Slachtvee (1979) User Reviews

Little Known European Crime Movie Gem

[matalo · 8/10 · 6 January 2022]

This will be of interest for any admirer of European (mainly French or Italian) crime/noir films of the 70s/80s. It's a Belgian film, coscripted by the famous Jean Claude Carriere. The Production overall (direction, actors, production values) is above average. They make good use of original locations like warehouses and it has a nice musical score that makes use of a Moog synthesizer). The pacing is good and the plot goes straight forward. A top executive of a local slaughterhouse/meat factory leads a successful life and is going to marry his boss' daughter. When he all of a sudden gets diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer he loses all fears and he gets sucked into the local underworld. He starts a small crusade against some pimps and pushers only to find out things are not as simple as they appear. Some of the Brief slaughterhouse sequences in beginning and end will be shocking to some viewers but help to give the film a darker tone. Recommended.

Lousy directing but not a waste.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 17 October 2021]

It is a very unusual film, though the topic is not new at all: a man supposed to suffer of a lethal disease, to whom it is said that he will die, and a man about whom it is eventually revealed that he has nothing at all. But the problem is that in the meantime, this man has decided to play Chuck Bronson in DEATH WISH.... Corny directing, with a strange music score all the time, but with plenty of surprises, if you watch closely enough. No, this is not a straight to garbage movie. During the first and last minutes, a scene takes place in a slaughterhouse, when you can see some animal killings, unbearable torture sequences, and shown in a light way, as if it was a comedy with a family walking on a beach. To summarize, this is a drama story hesitating between tragic and light hearted touches. An amusing example in this feature, a small girl jumproping among boxers in a gym for prizefighters. Jumproping belongs to the boxers drills.