User Reviews

If you like this movie, you should also watch a movie where band of jewish soldiers capture german civilians during WW2, takes them in the working camp and at the end kills them in the gas chamber while jewish doctors do experiments on them.

In the former Yugoslavia, the French medical team formed by Carole (Zoé Félix), Samir (Arié Elmaleh) and Dr. Mathias (Eric Savin) is returning from Kosovo to Paris by truck. They find a road block and the soldier tells that the army had found mines on the road and is deactivating them; therefore they should wait three hours to follow their journey.

Dr. Mathias suggests Carole to drive through a secondary road and they get lost. They ask for direction in an isolated house and sooner a van intercepts their truck in a lonely road. They are abducted and arrested in dirty cells but fed. When Samir is removed from the cell, they find the true intention of the kidnappers.

I do not know how many movies similar to "Captifs" that I have recently seen. Only in Brazil, three different films have been released with the same Brazilian title in the last years ("Captivity" (2007); "Captifs" (2010); and "Open House" (2010)). I was discussing with a friend of mine about the lack of new ideas and screenplays in the cinema industry, reason why for so many remakes and films with the same storyline.

Back to "Captifs", despite the well-known storyline, the film has good acting, make-up and keeps the tension until the very last scene. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Cativeiro" ("The Captivity")

I saw this for the first time recently. Was on my radar for a decade.

This film has nothing new to offer but it has sufficient tension n suspense. The metal cutter scene is too far fetched n it is abruptly edited. I enjoyed when the bad guys got thrashed. I enjoyed more when the bad dogs too got thrashed. Overall this one is a good thriller minus the gore (which is good). The film doesn't have any torture scene and any comparison with Hostel is uncalled for. I found the babe Zoé Félix very attractive, specially her jawline n cheeks are sharp n hot. Need to see her debut film Déjà mort. Hope to catch her nude in her debut film.

Albanians were convicted of kidnapping Serbs and taking organs. Then they create a movie where they portray the victim as the culprit. Classic hate speech.

Not bad. Decent plot, though fairly conventional for a horror movie, and reminiscent of Turistas. Gritty direction. Short duration, which is good.

Performances are OK.

I randomly watched this without any real idea of what the film was supposed to be. In fact I was hoping for the "twist" to be something more surreal or supernatural (like a portal to hell or something), but unfortunately that was not the case.

For one thing, the trope of Serbia being this dark and horrible place (and Eastern countries in general) is tired, shallow and inaccurate. There's some inconsistencies another user pointed out, one big obvious being the "bad guy" with a Serbian tattoo.

Acting is decent, filmwork itself is quite good as well, but the whole thing comes across as rushed, half-assed and predictable. While I wouldn't call this "French Hostel", it's on the same level as far as quality goes. Stereotypical characters, obvious "twists and turns", nothing terribly memorable.

In my opinion, it's particularly disrespectful to base a film on horrible real events and just sort-of switch the characters' ethnicities around. The main premise could still be based on real events but would've worked better had they maybe picked a completely different location or with less focus on the characters' nationalities.

Nothing special here, might as well watch an M Night Shalalalam if you're in the mood for something tepid and mediocre.

The film starts in Yugoslavia, crosses borders into Kosovo and ends at the back of a UN jeep.

War is perpetual. That is obvious and that is also the message in a cage where there is no mercy, no compassion or respect for life when the rush of war takes over. It is an imperative that it be so, such is the obstinate nature of war and 'Captifs'.

Director Yaan Gozlan's first feature length moves you with atmosphere, sound and baffling and hypnotic camera work. sometimes it moves you inside out and you can also watch it happening (derealisation in films).

'Captifs' is like a kid casually telling a story and suddenly everything gets very serious, extremely uncomfortable and horrific. Some scenes make you want to look away, but you don't; such is the pull of this film.

The film has it's faults but I'd rather stick to the film as whole; I'd rather tell you the good and you figure the bad for yourself, or maybe not. That's why.

In the end it is, in my opinion, telling you how it feels to be at war. How it must feel to not be forgiven, to see madness in the oppressor's eye and then, eventually to start relating to the look.

It left something back. Something that cannot be shed or shaken off.

The fact that I have seen quite a few movies, not only with a similar story(line) as this one, does not help while watching it. The fact, that it tries to be earnest and thinks of itself as serious psycho-thriller add to the odd feeling that something has gone terribly wrong. It is neither as great as it thinks it is nor is it simple romp. It is somewhere in between.

It tries hard to please to groups of people. The people who like to have a heart and mind to those types of movies, but also the people who like the horror and terror in that situation. Unfortunately the characters are not fleshed out enough (no pun intended) for this to happen. A little bit more of a back-story would have been helpful. But then again this might have been bad for those who were just waiting for the "juicy" parts.

The matter that is being handled here, does deserve a better movie (imo). A shame that this movie does not handle it as it should

This is not a movie, it's a propaganda film, released in the same moment when the international war crimes tribunal is arresting the leaders of the Albanian terrorist group which is responsible for human organs trafficking. The victims are the Serbs.

Bizarre piece of nationalistic propaganda which brings nothing original or entertaining to viewers.

First off, i'd like to say, that the people that are playing the Serbians, are not SERBIANS. They casted people from OTHER COUNTRIES to play the two gangsters, and the doctor! A SERBIAN FILM (That i have problems with as well), was made before this movie, couldn't they oh maybe pick people from that movie, to act for this one the Serbian criminals, or other Serbian actors???

Now lets get into the writing. The idea of the movie, a gang group capturing people, in order to sell their organs, sounds creative, and would of been fun. However, this was made in such a way, that it turns really, really boring.

None of our characters have any depth. All three of these French people, mind you yes, FRENCH medical staff in KOSOVO, have zero depth, i did not care for any of these people, because why? The movie does what a lot of other films do, zero personality, zero anything, you have to care because they are human beings.

There was a scene in this, with an eyeball that was supposed to be removed, i was actually waiting for the eyeball to be pulled out, but no. They managed to ruin that scene as well, i was hoping for a disturbing scene, there wasn't a single disturbing scene in this movie.

The actors that play the Serbians, barely speak Serbian. They mumble for the most of the movie. Couldn't they casted Serbian actors for this??? This movie made my brain melt. If you want to watch good torture, fictional snuff, go watch Martyrs, Grotesque, Hostel, Guinea Pig 1, The Butcher, American Guinea Pig 1, Undocumented, at least those movies are either interesting or disturbing. This was neither interesting or disturbing.

You know, i was really hoping to like this, because that cover-art reminds me of MARTYRS, the only movie in my life that i have seen too many times, in a quick period, and i still love it. But no, sadly did not enjoy this at all.

However, this is still not the worst thing ive seen this year. Oh hell no, there's really terrible stuff i've seen this year like: American Antichrist, Shopping Tour and The Big Feast for example.

You know, if this movie was cut in half, i think i would of been better but sadly, it drags too much for me to enjoy it. This is for the same people that like The Evil Dead, The Collector, Wrong Turn, all of that plotless boring, annoying horror.

I found this movie to be mostly alright for the most part. The story have a creepy premise with a gang who kidnap people for their organs because this happened in real life and is a frightening thing to think about. It builds up really well with introducing the characters and them getting captured and discovering what the gang is planning to do on them. Unfortunately, the middle part of the movie is definitely the weakest part. It mostly just the characters are waiting for something to happen and them getting torment by the villains in a tame way. Also, these trapped type of movie is pretty predictable, knowing that they won't easily escape from the gang. But things do pick up when the main character manages to escape. That part of the movie is suspenseful with her trying to sneak past the villains and escape with some people. The climax itself is somewhat suspenseful, but due to the runtime, it has a pretty quick ending to it.

So Caged might not fit up there with the other French greats quite so much due to its unoriginal set-up which we've all seen before. However this has a twist because it's French! The French tend to do everything right what the Americans do wrong. Caged undeniably has the similar set-up and themes to mediocre films like Turistas or Hostel (although Hostel is better than Turistas) but it manages to keep things incredibly tense and have characters that you can care for so that you actually care about the film itself.

Right from the opening you know that Caged is going to be a superior horror as it features a childhood flashback of the main character. American slasher-type horror films probably wouldn't bother doing this, but it really does help us to get more in-depth into the character so we can care about her more. Furthermore it helps that the victims aren't annoying/stupid teenagers or twenty-somethings. They're mature adults who you can respect and it's a feature that a lot of slasher films forget to do. I liked all of the main victims and I was sad to see them go because it was clear that they had a strong bond with each other.

I also liked how Caged didn't take an awful long time to get into the action. We have just the right time to build up the characters and then we can just sit on the edge of our seat for the rest of it as we see them become crushed! I don't mean that in a vindictive way (nasty, vindictive and rude, rude, rude!) just in the slasher formula way. In case you don't know the characters get kidnapped by foreigners and are taken to a Martyrs-like prison (though less high-tech) where they await there turn to the operating table. There's a great claustrophobic atmosphere as we're not allowed to see the light of day, just like they aren't. There's a sense of entrapment and you can't help but root for them to break free.

You might think that watching a film where people are caged for the majority would be boring but it's not. The directing and acting are lively enough to keep you focused and become involved with the characters. The film's second-half (I don't want to spoil anything) is also a complete thrill ride! It's highly suspenseful and incredibly tense. I was shouting at my TV and found myself becoming very involved in the narrative, even if it does seem familiar! There's also a fair amount of gore to enhance the entertainment value, and of course some nasty scenes are put in place which heightens our knowledge of how ballsy French films are.

I also really liked the cinematography in Caged too. There were some great long shots of the corridor of cages and the film also had a great look to it which made it feel dirty and raw, which is what you want in a horror film. I also really liked the suspenseful directing which keeps you on your toes the whole way through (especially the second half). All in all, Caged is an unfairly over-looked horror film which oozes style and tension. It's far better than American offerings that generate more profit than this does (unfairly I might add!) Yes Caged might not be the most original horror film, but it's certainly one of the best of its kind and I can't urge you enough to go and seek out this solid tiny gem!

Utter, blind terror is how they described Them (ILS), it is true and it's my favourite horror movie ever. Caged is seriously close if not as brilliant as Them. I am very particular about my horror movies, they have to genuinely keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish without daring to blink. And it has to be realistic with a decent character lead that you really care about. Both of these movies do this. Unlike Hollywood, the French produce the best horror movies without doubt. The people who are giving this bad ratings are those who enjoy those terrible Saw and Hostel movies. This is nothing like those. Genuine terror from the very start to the perfect ending.