Cheap Belphegor Phantom of the Louvre [Region 3] (DVD) (Jean-Paul Salome) Price

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Customer Reviews of Belphegor Phantom of the Louvre [Region 3]

Sophie Marceau and Julie Christie in French Mummy Flick: No Suspence, Just Boring
Beautiful Sophie Marceau stars in "Belphégor - Le fantôme du Louvre" ("Ghost of the Louvre"), a French occult thriller made in 2001. Though the film itself looks like a rip-off of Brendan Fraser's `the Mummy' (or its sequel), the story of Belphégor has a along history, which novelist Arthur Bernède created more than 70 years ago. There are silent film based on the character hiding in the Louvre in the 1920s, and TV mini-series in the 60s. (I haven't seen them, though. Anyway that's what I read on the net.) <
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>This is a kind of film of which title tells you everything about its story. Yes, it is about Belphégor, the golden-colored CGI-created Ghost of the Louvre, terrifying the people working at the museum. And Sophie Marceau's heroine, who is living in a room across the street from the museum, strays into the place at night (in the most unbelievable way) where the sinister ghost roams. As the number of unaccountable deaths increases, Marceau starts to act more and more strangely, like scaring the kids showing off her erudition about Egypt, or leaping from wall to wall in a small room like a frog. <
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>I am not kidding when I write jumping. Whatever the originals might have been, they could not be as awful as this new version is. The lack of direction is painfully obvious from the beginning, in which the film gives away its secret too early. There is no scare because every camera work is predictable, and the climax is no climax (you might not realize what really happened in the end.) In short, the film is an uninspired thriller. <
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>Some people say, with good reasons, that the CGI mummy is impressive. Certainly, the special effects of the mummy gliding in the air are good itself, but the real question is how to use them. The image of Belphégor reminds me of the ghost in `The Haunting' (the remake, not Robert Wise original), in which expensive CGI deprived the film of any scares. While we should be scared, we are keenly aware that what we are watching is costly effects, not the ghost. <
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>In spite of the ineffective direction, "Belphégor" is sometimes mildly entertaining for two reasons. One is that it is partly shot in the real Louvre, and beauty of the place and the city of Paris is undeniable. The other is Sophie Marceau herself. Even in this messy script she is beautiful, and that is something. <
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>The film has interesting supports including veteran Michel Serrault, Frédéric Diefenthal, and Julie Christie. Yes, that's her in `Darling.' And there is a cameo of Juliette Gréco (from the original TV series) as the woman in the graveyard. <
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>Critics attacked Hollywood blockbuster `The Mummy' for many reasons - CGI extravaganza or anything -- but even they would admit that they are entertaining films. "Belphégor" is not even that. It is not even a so-bad-so good film, just about Marceau and a dull mummy.