenly. I will say the movie was a little more scary than I had anticipated. I love a movie that can give me chills with throwback special effects and barely any blood.



The casting was done surprisingly well, and I was really impressed with the usually bland Mischa Barton. I don't know what she did to prepare for the part, but she did a great job. The always creepy Cameron Bright stars as the weird and mysterious Jimmy, and the veteran Deborah Kara Unger (Silent Hill, White Noise) really help fill out the well known cast. Although lesser known among the states, the veteran French actor Pascal Greggory gives one hell of a performance as the famed architect of the monstrous building to be demolished.



In the end, this film really pays off with the hard work you can tell was put in to it. It's not the greatest film I have seen, but it delivers strong enough that I would purchase the DVD. It moves a little slow at times, but makes up for it in a fairly unique story.

Entertainment Value: 7/10
Cinematic Value: 5/10