Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

The first must-see film of the year.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Blistering performances.

Hi there,I saw this film a little while ago and wanted to share my review of it. It is a great film as an indie-budget horror (a Canadian film/French Canadian Quebec film/Québécois indie film d'horreur, it is very rare to see good (or any fiction genre thereof) horror movies come from very low budget Canadian and Quebec productions (French or even English ones), it really is a low hanging fruit in the fruit(ion) tree of the Canadian Cinema Industry (and in this precise case of the French Quebecer Cinema Industry that has a boom lately, but still most of the films made in Quebec are dramas, dramas, dramas and more dramas (why so dramatic lol!); and comedies by the thousands (at least we can laugh)... barely action/thriller/horror films are made (that is left for UK/US productions who have the cash) and that's because of small capital available (not enough financial budget to make them even if Quebec offers strong tax-incentives for filmmakers to do films here, Ontario, Alberta and BC make much more fictions because US/UK always end up in Toronto/Vancouver (and have more money too and because of language facility/language in English in Ontario, still Montreal is bilingual and Quebec city is a gem to shoot in so it should not be such a strong linguistic barrier but permeable for foreigners who don't speak french) but Quebec is sadly lackluster in that Fiction films department (because fictions cost of millions of dollars and most QC films are below 5 millions $ CAD). At least, it releases many French language drama world-quality chef-d'oeuvres that end up at Academy Awards (Xavier Dolan's films, or Denis Villeneuve's films)). Here we have film by unknown director Alain Vézina (but who cares sometimes the best gems are hidden) who crafts a nice little gem of horror. It's a story of Scaphander 'revenant' like a ghost costumed in a 19th century big underwater metal scaphander suit that comes to haunt the people in a very small QC coastal village. The gore and the horror factor is nicely done and tight, so is the acting. The Scaphander man is scary and walks at night to scare the hell of the people and kill all the villagers. It has a quality of a high budget horror film yet it doesn't have the budget/a low-budget production (very impressive!).There is the actor Raymond Bouchard who plays a captain on a ship and tells of the lore/the story of a 'Scaphander-suited man', told from ancient mariners, who dwelled at the bottom of the waters around there for almost 2 centuries, and would 'rise' at night from the depths to kill anything like a plague (sort of like the Marsh's Monster (Le Monstre du Marais/Marécage/The Mummy/Pit Monster/Blue Lagoon monster/Monstre du lagon bleu...or basically, the Lockness Monster which has proved has a fake hoax (a man swimming a faking a monster underwater like a 'fake shark finn' circling the water)).I was pleased and like it (not just because it's a French movie but because, unlike other french Quebecer Fiction films, this one definitely hit the right notes to create a solid popcorn horror movie on a very low budget which is commendable). I recommend it for horror lovers, it's quaint and small in 'scale' but it makes up, it has heart/a little indie gem. I hope more QC/Canadian horror films will come out, it just a very unfunded area of Cineman of the Canadian cinema industry (and that's because it's fiction and sadly, for many producers : fiction = cheap thrills/low IQ films...what sadness...films have always been about entertaining just like telling stories around a camp fire...).A solid 8 out of 10.

On the positive side: the acting of the main characters was really good and I liked the setting in this rural coastal village. And the premise was promising enough for a potentially good horror- movie, as were the first 20 minutes. But then they lost their grip on things. Someone seemed to have advised that horror means showing as much ripped-off body-parts and free-floating intestines as possible, which eventually had quite the opposite effect and became preposterous. The main "monster" in the archaic diving-gear may have been convincingly chilling, but when the zombies start crowding the image it all goes downhill fast, it's totally cliché and copied of a zillion B-movies before. The grunting. The wobbly walks. The overlong dangling arms and hands (can anyone explain why extremities of dead corpses would grow anyway?!). The sparse white hair on half-bold white heads. In the end the two protagonists almost magically escape their doom, it was as if the writers themselves didn't know how they had to end it all and came up with this lame deus ex machina. Let's just call it a somewhat nice but not very successful try.

LE SCAPHANDRIER should be seen by every horror fans. In a Utopian world, that title would be seen worldwide instead of the new "bad" remake of the week. I like pure horror, and that's what i got with LE SCAPHANDRIER. Despite the low budget, the movie looks pretty well, and have some personal touch. I liked it very much. The movie reminds me a lots of classics that i like since my childhood. The storyline is fun to follow, the cinematography is powerful, and i really enjoyed the specials effects. it's a genre movie, of course, not a Shakespeare adaptation. But for what it is, it's a real gem. Isn't what we liked as horror fans ??? A classic horror story ?

I really enjoyed this movie! The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, really impressive work. The actors are awesome, it's pretty incredible to see A list actors such as Raymond Bouchard in a horror film. The main actress is fantastic! The story is great; mysterious and violent killings happened in a gorgeous little town in Canada, a bright reporter investigates. We follow her through the course of her investigations. Don't expect something totally different and new, it's a classic horror movie. It's a very well done classic horror movie. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the show! I enjoyed every minutes of it! Really great horror film!