My Rating: 4/5 STARS
MovieStudio Quote >> “Horrific and Gory, truly a bloody disastrous film – Wonderful!”
Part of the onslaught of grim, new millennium French horror films including HIGH TENSION (2003), THEM (2006) and INSIDE (2007), FRONTIER(S) is a punishing TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE-inspired tale… Part of the onslaught of grim, new millennium French horror films including HIGH TENSION (2003), THEM (2006) and INSIDE (2007), FRONTIER(S) is a punishing TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE-inspired tale intended for viewers who like an extra side of gore with their scares.
Initially intended to be released as part of the 2007 Afterdark Horrorfest, FRONTIERE(S) was dropped after being refused an R-rating by the MPAA due to extreme violence. Xavier Gens’s uncompromising vision of backwoods brutality is definitely painted with several shades of crimson. Amidst 2002 elections that see a conservative regime taking control of France, riots rage in Paris. A gang of young thieves sees the tumult as a good chance to pull off a heist, but one of their own is fatally wounded in a scuffle with a police officer.
The four remaining members of the group pair off and retreat to a remote country hotel, run by a family of cannibal neo-Nazis led by uniformed patriarch Le Von Geisler (Jean-Pierre Jorris). Separated from her fellow thieves, lone female gang member Yasmine (Karina Testa) finds herself alone in the fight against the sinister family–who want her unborn baby to help reverse the effects of years of inbreeding. More than just a collection of grisly set pieces, FRONTIER(S) is enriched by a left-wing political subtext that attempts to give some meaning to the film’s displays of man’s inhumanity to man.
Regardless of reason, the gore sequences are elaborate and well executed. Characters are dispatched by shotgun to the head, steam chamber, and table saw, and one particularly excruciating scene will inspire many viewers to keep a close watch on their Achilles tendons. The cruel vision of Gens (HITMAN) is yet another strong argument for France as a dominating power in the world of horror.
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