Written and directed by Severin Eskeland, Lust, aka Lyst, lures us down a familiar hallway then turns out the lights and spins us around a couple times before hitting us with a bloody strobe light of delirium. Lust is an excellent trip through the twisted horrors of the mind and traps of fame.
Buy Lust DVDLisa Rostrop (Magdalena From Delis) is a sexy young author whose violent rape-revenge fiction books have become uber popular and thrust her into the spotlight. One night, Lisa becomes the victim of sexual assault at the hands of a mysterious man. Now suffering through a violent crime firsthand, Lisa struggles through the trauma and fights to regain control of her life as she slowly questions her sanity. Someone appears to be teasing and taunting Lisa as well by sending her images and video from the night of the attack causing her further mental disturbance.
When she calls the police, they can find no trace of an intruder nor any evidence of an obscene video on her laptop. Lisa now begins to lose trust in not only the law but in her therapist (Sondre Krogtoft Larsen) and the man she last went out with (Damian Gallagher). She begins to dream and hallucinate that those men have committed this heinous act upon her. As her delirium spins out of control so does her hold on reality. Will the effects of that brutal night lead to bloody consequences for the guilty or innocent? Or is this all just a horrible fiction Lisa has created in her mind?
Lust is gory, bloody, low-budget horror done right. It’s slow to start as we are led to think this is just another revenge horror/psycho thriller before it turns into a totally cool, bloody mind-screw of a ride that you’re glad you stuck around for. Filmed mostly in Norwegian with some English used throughout, Lust‘s main setting is a small apartment (perfect use of that micro budget). Severin Eskeland employs the different language well along with clever editing (switching between doctor, date, and cop) and creative camera angles (inside a toilet bowl) to contort and confuse the viewer’s senses, masterfully putting us in Lisa’s tortured shoes. Magdalena From Delis does a wonderful job in bringing Lisa’s pain and torment to the forefront. Horror movie nerd Per-Ingvar Tomren brings the gory bits to brilliant life as he uses good old, homemade practical effects drawing inspiration from masters like Rick Baker. Severin Eskeland clearly takes his cues from giallo legends such as Dario Argento and Michele Soavi.
Special Features include a 28 minute behind-the-scenes documentary that is very enlightening and adds layers to our understanding of what was involved in the making of this horror gem. There’s interviews and candid moments as the cast and crew rehearse and go over stunts throughout the little apartment repeatedly, in search of perfection. We get to watch as Tomren sits and plays like a delighted child as he mixes and creates his realistic gore effects. The two and half minute SFX feature highlights the process and time that went into making sure the splatter and gore came off just right on camera. Wonderful pieces that add to the movie’s overall appeal.
These days I’m not as big a fan of the gory films as I used to be as a kid but Lust provides just the right amount of splatter. Severin Eskeland manages to balance it all out in this intense story that studies the effects of traumatic crime on the mind.
