Le Pharmacien De Garde (2003)

This French serial killer entry gives a chilling new meaning to the term “green militancy”, taking the idea that dedicated Greens can develop a very nasty edge when it comes to grinding their axe in support of the cause.

The film presents its serial killer as a Green pushed to the extreme by his relentless, obsessive pursuit of that cause – ridding the world of polluting scum such as tobacco conglomerates and the faces of cosmetics firms using animals to test their garish products. Our madman is a charismatic pharmacist (by day!) who has set his killer plan in motion to devastating effect as corpses start appearing all over Paris. The deaths are caused by wildly exotic cocktails of deadly potions diligently prepared by the green psycho in his ecological haven – a lab built in an elaborate basement in the heart of Brittany, an area he eventually hopes to develop into a sanctuary from all things artificial.

Basically, it’s the classic serial killer motive of ridding the world of “scum”, but where one would normally associate the term with prostitutes, pimps, paedophiles and drug lords, this time it is not a sexual motive driving the urge. Instead, it’s a desire to cleanse and purge the world of modern-day power players bent on turning their backs on nature for a fast buck.

The troubled cop floundering on the killer’s trail is himself viciously opposed to the ecological breakdown being wrought by money-minting corporations and has his own demons to exorcise along the way – a miserably failed romance being just one of them. His psychological problems cloud his ability to focus on the case, and he remains continuously three or more steps behind the wild-eyed and canny killer, constantly having to play catch-up.

The movie never really manages to get beyond second gear and the tension never rises beyond a certain level. The killings are novel enough but often appear outlandish and highly implausible, especially the occasion when our bristling, environmentally obsessed lunatic dispatches a posse of CGI butterflies through the Paris skies – deadly butterflies trained and honed to perfection to achieve their hideous ends with chilling precision. Rather than feel any horror at the unfolding mayhem caused by the killer butterflies, one ends up stifling a major giggling fit.

The film is not entirely silly, though, and manages to entertain up to a point, but it is never gripping enough or plausible enough to offer any real tension or horror. The acting is hammy, with the killer going especially overboard, almost bordering on camp. A French “green” twist on the Se7en formula, this film ultimately fails to convince, scare or thrill.