When the disappearance of children and bloody murders multiply in a small mountain village, an old legend shrouded in sulphur reappears… Commander Guardiano and Captain of the Gendarmerie De Rolan are forced to join forces to uncover the truth.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Élisabeth Guardiano: Virginie Ledoyen
• Franck De Rolan: Paul Hamy
• Docteur Carole Marbas: Sandrine Bonnaire
• Fabrice Gonnet: Malik Zidi
• Le motard: Emmanuel Lanzi
• Henri Maublanc: Christophe Favre
• M. Vasseur: Jérémy Margallé
• Brigadier-Chef Marcelin: Francis Renaud
• Pascale Minot: Elisabeth Duda
• Jeanne Maublanc: Lya Oussadit-Lessert
• Valentine Schwarz: Chloé Coulloud
• Nina: Wendy Grenier
• Arnaud: Emmanuel Bonami
• Benjamin Cortes: Antoine Levannier
• Raphaël Pietranovsky: Oliver Bodart
• Le prêtre: Stéphane Dausse
• Fille d’Elisabeth: Juliette Wippler
• Olivier Taurand: Maxime Nieto
• Evan Vasseur: Cameron Bain

Film Crew:

• Producer: Pierre-Marcel Blanchot
• Producer: Fabrice Lambot
• Co-Executive Producer: Nora Chabert
• Production Manager: Elodie Dupuis
• Executive Producer: Olivier Lambert
• Producer: Leo Maidenberg
• Administration: Hervé Pierron
• Original Music Composer: Raphaël Gesqua
• Assistant Set Decoration: Tony Andrasik
• Graphic Designer: Robin Chichoux
• Assistant Set Decoration: Anne Clément
• Assistant Set Decoration: Julie Delevoye
• Set Dresser: Robin Dervaux
• Set Decoration: Jean-René Gauthier
• Assistant Set Decoration: Kévin Manson
• Production Design: Marc Thiébault
• Assistant Set Decoration: Philippine Valette
• Set Decoration: Frédéric Vialle
• Key Costumer: Alice Eyssartier
• Makeup Artist: Olivier Afonso
• Key Hair Stylist: Mathieu Capmarty
• Key Makeup Artist: Stéphanie Caron
• Makeup Artist: Marine Despiegelaere
• Hairstylist: Céline Mougel
• Makeup Artist: Wilfried Pirrin
• Makeup Artist: David Scherer
• Assistant Production Manager: Léa Barrot
• Administration: Nadège Courant
• Post Production Supervisor: Dave Decottignies
• Production Manager: Julien Gayot
• Assistant Director: Phoenix Alejandrino
• Assistant Director: Anacaona Beauzile
• Second Assistant Director: Mickael Denoyer
• First Assistant Director: Samuel Girardin
• Sound Mixer: Nicolas Mas
• Sound Assistant: Vincent Rochette
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Samuel Rouillard
• Visual Effects Director: Gaël Durant
• VFX Production Coordinator: Tony Kock
• VFX Production Coordinator: Kevin Szmir
• VFX Supervisor: Julien Van De Velde
• Stunt Coordinator: Emmanuel Lanzi
• Stunt Coordinator: Jérémy Margallé
• Stunt Coordinator: Pierre-Henri Toubas
• Electrician: Jordan Bouchex
• First Assistant Camera: Nicolas Caracache
• Key Grip: Julien Covens
• Data Management Technician: Duncan Decottignies
• Second Assistant Camera: Eléonore Huisse
• Third Assistant Camera: Lucie Bojarski
• First Assistant Camera: Félix Marmorat
• Grip: Cyprien Mas
• Electrician: Adrien Pavie
• Gaffer: Léo Ponge
• Director of Photography: Simon Roca
• First Assistant Camera: Mathias Sabourdin
• Grip: Victor Schmitt
• Electrician: Bruno Seguer
• Electrician: Fréderic Toussaint
• Casting Coordinator: Lucie Llopis
• Additional Casting: Renaud Vaudeville
• Casting Assistant: Caroline Wormser
• Costumer: Florianne Balay
• Seamstress: Selma Kalt
• Location Assistant: Laurent Ammar
• Location Assistant: Axel Calero
• Location Manager: Fanny Crouvisier
• Location Manager: Pierre-Antoine Louis
• Script: Ludivine Doazan
• Director: Julien Maury
• Director: Alexandre Bustillo
• Novel: Alexis Laipsker
• Writer: Annelyse Batrel
• Writer: Ludovic Lefebvre
• Steadicam Operator: Sully Ledermann

Movie Reviews:

• CinemaSerf: “Franck” (Paul Hamy) is hitching his way to a small French village when he is picked up by “Elisabeth” (Virginie Ledoyen). It turns out that she is a police officer send to lead an investigation of double murder and that he is a captain in the national gendarmerie on a continuing mission to track down missing children – a trail that led him to this ostensibly sleepy hamlet. Reminiscent a little of “Doctor Sleep” (2019), the place is overlooked by a sanatorium and quickly the two, initially suspicious of each other, start to realise that their mysterious cases might well be linked. What doesn’t really help is a local folklore about the eponymous monster who feeds off the souls of the deceased townsfolk – and as the film gathers pace it seems to be heading for quite a brutal and bloody feast. There might be one really important clue. “Evan” (Cameron Bain) who is the survivor of the apparent self-killings of his parents. What did he see? What does he know? Anything? His psychiatrist “Marbas” (Sandrine Bonnaire) is determined that her charge be left to recuperate, but “Franck” knows he is the link… At times, this is a tensely directed murder mystery but as the plot develops it also rather thins out and neither of the lead characters really offer us much by way of chemistry as serendipity plays just a bit too much of an hand in a denouement that does have quite a fitting twist, but also has something too much of the “Scooby Do” about it. It does just about work in a cinema, the wooded landscapes and the eeriness help it out quite a lot, but on television it will be pretty ordinary.