Maléfique poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Gérald Laroche, Philippe Laudenbach, Clovis Cornillac, Dimitri Rataud

Four prisoners sharing the same cramped cell make a discovery that could help them escape from even the most high security prison if it doesn't split their world wide open first. Carrere is an ambitio... read more read more...us company director serving time for fraud, Marcus is a thirty-five year old transsexual on course to becoming a real woman, Daisy is a mentally deficient servant, and Lassalle is a sixty year old intellectual who murdered his wife of many years. Together, these lawless misfits do their best to serve their time without losing their minds. One day, after discovering a loose stone slab in their cell, the four incarcerated convicts unearth the diary of a former prisoner named Danvers who occupied the exact same cell at the turn of the century. According to the diary, there exist magic formulas so powerful than any prisoner could use them to escape. Later, when the men attempt to decipher the formulas, the entire prison becomes a terrifying cauldron of bizarre phenomena. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

58% liked it

583 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Eric Valette

Release Date: November 9, 2002

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: April 15, 2008

Stats: 70 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

Maléfique Poster Maléfique Maléfique Maléfique Maléfique
Upload a Photo | View All Maléfique Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (70)

  • Stinger839
    October 6, 2008
    Stinger839
    I loved this. Tiny set, never lets up on the strangeness, deals with the occult alongside real-life horrors, and still packs in some great gore.

    Using the tinniest of settings - one prison cell - the film stages a grand odyssey and one never tires of the setting.

    As usual, I'v... read moree got to complain that I don't think the trans character was handled in a manner consistent with the aspirations of trans-aware advocate-artists like myself.

    All of the (four main and one temporary secondary) characters are complex and intriguing. For once, I'm not really that incensed at a "twist" ending, though I do think it was not appropriately foreshadowed and a montage of clips that were supposed to foreshadow the reveal shown right before the reveal is way too cliche and should have been cut.

    Overall, the feeling of being utterly trapped with something so cryptic and powerful and surrounded by dangerous people is perfectly conveyed. I do wonder if there are modern prisons that are this shitty, though.
  • cacutshaw
    April 18, 2008
    cacutshaw
    A very entertaining film that keeps the pace going with a decent story, well written dialogue and good characters. Reminds me of a lot of the older horror films where plot actually meant something.
  • mrhaljam
    September 16, 2008
    mrhaljam
    It took quite a while for Eric Valette's somber four-man prison drama (with an irresistible supernatural hook) to make its way over to us, but this little movie is every bit as sweet as I always knew it would be. Proof of what can be done with very limited resources and a lot of ... read morecreativity. Slated, inevitably, for the hack Hollywood remake treatment. But money can't buy the sort of mood and menace Valette so effectively conjured here.
  • jonnydaddy
    July 31, 2008
    jonnydaddy
    This kind of reminded me of Lord of Illusions to me. I read that it is was very gory but it really wasnt. But the movie kept me very interested all the way to the end.

View All Maléfique Reviews

Critic Reviews

No recent reviews.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Inside (À l'intérieur)
    Inside (À l'intérieur) (33%)
  • Frontière(s) (Frontier(s))
    Frontière(s) (Frontier(s)) (50%)
  • Cube
    Cube (100%)
  • High Tension (Switchblade Romance)
    High Tension (Switchblade Romance) (50%)

More Movies like Maléfique

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Maléfique : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Maléfique. Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Maléfique to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?