Three men wake up in the forest, strapped to the ground with no idea how they came to be there. Jules (Constantin Vidal) is suffering a curious pain in his back, and it’s only getting worse. With the arrival of Eve (Audrey Pirault) comes the revelation that they’re lying on a patch of rapidly growing bamboo shoots – shoots which will grow long enough to impale her helpless victims if they don’t act quickly.
The only way to ensure their freedom? To confess what happened to Eve’s missing sister, Iris (Sophie Maréchal). As the bamboo grows (a meter and 20 centimeters in 24 hours, to be precise) a series of flashbacks reveals what happened last night, and what Jules, Sam (Jimony Ekila) and Victor (Paul Deby) did to Iris. At the same time, a police investigation into a smashed-up bar threatens to lead two officers to Eve’s location and the men’s secret.
The English title of this French rape-revenge film makes certain promises, and these are mostly delivered upon, even if it does stray from course later in the game. There is bamboo, and someone does revenge. The real horror story, though, is men, and Bamboo Revenge is a chilling depiction of the predatory behaviour of males in spaces where women are just trying to live, exist and have a good time. In its most effective shot, Iris is groped by a group of handsy men as she attempts to crowd-surf, drawing a similarity between grabby male hands and the relentlessly growing bamboo beneath Jules, Sam and Victor.
These themes are darker than one might expect from something called Bamboo Revenge, and the film enters some upsetting places as the truth is revealed. Eschewing bamboo-related gore (of which there is surprisingly little), the film instead cultivates something much more insidious, and grounded in our own reality. The discomfort, ultimately, is the point.
BAMBOO REVENGE premiered at UK FrightFest on August 25, 2025.
