Rent Hell Hath No Fury (2021)

Hell Hath No Fury (aka Ave Marie) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Hell Hath No Fury feels as though somebody read up on World War II and wanted to make a more exciting yet surreal take on the conflict of nations. You can feel a definite horror inspiration of classic tales of terrors and not just for the film is primarily set within a graveyard. As strange as it may sound, this picture has the feel of a Quentin Tarantino picture but without as much camp and far more darkness. The result is a surprisingly intense and thrilling war picture.

Marie DuJardin was a French national who finds herself going deep undercover. She forms a relationship with a Nazi during the war to get close to a supply of gold. Her cover is maintained well right up until she tries to reconnect with the French resistance during an ambush. The incident leads to Marie being branded a traitor and forced into a concentration camp. She is liberated by American soldiers but at a price. The American soldiers will only keep her alive if she can reveal where she has stashed the gold within a graveyard. She agrees to those terms but the graveyard situation grows complicated when secret French resistance fighters are present as well.

There are a few tones that this contained thriller takes. There’s some solid action when shootouts spring forth at the graveyard, leading to Americans, Nazis, and French fighters engaging in brutal battles. There’s great suspense and steaminess to how Marie tries to maintain her cover and continue to spin lies to keep herself alive during dangerous times. There’s even some surrealness with how once French fighter is haunted by the ghost of his dead comrade as he crawls through the underground tunnels for cover.

The variation in how this story proceeds keep it fairly fresh. Just when we settle into a scene of American soldiers showing off how hideous they can become when addressing the French, we get a somber reflection of Marie’s convictions. Nail-biting suspense can come in either the form of standoff amid bullets or the soldiers torturing Marie by shooting skulls off her head until she talks. The climax feels more akin to a war movie with a brutal showdown of allies and axis but is thankfully used sparingly. For as neat as the final fight appears, it’s clear they run out of sound effects, gunfire, stabbing, and explosions to showcase about halfway through the carnage.

Hell Hath No Fury has just enough grit and surprises to linger longer than it would as a short story or an issue of some horror comic. The narrative flows well enough and the action is staged well enough to be pleasing. The highlight of this picture is by far Nina Bergman playing Marie as a hairless and bloody mess, kicking ass in a negligee. Watching her shoot and stab her way to freedom amid national tensions makes for a great look. It’s also pretty neat to have her textual epilogue displayed as she walks away from a bombed graveyard, her face bruised and her body bloodied. It’s a slightly exaggerated war picture that stands out for being loaded with thrills bold enough to stick out from the endless salvo of bloodier WWII movies.