Rural horror is always fertile ground for filmmakers, and first-time writer/director Meyer goes to town with the peculiar and disturbing residents and visitors to a weekend wine tasting retreat in the South of France.
We all know the French love their wine, but there’s much more in store for the mixed bag of people who find themselves in the midst of what can only be described as a wine orgy – with added line dancing. John (Sønderholm) and Samantha (Flaherty) are having relationship problems – the main one being John is a real jerk – and are desperate for a child, Dave (Digby-Jones) and Kevin (Calderwood) are British lads on a wild holiday, only interested in getting stoned and laid, while an academic Dr Rogers (JC Montes-Roldán) and his partner are looking into the gods of the region, particularly convinced that the shrine of Pan is in the area, and the Roman gods may well be living there. They all end up invited to a strange wine tasting extravaganza, where the vino is free-flowing, but has the instant side effect of lowering the recipients inhibitions even more than usual, and the grapes have an even more addictive quality. The party isn’t completely free, though since the guests have all been chosen for a reason – their blood type.
Bacchanalia (which basically means drunken celebration, but in keeping with the theme is derived from a Roman god) is an odd mixture of ideas. Not quite as extreme as Alex Chandon’s Inbred and not as ponderous as Jean Rollin’s The Grapes of Death, it takes some well-worn tropes and runs with them, and while the result isn’t wholly successful, it hits the mark more than it misses. While the proceedings do get rather debauched, there’s no nudity (apart from people in their undies) and the gore is kept to a restrained minimum. That’s not to say it doesn’t deliver some shocks – there are a few moments where you’ll feel the mayhem and murder rather than see it.
Meyer’s direction is solid, and even though most of the action takes place at night, it’s lit well enough without feeling too false. The acting is variable, but that might come from the various accents (it’s a multilingual cast performing in English), as such, one might find it a struggle to hear some of the dialogue, but it certainly doesn’t distract too much and it’s easy enough to follow and figure out what’s going on and who the antagonists are meant to represent.
Originally entitled The Winedancers – a much more relevant and accessible title – Bacchanalia is an accomplished if slightly overambitious film. However, it delivers some fun moments and is never too predictable. Well worth seeking out, but you probably won’t want to hear the old country folk ‘favourite’ Turkey in the Straw ever again.
BACCHANALIA / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: GARY MEYER / STARRING: EDMUND DIGBY-JONES, KYLE CALDERWOOD, MARIANA PEÑALVA, LUCINDA RHODES FLAHERTY, KIM SØNDERHOLM / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
