Palm lands Ordeal

Variety reports today that Palm Pictures picked up the North American rights to the Belgian horror flick THE ORDEAL, a.k.a. CALVAIRE.



The Toronto International Film Festival describes this sick and twisted tale as follows:


Marc Stevens is a shy, small-time singer who works the cabaret circuit at old folks’ homes. His gentle manners and boyish looks garner unwanted romantic attention from his adoring public. On his way to a Christmas engagement, his van breaks down in a forest and he finds a rundown inn where he can stay the night. Mr. Bartel, the innkeeper, is a failed comic who connects with the fellow “artist” and laments his wife, who left him years earlier. Bartel promises to call in a mechanic, but in his eyes the lost crooner is a surrogate for his long-lost love. Soon, however, Marc’s captor is not his only problem after the local villagers learn that Bartel’s “wife” has returned.

Be warned, THE ORDEAL’s brutal images will burn into your eyelids as you lay down to sleep this evening.



Shyza! Starring Laurent Lucas and Philippe Nahon (from HIGH TENSION), and directed by Fabrice Du Welz, Palm plans on a late 2005 release. THE ORDEAL has won numerous awards at France’s Gerardmer Horror Film Festival, and sounds disturbing enough to give HIGH TENSION a run for it’s money.