2007
Horror
France
R4 DVD
Madman Entertainment
Reviewer: Bob Estreich
The French film industry has started developing a horror and gore film
genre of their own in recent years, and this is a very competent product of the
new wave.
A new, very right-wing President has just been elected. There is rioting
in the streets of Paris which is ruthlessly suppressed by the Police. Yasmine
(Karina Testa), her brother and a couple of friends are involved in a robbery,
but get caught up in the rioting. They are fleeing the police when Yasmine’s
brother is shot. She and one of the gang take her dying brother to hospital,
but must flee as the police come to question them.
The other two have fled for the Dutch border with a large amount of
money. They have stopped overnight at a remote motel. They are distracted by
the owner’s sexy daughters Gilberte and Klaudia, but notice during dinner that
there is something very strange going on. Things turn nasty. The ex-Nazi German
owner’s family and the local policeman have some sort of deal going. They prey
on travelers, both for the loot and for cannibalism. Tom is brutally bashed and
it is left to the other boy, Farid, to save them. They are captured and
imprisoned in an old mine. It appears to be infested with some sort of terribly
mutated humanoids.
Meanwhile Yasmine and her friend have also left Paris and headed for the
Dutch border, and they have reached the same motel. When confronted by the
family, they try to leave, but are taken prisoner. The father announces that
Yasmine will be used to breed with one of the family’s sons. Her friend will be
fed to the pigs or the mutants. He has been hamstrung to stop him escaping
until they are ready to butcher him. Yasmine, however, manages to dig her way
out of the cell. Farid has escaped again, and has found Tom’s body strung up
ready to be butchered. Although he was the weakest of the group, he is now
starting to find an inner strength in the need for survival. Will it be enough
to save him and the others?
Yasmine is recaptured by one of the brothers. Will she survive? There
are conflicts within the family – can she exploit these? The finale is bloody
and the outcome unexpected.
Director Xavier Jens keeps the tension high right through the film. The
political substory is really just a sideplay, leaving a cold barebones horror
plot with a lot of opportunities for the actors to give their best. There are
many clichés in this film – such as the runaway saved by the traveler in the
car, who turns out to be one of THEM – but it’s all done so well that you can
excuse this and enjoy the film. It starts in a fairly quiet but menacing way,
but by the end of the story there is as much gore as you could want. Jens has
shown restraint though. Rather than buckets of blood continuing ad nauseum, the
splatter only goes on sufficiently to support the plot. Unlike many U.S. films
of this genre, the plot is more important than the blood. This gives the film a
quality feel. If you like films of this genre, this one is a must.
Frontiers is part of the new Asylum range
from Madman Entertainment and us presented in French, with clear
subtitles offered in yellow over black.
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.3
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
If you came to this page directly (and
missed our menu), click here
to go to the Synergy Magazine front page. (http://www.synergy-magazine.com)