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Inside (2007)
Unrelenting…Frightening
Directed By: Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury
Starring: Béatrice Dalle & Alysson Paradis
MPAA Rating: “Unrated”
Here it is...the film that has been applauded, praised, and hyped more than any other horror film in the past decade. John Fallon of Arrow in the Head called it the best film of 2007 and called it “the most rewarding horror film that I’ve seen in the last 5 years.” Because I truly respect Fallon (and the entire crew at Joblo), I was anticipating Inside, a French horror film from first-time directors Bustillo and Maury, more than I really wanted to admit to myself. It’s difficult to put the anticipation and excitement aside when it becomes time to write an honest review, but it is necessary in order to avoid over-hyping a project. With all of that crammed into my mind, I sat down to watch Inside and, to be very honest, I had a blast.
The plot here is simple, but the execution is complex and perhaps brilliant. A very pregnant Sarah (Paradis), who is in fact scheduled to give birth the following morning, is stalked and brutally attacked by a sadistic woman (Dalle) who seems to want Sarah’s unborn child. Over the course of the night, the two women engage in a bloody battle for dominance, while anyone else that comes to Sarah’s aide finds themselves impaled, stabbed, or otherwise deceased. Bustillo and Maury really push the plot to the next level by maximizing on the pregnancy of Sarah, using it to heighten the emotional (and even the physical) battle between the two women. Sarah, of course, has more desperation to fight for she is also fighting for her child, but the shadowy woman who wants to kill Sarah only has this desire in order to obtain that same child. It makes the violence more brutal, the struggle more desperate, and the entire situation far more horrific.
People often claim that the horror genre is quickly heading towards a mass exodus from American cinemas, much like what happened after the over-saturation in the late eighties. Unless it is a sequel or a PG-13 remake aimed solely at teenagers (ala Prom Night), horror films do not seem to have much of a chance with audiences...especially if they are bleak, blood-soaked, and violent films that are filled with darkness rather than the cheesy slasher fare. For a certain time, the so-called torture porn subgenre (which was furthered by the likes of Eli Roth) seemed like a new rejuvenation of the genre, like Scream was in the nineties. However, that proved to be a quickly-dying breed, one that started out about as shocking as it could get and only grew more and more tame (or more and more desperate).
Inside is not a film about physical torture and it isn’t a remake and it isn’t aimed at teenagers. Based solely on the public opinion of horror, it was perhaps destined to be ignored by general audiences, destined to go directly to DVD and be seen only by the most devout horror enthusiasts. However, no matter what state the horror genre may be in, Inside was never intended for anyone other than horror lovers. Here is a film that is so shockingly violent, so brutally gruesome, and excruciatingly torturous that it almost transcends the horror genre into something that may resemble vintage Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson except without the humor and with extreme darkness. The violence is over-the-top, perhaps even implausible but it is played out with sheer seriousness. We watch blood spray, intestines fly, and even (in a dream sequence) an infant explode from a woman’s mouth...and yet never does it seem cheesy or humorous. Here is a film that is so utterly amazing and so bloody brilliant that it begs to be seen, to be experienced...but be warned: this is for sincere horror hounds only.
The plot here is simple, but the execution is complex and perhaps brilliant. A very pregnant Sarah (Paradis), who is in fact scheduled to give birth the following morning, is stalked and brutally attacked by a sadistic woman (Dalle) who seems to want Sarah’s unborn child. Over the course of the night, the two women engage in a bloody battle for dominance, while anyone else that comes to Sarah’s aide finds themselves impaled, stabbed, or otherwise deceased. Bustillo and Maury really push the plot to the next level by maximizing on the pregnancy of Sarah, using it to heighten the emotional (and even the physical) battle between the two women. Sarah, of course, has more desperation to fight for she is also fighting for her child, but the shadowy woman who wants to kill Sarah only has this desire in order to obtain that same child. It makes the violence more brutal, the struggle more desperate, and the entire situation far more horrific.
People often claim that the horror genre is quickly heading towards a mass exodus from American cinemas, much like what happened after the over-saturation in the late eighties. Unless it is a sequel or a PG-13 remake aimed solely at teenagers (ala Prom Night), horror films do not seem to have much of a chance with audiences...especially if they are bleak, blood-soaked, and violent films that are filled with darkness rather than the cheesy slasher fare. For a certain time, the so-called torture porn subgenre (which was furthered by the likes of Eli Roth) seemed like a new rejuvenation of the genre, like Scream was in the nineties. However, that proved to be a quickly-dying breed, one that started out about as shocking as it could get and only grew more and more tame (or more and more desperate).
Inside is not a film about physical torture and it isn’t a remake and it isn’t aimed at teenagers. Based solely on the public opinion of horror, it was perhaps destined to be ignored by general audiences, destined to go directly to DVD and be seen only by the most devout horror enthusiasts. However, no matter what state the horror genre may be in, Inside was never intended for anyone other than horror lovers. Here is a film that is so shockingly violent, so brutally gruesome, and excruciatingly torturous that it almost transcends the horror genre into something that may resemble vintage Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson except without the humor and with extreme darkness. The violence is over-the-top, perhaps even implausible but it is played out with sheer seriousness. We watch blood spray, intestines fly, and even (in a dream sequence) an infant explode from a woman’s mouth...and yet never does it seem cheesy or humorous. Here is a film that is so utterly amazing and so bloody brilliant that it begs to be seen, to be experienced...but be warned: this is for sincere horror hounds only.
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