HORROR 101 with Dr. AC: BELGIAN HORROR: LEFT BANK (LINKEROEVER) (2008) and CUB (WELP) (2014)

LEFT BANK (aka LINKEROEVER) (2008) d. Pieter Van Hees (Belgium)
CUB (aka WELP) (2014) d. Jonas Govaerts (Belgium)

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Tonight’s double feature takes us across the ocean to Belgium, a land renowned for lace, beer, chocolate, waffles, and a small but notable number of horror titles, including two films we’re going to be discussing tonight: Pieter Van Hees’ LEFT BANK from 2008 and Jonas Govaerts’ CUB (aka WELP) from 2014.

In Left Bank, Olympic-caliber track runner Marie (Eline Kuppens, in her screen debut) is sidelined due to a case of severe anemia, causing her to spiral into a deep depression until she begins a fiery affair with champion archer Bobby (Matthias Schoenaerts, Rust and Bone, The Danish Girl). Upon moving in with her new paramour, she gradually becomes aware of his apartment building’s mysterious and sinister past, as well as being increasingly haunted by surreal nightmare visions.

Cub (full Blu-ray review HERE) sees a group of scouts heading off for an outing in the Ardenen mountains (Wallonia, the southeast section of Belgium, along the French border). As with any assembly of lads, there are alliances and enemies, but young Sam (Maurice Luijten) is the clear outcast of the bunch. To exacerbate matters, Sam catches sight of what he believes to be campfire legend “Kai,” a feral lycanthrope-like youth residing in the woods, preying upon interlopers. Is Kai real, or is Sam’s overactive imagination leading to madness? More importantly, who’s setting all the intricate (and lethal) booby-traps in the woods?

AC is joined once again in the studio by good friends and local Brussels dwellers, filmmaker Gert Verbeeck (ATP, Sharksploitation) and author/editor Vanessa Morgan (When Animals Attack, Evil Seeds) to chat about their countrymen’s noble efforts. (Special editing credit to Gert for this episode as well!!)