Maldoror: Fabrice du Welz directs thriller compared to Zodiac

Filmmaker Fabrice du Welz, director of the horror films Calvaire, Vinyan, and Alleluia, will be dealing with dark subject matter once again in his next film, Maldoror. Producer Jean-Yves Roubin of Frakas Production describes the project as “a mix of thriller and film noir in a similar vein to David Fincher’s Zodiac“.

Like Zodiac, Maldoror was inspired by a true story. In this case, the inspiration was a “notorious crime case that shook Belgium in the 1990s, known as the Affaire Dutroux. Marc Dutroux was a convicted Belgian serial killer, rapist, and child molester who was sentenced to life in prison in 1996.” According to Roubin, the film will revolve around the cop who was tracking Dutroux, but du Welz has fictionalized the character. The synopsis says this fictional cop is

Paul Chartier, a young policeman who became obsessed with a case involving a notorious child abuser after coming close to catching him.

Benoit Poelvoorde, who worked with du Welz on the thriller Inexorable, is already attached to play a role in Maldoror. The writer/director is currently finishing the screenplay, and the project is expected to go into production next year.

Roubin told Variety,

We love elevated genre films that ruffle feathers; no wonder our company is named Frakas (which means a rough quarrel).”

In addition to the films mentioned above, du Welz has also directed the action movie Colt 45, the Chadwick Boseman film Message from the King, and the thriller Adoration.

Calvaire is the only du Welz movie I have seen this point, and I wasn’t a fan simply because it was too twisted, nasty, and dirty for my taste. Seeing the variety of projects du Welz has worked on over the course of his career has me interested in seeking out some of his other films now to see if I like them better than Calvaire.

Roubin co-produced Raw director Julia Ducournau’s “surreal, ultraviolent serial-killer thriller” Titane, which has a US release date of October 1st.