Welcome to the Cutting Room

Let’s spend some time with Gaspar Noé (“Irréversible,” “Enter the Void”) and his motion sickness-inducing filmmaking style! “Climax” is a movie almost exclusively starring professional dancers who adlib and dance their way through the worst acid trip ever. When “based on a true story” popped up on the screen my interest was piqued; upon further research, the “true story” is probably bullshit.

The movie begins with a bunch of video clips of a dance troupe answering interview questions. Framing the screen of the TV we’re watching are a whole bunch of clues as to where the movie is headed. We see horror classics like “Suspiria” and “Possession,” and books on suicide and existentialism. I feel like we’d probably get along. We get into some deeper and darker questions, asking the dancers about their worst nightmares and previous experience with drugs; one of these people is responsible for the eventual descent into pandemonium.

We find ourselves at a dance rehearsal. The dancers have been working on their piece for three days isolated at an old empty school, Our Lady of Liminal Spaces. We’re treated to some incredible choreography, set against some upbeat, happy electronic music. After it’s decided that the routine is down, it’s time for party! It’s the last night together, which means it’s time to get LIT.

We get more awesome dancing, happy people, happy music, people mingling, getting drunk, talking shit, the normal things one would expect to see at a party. Some of the movements, interactions, and music is starting to get more frenzied, hinting at what’s to come. Then we get another set of credits in the middle of the movie just to let us know that ACT ONE IS OVER, TIME FOR SHIT TO GET REAL.

Shit is, in fact, about to get real. We notice some of the characters starting to feel “off.” The choreography, music, and camera work is starting to let the audience know that *bad* things are ahead. One of the dancers, Selva (played by the gorgeous Sofia Boutella), makes the connection that they’ve all been drugged after seeing one dancer pee on the floor and not let it kill her vibe (love that for her). Almost as soon as it’s confirmed that the sangria is spiked we see Emmanuelle, the troupe’s manager, make some VERY shocking parenting choices in trying to protect her kid from a bunch of dancers on acid, kick-starting the chaos.

Saying that shit goes sideways REAL fast is probably the understatement of the century. The shit has never been more sideways. We get to see basically the basest depths of depravity, with little held back. The music has turned noisier and more frenetic, and we get to watch Selva channel her inner Isabelle Adjani in “Possession” but make it slay. Back to the dance floor! Is it a seizure? Is it people fighting? Is it people fucking? Is it hell? Are we all dead? Maybe. All I know is the motion sickness is back and so is the upbeat electronic music from the beginning.

Help eventually arrives, people come down and sober up, and the gravity of what we’ve just witnessed sets in. We do find out the person responsible, and to be honest, it makes perfect sense. Don’t dose someone without their knowledge, that’s fucked up.

I can’t help but love this movie. I couldn’t tell you why. Probably the dancing, the atmosphere, and the dreamlike pacing. It’s the perfect storm of art and horror for me I guess. I’d rate “Climax” a 4/5.

As always, I recommend checking https://www.doesthedogdie.com/ for any triggers or things you don’t want to see before starting *any* horror movie.

All views expressed are my own, you don’t have to agree with them! I’m open to respectful discourse.

Feel free to leave any movie recommendations or anything you’d like to read a review of!