Saloum (2022)

Streaming Service: Shudder
Movie Name/Year: Saloum (2022)
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Length: 1h 24min
Rating: Unrated
Production/Distribution: Lacmé, Rumble Fish Productions, Tableland Pictures, Ev.L Prod
Director: Jean Luc Herbulot              
Writer: Jean Luc Herbulot, Pamela Diop
Actors: Yann Gael, Evelyne Ily Juhen, Roger Sallah, Mento Ba, Bruno Henry, Marielle Salmier, Babacar Oualy, Ndiaga Mbow, Cannabasse, Renaud Farah
 
Blurb from IMDb: 2003, three mercenaries extracting a druglord out of Guinea-Bissau are forced to hide in the mystical region of Saloum, Senegal.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
I was excited for Saloum. I’ve never seen a Senegalese film, so I knew I was about to see something completely new to me.
 
Whenever you delve into the cinema of a different culture, you can’t possibly know what to expect. Culture greatly influences movies because it involves different perspectives. A filmmaker from the USA will not have the same experiences to draw from as one from Africa would. That means there are different tropes in play and different forms of interaction.
 
When Saloum got started, I thought it was going to go down a gangster/heist route, and I couldn’t have been more wrong. It switched sub-genres at one point, and I never had any clue what was going to happen next.
 

Everything flowed so smoothly, though. The mid-flick flip didn’t feel forced or out of place at all. In fact, I forgot I was reading subtitles at times.
 
The dialogue was pure. The writers clearly had the right mindset to keep it realistic, even as the scenes grew more extreme. The characters, and the way they’re meant to be perceived, also changed throughout the flick. All of which was backed up by subtle foreshadowing.
 
I loved Saloum. It had a soul to it that many horror/thrillers just don’t have.
 
It’s not going to be for someone looking for easy scares and a turn-your-brain-off kind of night. It’s based around more elevated thrills. So, make sure you watch it when you have the concentration to give it the attention it deserves.

See it for yourself on Shudder, September 8th!
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 97%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – 76%
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 6.6/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 5/5
 
Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: R
 
Movie Trailer: