|
RATING |
| 8 |
| DIRECTOR |
| Xavier Gens |
| CAST |
Maud Forget
Samuel Le Bihan
Estelle Lefébure
Patrick Ligardes
David Saracino
Karina Testa
Aurélien Wiik |
YEAR |
| 2008 |
RUNTIME |
| 108 minutes |
DATE REVIEWED |
| 4 / 03 / 08 |
SHOPPING |
| BUY THIS FILM |
| REVIEWER: FrighT MasteR |
|
RATE THIS MOVIE:
|
RATED BY:
41 FAN(S) |
CURRENT RATING:
8.71 SKULL(S)
|
  |
|
Frontier(s)
Once again, we have to look to foreign countries for quality horror now-a-days. With Hollywood so fixated on remakes and sequels, it's a breath of fresh air to see that a solid ballsy horror flick can still exist. Before director Xavier Gens (Hitman) tackled game-to-film adaptations, he took all of what we loved from the genre and blended it into a little film called Frontier(s). Borrowing mostly from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the movie successfully manages to put all the copycats to shame.
The film is by no means original, but they managed to take all the stereotypes and clichés and used them to their advantage. The story is set in an alternate France, where a hated political figure quickly rises among the ranks, leading to protest and rioting in the city, eventually turning everyone to violence and anarchy. A group of looters attempt to seek refuge at an old Inn located out of the city limits, but before they can get cozy, they end up having to fend off against the owners, who happen to be neo-Nazi cannibals. Yup, not only are they violent racists, but they love to eat that tender human flesh as well.
After Dark Films was originally going to release this as part of their horror fest lineup this past November, but since the film got slapped with an NC-17 rating, they decided to give it a separate limited theatrical release instead, before inevitably hitting DVD. These guys aren't stupid, they knew if they trimmed the violence and gore to get an R-rating that the flick wouldn't be half as affective as it is. With obvious inspiration from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the movie also borrows from other favorites like The Descent (with the use of the night vision) and even The People Under the Stairs (with "the children").
The first half of the flick is the most affective, offering some fairly creepy scenes and tense situations, while the remaining is all about the action and the survivors trying to get away. Towards the end it even turned into somewhat of an action flick, with its use of all the automatic weapons. Although the movie still pales in comparison to Inside in terms of gore, it still manages to dish out some pretty bloody sequences. It just goes to show that even when a film is unoriginal, if the delivery is effective-enough, it won't even matter if we've seen it all before.
OVERALL
This is not one to be missed. Lots of blood, good gore, grisly deaths, and plenty of violence. The movie successfully blends what we love in the genre and delivers a movie that puts all the TCM wannabes and much of mainstream horror to shame. Check this out.
|
|
Basically a TCM meets High Tension. 3/4th of the film is nothing we haven't seen before, nothing original or stands out. But the ending is the shining moment in the film and thats where the High Tension feeling comes to me. But too many times, was the leading actress on ground and a villain has her dead to rights and something "happens" and our actress is able to take the upper hand. Happen too many times and was played out.
The gore was awesome.
Overall good movie. 7 out of 10