This film has been a hot internet topic in China for the last few years, although they didn't know the film title. In 2007 a post appeared in one of the largest Chinese online forums, requesting more information about this film, thousands of people commented on it and tried to find the film title since then. The film was dubbed to Chinese and shown on cable TV channels in the 1990s, according to the post, it has become many people's childhood nightmare and they wanted to know more about it. Unfortunately, the dubbed version has translated the title to something related to aliens, thus no one was able to find the original title of the film, not until 2014, in spite of all the efforts. People shared what they remembered about the scenes in this movie, more people got interested even haven't seen it. It became a legend, a mystery no one could solve. 2014, someone claimed to own a VHS tape but he refused to release it, unless he was paid. Finally, in 2015, someone announced the title thousands or even millions of people were looking for : Clash (1984), France. It was a very bizarre journey for an otherwise unnoticed film. I wonder if the cast and director know about the story and what they will feel about it.
6 Reviews
Strange, did you say strange?
Superwonderscope15 June 2000
Utterly low-budget-horror-wannabe movie telling the story of a young girl lost in the middle of nowhere, chased a by a strange man. I'm not even sure I understood all the subplots involved...
Brian Yuzna fans, move over, it is not a gory-fast-and-furious horror gem. CLASH is rather slow, concentrating on the atmosphere more than the effects.
Rather unusual for a French horror movie, Raphael Delpard chose an obscure plot mixed with some gruesome effects (good ones, by the way), full of incoherences, but...it's working, as an essay on arthouse fantasy movie. Bizarre atmosphere -shot in an abandoned warehouse-, foggy sets...it's supposed to be the representation of a nightmare. None of what's happening is rational or explainable.
At the end, it depends on your mood: it's either irritating or clever in some parts, amateurish or made in a highly professional way of making you think it's amateurish. Catherine Alric (who bears a frightening resemblance with Catherine Deneuve) is impressive as the young heroïne and so is -Pierre Clementi as the stalker. Though this movie is really really hard to find you should give it a try if you can. A kinda thinking man's horror movie.
But if you're looking for a real french horror movie, very scary, full of gory effects and a very special screenplay, try the awesome DEMON DANS L'ILE. It's a masterpiece of fear.
Brian Yuzna fans, move over, it is not a gory-fast-and-furious horror gem. CLASH is rather slow, concentrating on the atmosphere more than the effects.
Rather unusual for a French horror movie, Raphael Delpard chose an obscure plot mixed with some gruesome effects (good ones, by the way), full of incoherences, but...it's working, as an essay on arthouse fantasy movie. Bizarre atmosphere -shot in an abandoned warehouse-, foggy sets...it's supposed to be the representation of a nightmare. None of what's happening is rational or explainable.
At the end, it depends on your mood: it's either irritating or clever in some parts, amateurish or made in a highly professional way of making you think it's amateurish. Catherine Alric (who bears a frightening resemblance with Catherine Deneuve) is impressive as the young heroïne and so is -Pierre Clementi as the stalker. Though this movie is really really hard to find you should give it a try if you can. A kinda thinking man's horror movie.
But if you're looking for a real french horror movie, very scary, full of gory effects and a very special screenplay, try the awesome DEMON DANS L'ILE. It's a masterpiece of fear.
Could have been so much better
kaefab11 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The main issue with this movie is nothing happens, it started off good but could have been sooo much better.
A part from a few gory effects not even worth to mention its more of a descent into craziness then anything else.
A part from a few gory effects not even worth to mention its more of a descent into craziness then anything else.
Nice surreal flick
kanabuma24 November 2021
Actually this is not a horror movie. This can be classified as Surreal Fantasy. So we need not worry about a proper story or explanation for everything. This movie is dreamlike with a tint of creepiness. Those are the key ingredients of a surreal movie. This movie has those key elements. So it is throughly enjoyable to a surreal fan like me. So friends, don't care about negative reviews. If you are a surreal / fantasy fan, you will definitely like this movie.
Abstract story with a disturbing plot.
tvcarsd24 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Martime the attractive french protagonist woman in this movie is in with the mob and has agreed to take half of the loot from a robbery to a warehouse and instructed to stay low for a few days until the mob arrive. Once she gets there Martime appears to have a show down with her own conscience.
So this is how it goes. On her arrival at the warehouse she is spooked by a pair of laughing vagabonds with a German Shepherd. Afterwards she finds that she has been mysteriously locked inside the warehouse and she begins to experience panic attacks. Then we get a well dressed mute who turns up out of nowhere (clue?) and we are lead to believe that he isn't quite real or maybe the product of her repressed childhood memories.
We see later how this could be as we are introduced to various dream sequences of her childhood which get overlapped with her daytime reality (nicely contrasted) and we learn that her father was a very unpleasant and abusive man who treated her and her mother very poorly and that she appears to have set her dog on her father at some point in her past which just happens to have also been a German Shepherd which I have to admit made me laugh, I know I have a bad sense of humor.
Was the dog that was owned by the vagabonds that spooked her earlier on her arrival what triggered her childhood memories? My bet is yes. This is the bit I believe most viewers didn't pick up on.
Continuing, so a depiction of her confronting this nightmarish past manifests into a physical confrontation played out in the warehouse with Martime fighting the mute and causing some nasty lacerations to each other. Later her childhood former self turns up out of nowhere (clue?) where they jointly dispatch this mute monster using their natural psychic powers (does she even have powers?). Not long later her mob buddies turn up and do what you probably guessed they would do all along.
In the end we get the biggest clue of all with a poem which is open for interpretation. The following is my interpretation.
The story is about our own monsters, monsters that exist in both the shadows of our mind and in plain sight (the light of day) and that there is much we have to learn from them.
The monsters in the shadows were the abhorrent memories of Martime's father and the monsters in the sun (plain sight) were the mobsters she is dealing with. All the betrayal at the end is the reason for our need to learn from them (our monsters).
Clash has a good story with a strong moral. Its told in an abstract way which has clearly missed the mark with many viewers thus it is in my opinion highly underrated. The end.
So this is how it goes. On her arrival at the warehouse she is spooked by a pair of laughing vagabonds with a German Shepherd. Afterwards she finds that she has been mysteriously locked inside the warehouse and she begins to experience panic attacks. Then we get a well dressed mute who turns up out of nowhere (clue?) and we are lead to believe that he isn't quite real or maybe the product of her repressed childhood memories.
We see later how this could be as we are introduced to various dream sequences of her childhood which get overlapped with her daytime reality (nicely contrasted) and we learn that her father was a very unpleasant and abusive man who treated her and her mother very poorly and that she appears to have set her dog on her father at some point in her past which just happens to have also been a German Shepherd which I have to admit made me laugh, I know I have a bad sense of humor.
Was the dog that was owned by the vagabonds that spooked her earlier on her arrival what triggered her childhood memories? My bet is yes. This is the bit I believe most viewers didn't pick up on.
Continuing, so a depiction of her confronting this nightmarish past manifests into a physical confrontation played out in the warehouse with Martime fighting the mute and causing some nasty lacerations to each other. Later her childhood former self turns up out of nowhere (clue?) where they jointly dispatch this mute monster using their natural psychic powers (does she even have powers?). Not long later her mob buddies turn up and do what you probably guessed they would do all along.
In the end we get the biggest clue of all with a poem which is open for interpretation. The following is my interpretation.
The story is about our own monsters, monsters that exist in both the shadows of our mind and in plain sight (the light of day) and that there is much we have to learn from them.
The monsters in the shadows were the abhorrent memories of Martime's father and the monsters in the sun (plain sight) were the mobsters she is dealing with. All the betrayal at the end is the reason for our need to learn from them (our monsters).
Clash has a good story with a strong moral. Its told in an abstract way which has clearly missed the mark with many viewers thus it is in my opinion highly underrated. The end.
Clash?
dbdumonteil19 January 2006
This is a tedious pretentious boring thing.It 's obvious that the lack of a screenplay is sorely felt.David Lynch could transcend that in his "Eraserhead" .The director here cannot.The prologue deals with a semblance of thriller :a girl has to cross the border with mysterious stuff,and they promised her a beautiful reward .The director uses close shots ,one can wonder why.
Then the girl has to hide in a disused factory:then ,out of the blue, childhood fears come back to haunt her at night as she has horrible nightmares.As if it were not enough , a strange man (Pierre Clementi) tries to catch her in the daylight (unless he is part of her dreams ,who knows?).Sometimes the door is locked,sometimes it's not. Some may think it's art,I call it arty.
Then the girl has to hide in a disused factory:then ,out of the blue, childhood fears come back to haunt her at night as she has horrible nightmares.As if it were not enough , a strange man (Pierre Clementi) tries to catch her in the daylight (unless he is part of her dreams ,who knows?).Sometimes the door is locked,sometimes it's not. Some may think it's art,I call it arty.
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