Thanks to a last-minute technical problem, a dangerous and violent forger escapes execution by the guillotine. In fact he escapes so thoroughly that he disappears completely. A police inspector sent to catch the fugitive arrives in what seems like a pleasant old town. Much to his surprise, he discovers that the whole town lives in fear, since it believes it is being attacked by an ancient monster...

"La grande frousse" lies at the crossroads between various genres : thriller, comedy and fantasy/horror. It's a very unusual work with a uniquely poetic and dreamlike quality.

As a movie, it too disjointed, whimsical and uneven to be a success, but at least it's an interesting failure which delivers some memorably surreal moments. The cast is good and one rather gets the impression that the various actors liked the opportunity to play a truly weird or eccentric character.

The movie is based on a novel by Raymond Jean de Kremer, who was a compatriot of mine. (I've never read the novel, but I'm familiar with a lot of his other work.) De Kremer, who was blessed with the gift of tongues, wrote both in Dutch and in French, under a variety of pseudonyms such as "John Flanders" or "Jean Ray". As a prolific author he wrote his share of drivel, but his best work, such as "Malpertuis", is seriously psychedelic, unsettling or macabre.

Raymond Jean de Kremer seems to have led an unusually interesting life, although he was so good at spinning tales that even professional historians find it difficult to separate fact from fiction. If you like the horror/fantasy genre and if you are interested in learning Dutch or French, you can do worse than read some of his work.