Click to read the article
Who Killed Bambi (2004)
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Synopsis: Using ambient sounds, white-outs, and dizzyingly abstract photography, WHO KILLED BAMBI? instills fear into its viewers with its disorienting atmospheres. Before any perturbing action takes place, there is an air of something essentially wrong, and that unexplainable feeling is... Using ambient sounds, white-outs, and dizzyingly abstract photography, WHO KILLED BAMBI? instills fear into its viewers with its disorienting atmospheres. Before any perturbing action takes place, there is an air of something essentially wrong, and that unexplainable feeling is downright creepy. Isabelle (Sophie Quinton), a rosy-cheeked nursing student, stares out into the fluorescent hallways of the hospital where she works with the wide-eyed innocence of a deer caught in the headlights. Appropriately, when she suddenly faints at the feet of the tall, dark, and handsome surgeon Dr. Philippe (Laurent Lucas), he nicknames her Bambi, saying she cannot stand on her own two legs. It is instantly obvious that there's something sinister about Dr. Philippe, so the answer to the title's question is not much of a mystery. Yet as Isabelle's fainting episodes become more frequent, and her suspicions about Dr. Philippe grow more paranoid, the tension only mounts. When several lovely young women (the hospital is teaming with them) disappear from their hospital beds at night, Isabelle's fears appear to be justified. An excellent chiller that will captivate audiences with its entrancing moods, WHO KILLED BAMBI? is a wonderfully effective addition to the thriller genre. [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Sophie Quinton, Laurent Lucas, Catherine Jacob, Yasmine Belmadi, Michele Moretti
Screenwriter: Gilles Marchand, Vincent Dietschy
Producer: Caroline Benjo, Carole Scotta
Reviews
A sleek and cool thriller that never quite boils over into all-out suspense, which feels enticing but also a bit dull and overlong.
The melodrama acts as an anaesthetic, as it's hard to stay awake while it operates merely as a gruesome style over substance film.
Who Killed Bambi? is fun to watch, and newcomer Quinton has big, beautiful eyes, but the movie’s contrived plot, forced conclusion and sentimental denouement rob it of real suspense and meaning.
you eventually get that it's supposed to be suspenseful, but it's ... near impossible to actually feel it.
The forced parallel with the Disney classic proves silly and pretentious, but the dull characters and lethal plot contrivances are what really do Bambi in.
A cool, dry spin on the hospital horror story, steeps the classic woman-in-peril scenario in allusions to Disney's uber-innocent.
Marchand capably builds suspense, thanks to a twisty script and nervy performances by Lucas and Quinton.
This film is more successful in mood and setting (white hallways with stylized lighting and shadows gives a disorientating sense of dread and tension) than in the conventional screenplay.
Related Forums

by: Darko, Donnie 6/14/05


Top Critic