Thanks to a last-minute technical problem, a dangerous and violent forger escapes execution by the guillotine. In fact he escapes so thoroughly that he disappears completely. A police inspector sent to catch the fugitive arrives in what seems like a pleasant old town. Much to his surprise, he discovers that the whole town lives in fear, since it believes it is being attacked by an ancient monster...

"La grande frousse" lies at the crossroads between various genres : thriller, comedy and fantasy/horror. It's a very unusual work with a uniquely poetic and dreamlike quality.

As a movie, it too disjointed, whimsical and uneven to be a success, but at least it's an interesting failure which delivers some memorably surreal moments. The cast is good and one rather gets the impression that the various actors liked the opportunity to play a truly weird or eccentric character.

The movie is based on a novel by Raymond Jean de Kremer, who was a compatriot of mine. (I've never read the novel, but I'm familiar with a lot of his other work.) De Kremer, who was blessed with the gift of tongues, wrote both in Dutch and in French, under a variety of pseudonyms such as "John Flanders" or "Jean Ray". As a prolific author he wrote his share of drivel, but his best work, such as "Malpertuis", is seriously psychedelic, unsettling or macabre.

Raymond Jean de Kremer seems to have led an unusually interesting life, although he was so good at spinning tales that even professional historians find it difficult to separate fact from fiction. If you like the horror/fantasy genre and if you are interested in learning Dutch or French, you can do worse than read some of his work.

In the 60's, director Jean-Pierre Mocky shot several wonderful movies before his inspiration decreased in the 80's and 90's, leading him to cheaper and cheaper productions (in spite of a recent surge). In "La Cité de l'indicible peur", he's at the top of his game, with this very subversive production. French comedian Bourvil is a police inspector who trails a counterfeiter and spends several days in a small rural town, where you'll find one policeman, one butcher, one doctor, one chemist, and so on. And, supposedly, one bald, hard-drinking, cold-sensitive, cassoulet hating, murdering counterfeiter.

Needless to say, this investigation turns out to be a McGuffin or a red herring to a string of strange events in the town of Barges (also French for "loonies"). A killing beast roams at night, mannequins of the local saint lower hatchets and half printed banknotes go with the wind. Bourvil is perfectly cast as a good-willing and clueless investigator and the supporting characters are at least as interesting as his. What makes the movie works is that Mocky always manages to draw a thin line between iron-fisted anarchy and empathy towards his characters. At the beginning of the movie, Bourvil is put in charge of the investigation by a chief who turns out to be his own uncle, an apparently authoritative figure. At the end of the scene, when he's alone, you notice that the uncle is actually a diminutive man who climbs on a stool to look more impressive. This is the kind of slight touches that fill the entire movie.

One close relative to "La Cité de l'indicible peur" would be the "Twin Peaks" TV show. Actually, the movie forecasts the mood of "Twin Peaks" with a much lighter tone.