Ordeal, The

Aroview: Less gruelling than its title suggests, this is a macabre, blackly humorous slice of "redneck gothic" from Belgium, in which a cabaret singer's (Lucas) van breaks down in remote countryside enroute to a Christmas gig and he is drawn to the shelter of a sinister inn.

However, the proprietor is none-too-slowly revealed to have an insane and inhospitable streak; soon the hero is forced into some unlikely cross-dressing and brutally violent scenarios. Saturated with surreal comic overtones, this avoids the usual 'screechy violin' horror stereotypes while still being indebted to trailblazers of the genre.

NZ International Film Festival 2005

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