Lockdown Tower
| Lockdown Tower | |
|---|---|
 Cast and crew at the 2023 Gérardmer Film Festival | |
| Directed by | Guillaume Nicloux |
| Written by | Guillaume Nicloux |
| Produced by | Sylvie Pialat Bruno Nahon |
| Starring | Angèle Mac Hatik Ahmed Abdel-Laoui |
| Cinematography | Christophe Offenstein |
| Edited by | Guy Lecorne |
| Music by | Tim Hecker |
Production companies | Les Films du Worso Unité |
| Distributed by | Wild Bunch (France) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Lockdown Tower (French: La Tour; released in the United Kingdom as The Tower) is a 2022 French horror film written and directed by Guillaume Nicloux. It stars Angèle Mac, Hatik and Ahmed Abdel-Laoui. The film follows the residents of a high-rise apartment building who find themselves trapped when a black substance covers its doors and windows and destroys anything attempting to pass through it.[1][2]
The film had its world premiere at the Deauville American Film Festival on 3 September 2022 and opened in French cinemas on 8 February 2023.[3][1][4]
Plot
[edit]The residents of a high-rise apartment building wake up to find that all the exits and windows are covered by a black substance. Anyone who attempts to pass through it is killed.
Unable to leave, the residents organize into groups to manage their supplies. As months and then years pass without any change to their situation, the groups begin fighting over food and territory. Conditions inside the building deteriorate, and the struggle for survival becomes increasingly violent.[5][2]
Cast
[edit]- Angèle Mac as Assitan
- Hatik as Ahmed
- Ahmed Abdel-Laoui as Chakib
- Kylian Larmonie as Duma
- Merveille Nsombi as Mansour
- Nicolas Pignon as François
- Igor Kovalsky as Jordan
- Marie Rémond as Audrey
- Judith Williquet as Ingrid
- Modeste Nzapassara as Mathéo
- Coline Béal as Mélanie
- Lina-Camélia Lumbroso as Shakira[6]
Production
[edit]The project was originally titled La Tour d'Assitan. In December 2020, it was one of three projects awarded €500,000 each through the National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image's genre-film funding programme. It was produced by Sylvie Pialat for Les Films du Worso and Bruno Nahon for Unité.[7]
Nicloux said that he had conceived the premise before the COVID-19 lockdowns, but began writing the screenplay during the lockdown period.[8]
Filming took place in May 2021 in a disused tower block at the Fort d'Aubervilliers site in Aubervilliers, near Paris.[4] Nicloux said that the production reconstructed twenty apartments inside the empty building. The score was composed by Canadian musician Tim Hecker.[8]
Release
[edit]Lockdown Tower was shown in the Fenêtre sur le cinéma français programme at the 2022 Deauville American Film Festival, outside the main competition.[3][4] It was subsequently selected for the official competitions of the 2022 Sitges Film Festival and Rome Film Fest, and for the 2023 Gérardmer Film Festival. It was also screened in the Harbour section of the 2023 International Film Festival Rotterdam.[1][9][5]
Wild Bunch distributed the film in France, where it opened on 8 February 2023.[9][1] It was released on digital platforms in the United Kingdom under the title The Tower on 25 September 2023.[2]
Reception
[edit]Jacques Mandelbaum of Le Monde recommended the film, describing its supernatural premise as a basis for both a metaphysical horror story and a social allegory about the abandonment of residents of French housing estates.[10] Jacques Morice of Télérama praised the film's frightening, visually striking setting, while finding the performances uneven.[11]
Michel Valentin of Le Parisien gave the film three out of five stars. He noted inconsistencies in the survival scenario and the lack of a sympathetic central character, but credited the film with enough developments to sustain interest.[12] Thierry Chèze of Première praised the opening premise but found much of the subsequent narrative repetitive.[13]
Cath Clarke of The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars. She questioned details of the scenario and found its depiction of human behaviour unrelentingly bleak.[2]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 "Lockdown Tower". Unifrance. Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Clarke, Cath (19 September 2023). "The Tower review – apocalyptic lockdown horror goes into the dark, deadly void". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- 1 2 "2022". Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- 1 2 3 Morice, Jacques (3 September 2022). "Sur le tournage de « La Tour », le survival horrifique de Guillaume Nicloux projeté au Festival de Deauville". Télérama (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- 1 2 "La tour". International Film Festival Rotterdam. 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- ↑ "Casting du film La Tour". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- ↑ Lemercier, Fabien (7 December 2020). "La Tour de Guillaume Nicloux pour l'aide au cinéma de genre". Cineuropa (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- 1 2 Rauger, Jean-François (11 February 2023). "Guillaume Nicloux, réalisateur de « La Tour » : « Je montre tout ce qui me fait peur »". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- 1 2 "La Tour". Gérardmer International Fantastic Film Festival. 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- ↑ Mandelbaum, Jacques (8 February 2023). "« La Tour » : un horrifique récit de survie dans une cité coupée du monde". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- ↑ Morice, Jacques (6 February 2023). "« La Tour », film d'horreur très réaliste de Guillaume Nicloux". Télérama (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- ↑ Valentin, Michel (7 February 2023). "« La Tour » infernale, le film d'horreur fantastique de Guillaume Nicloux". Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2026.
- ↑ Chèze, Thierry. "La Tour". Première (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2026.