Belgian director Karim Ouelhaj turns horror toward inheritance and control in Megalomaniac, a 2023 feature built around the weight patriarchal legacy leaves behind.
What is Megalomaniac about?
Megalomaniac follows the fallout of a family shaped by patriarchal authority, using horror's tools to examine how that inheritance is passed down and resisted. Eline Schumacher and Benjamin Ramon lead a cast that includes Wim Willaert, Pierre Nisse, Raphaëlle Lubansu, Quentin Lasbazeilles, Olivier Picard, and Catherine Jandrain. Karim Ouelhaj frames the film around what its premise calls an illusion of Manichaeism — the comforting idea that good and evil sort cleanly into separate people — and lets the horror genre pressure-test that idea rather than confirm it. Rather than a conventional plot summary, the film reads as a study of control and its aftermath, with Belgium's genre film scene providing the backdrop for Ouelhaj's approach to inherited violence.
About the cast
Eline Schumacher and Benjamin Ramon take the leads, supported by Wim Willaert, Pierre Nisse, Raphaëlle Lubansu, Quentin Lasbazeilles, Olivier Picard, and Catherine Jandrain in Karim Ouelhaj's ensemble.
Context & significance
Megalomaniac is a Belgian production released in 2023 and runs 118 minutes, sitting within the country's horror tradition of using genre conventions to probe social structures rather than deliver straightforward scares. Karim Ouelhaj directs, and the film's thematic focus on patriarchy and moral duality places it closer to art-horror than mainstream genre fare, favoring dread and atmosphere built around a single household over jump scares spread across a wider cast. Belgium's genre output has built a reputation for this kind of slow, socially pointed horror, and Megalomaniac's 118-minute runtime gives Ouelhaj room to let that dread accumulate rather than resolve quickly.
Watching Megalomaniac on Ktime
Megalomaniac streams on K-Time with both Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, giving Farsi-speaking viewers full access to Ouelhaj's Belgian horror feature in whichever format they prefer. Watching requires a free K-Time account login; the film's page itself is open to read without signing in, and the platform is built around a Farsi-first experience for Iranian diaspora audiences who want genre cinema alongside Persian-language titles.