MEGALOMANIAC is a new Belgian horror movie premiering at Fantasia 2022. This is by no means an easy movie to watch. In fact, it’s downright awful to watch at times, but it’s meant to be. The lead character is a young woman who is suffering in so many terrible ways. To try and feel better, she ultimately goes from victim to punisher. Both in fair and just ways (to a point anyway) and in completely unjustified ways. Inspired by a true story of an unsolved serial killer case.
In Megalomaniac, we’re watching the lives of two adults, who are the children of a crazy serial killer. And they have no real upbringing in the “real” or “normal” world. And how can you expect the adult children of a serial killer to be normal? Particularly, if they’ve had the most grotesque and terrible upbringing.
Along with a very real serial killer as their father, the adult siblings also struggle with their own issues. One has taken over from their father and is also killing women left and right while the other struggles more with mental illness. Most likely schizophrenia.
Fair warning: There are many very brutal scenes. Both the actual murders and various other violent scenes. Including rape and other kinds of assault.
The lead character in Megalomaniac is Martha and she is portrayed by Eline Schumacher. According to IMDb, this is only her second screen credit after a small role in season 2 of the Belgian series The Break which we’ve also reviewed here >
In Megalomaniac, Eline Schumacher is brilliant. I mean, she is terrifyingly brilliant. You feel for her and you fear her. If there is any fairness in this world, then we will be seeing Eline Schumacher in many projects in future years. Good Lord, she is amazing!
In another key role, we see Benjamin Ramon as Félix. He is a huge part of what makes the story work so well. Seeing Benjamin Ramon (Yummy) and Eline Schumacher across from each other is fantastic. I mean, it’s scary and creepy for the most part, but it is also absolutely breathtaking.
Award-winning writer/director Karim Ouelhaj has created 100 minutes of intense and brutal filmmaking. Very visual and extremely powerful in its storytelling. I wasn’t sure what to expect but this movie definitely surpassed anything I could have imagined.
The story was inspired by Belgium’s real-life Butcher of Mons. However, this is very clearly only the starting point of the story told in this film. It takes on a life entirely of its own.
This new Belgian horror movie is both terrifying and amazing. If you don’t care for realistic depictions of violence, then this is not for you. But really, you should definitely watch it if you enjoy genre movies and can appreciate stories told in a more realistic vein.
Megalomaniac is having its world premiere at Fantasia 2022.
