Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
When a dance troupe is lured to an empty school, a bowl of drug-laced sangria causes their jubilant rehearsal to descend into a dark and explosive nightmare as they try to survive the night—and find who's responsible—before it's too late.
Gaspar Noé's Climax is a singular, visceral experience — a one-of-a-kind descent into collective psychosis that is immediately recognizable as his work. The cinematography is genuinely exceptional: extended, hypnotic tracking shots, disorienting camera rotations, and lurid neon lighting create an immersive hallucinatory atmosphere almost unmatched in recent cinema. Novelty is equally high — the film's fusion of dance performance, horror, and surrealist chaos is utterly distinctive in conception and execution. Acting is above average given that most performers are real dancers rather than trained actors, and their naturalistic, often improvised performances lend raw authenticity to the escalating terror. The plot is thin by design — essentially a premise that dissolves into pure sensation — which limits its narrative merit. The ending, while tonally consistent, offers little resolution or payoff beyond continued nihilistic suffering, making it effective but not especially memorable as a conclusion.