For anyone who's been even remotely paying attention to the more recent releases of the American horror community, the scene is grim--Remakes of remakes, Americanized J-horror, and even remakes of movies that haven't even finished filming (COUGH COUGH QUARANTINE COUGH) have been the name of the game. The name of the game has also been "Suck". As in "These movies suck". Or "Hey Joel, bet you can't suck this cucumber through this hose". Poor Joel, he was always so gullible.
As such, the hopes and dreams of horror movie buffs such as myself lie squarely on the shoulders of the foreign markets. In this particular case, the shoulders are drooped in disgust for the outside world and smell vaguely of cheese and tobacco. That is, the shoulders are French (please don't kill me France, I love your movies!). And so we turn our eyes to Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, with their first ever movie--Inside. Following the tale of a young pregnant woman held hostage in her own home by a mysterious black-clad attacker, Inside gives the viewer a choice that not many movies do. It's not easy to sway the audience away from the side of a female victim, nonetheless a pregnant one. Yet Inside asks the viewer to watch closely and, by the end, question the justification of a clearly psychotic and tremendously violent woman. Like Hard Candy (see previous review), the "correct" side is ambiguous.
The French DVD Box
I have to admit, just looking at the box screams "mediocre B-grade film project". But hey, I've seen some damn good B-grade film projects (COUGH COUGH EVIL DEAD COUGH), so I press on. I had heard that the movie was good. Damn good. Frenchly good. I had also heard it was violent. And not in the "oh cool a guy got his arm cut off" way, the "I think I just learned with the inside of a spleen looks like" way. So I have to admit I came in with higher expectations that I normal like to have for a movie. I was not disappointed.
Inside is a masterful movie. It's not quite the obscene torture porn of Hostel, yet definitely not a tame movie. All of the effects are practical and unrelenting in their depiction. It's been quite a while since I've watched a movie that's made me uncomfortable, let alone kept me uncomfortable for the entire run. Yet it never pushed into the realm of gratuitous that so often ruins films like this. The film pays homage to old-school slashers like Black Christmas and Halloween by keeping the action contained in a cramped, claustrophobic setting. A majority of the movie never leaves the heroine's house.
Definitely not a movie for everyone, Inside will test your mettle in terms of gore. It doesn't rely on oceans of blood and guts to keep itself afloat, however. The film uses tension and suspense to keep the viewer constantly unsettled, yet never pushes the movie into the realm of ridiculous. If you are sick of remakes and want something new and intense to sink your teeth into, Inside is a good place to start.
Grade: A
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