Submitted by Lurple on 08/28/08
Sadistic, vicious, and nasty, À l'intérieur is a French horror film that is bound to be a cult classic. Even seasoned extreme cinema fans will likely find a scene or two here that will make them uncomfortable.
After the opening sequence, the movie gets off to a somewhat slow start that may have you questioning things you've heard about the film. Don't worry; this is one of those surprisingly rare horror films where someone decided it would be a good idea to build a slight amount of emotional attachment to the main character (or at least interest in what's going on) before proceeding straight to the bloodletting. It's a smart choice.
Sarah lost her husband in a car accident and is now facing Christmas pregnant and alone, about to deliver at any time. She's a tough cookie though, and the movie doesn't try to drown us in melodrama about her loss. She's hurting, but she's a survivor.
Unfortunately spending Christmas eve quietly doesn't go as planned. An extremely creepy visitor shows up and starts harrassing her for reasons unexplained. What starts off as something that could be just a prank quickly ratchets up to some of the most disturbing stuff I've seen in a movie, period. Given its short length and relatively small cast, À l'intérieur has a staggering level of violence and gore.
I watched the movie alone and was left feeling a little bit stunned by a few scenes in particular. I'm no stranger to extreme cinema, but À l'intérieur takes specific kinds of violence to a level I haven't seen before. It's very effective at being shocking. I screened the movie for some friends who claimed to find Ichi the Killer "amusing", and when it was finished the room was completely silent. They just didn't know what to say.
So, is À l'intérieur good? Absolutely. Should you watch it? If you're looking for something disturbing and very gory, quite possibly. If you're pregnant or fond of someone who is you may want to steer clear.
This time you were faster.
This time you were faster. I'm planning on seeing this soon, too, but your review confirms what I suspected: I'll have to be in a very specific mood to watch it.
I'd be interested to know where the new(ish) of love of French film-makers for extreme horror and violence comes from. It can't be the success of Haute Tension (which I found annoying) alone.
It's definitely not a movie
It's definitely not a movie for a happy fun night. I'd actually watched it a while back and just hadn't gotten around to publishing this review yet. We had a short discussion about it over at Cinema Suicide and I found it interesting to read other people's reactions.
I'm really not sure what happened to spur the French into making such violent films. I'm going to try to catch the French film Martyrs at TIFF:
"Destined to become one of the most controversial titles in the history of Midnight Madness, Pascal Laugier's Martyrs sparked a protest by France's Society of Film Directors after the Film Commission gave it a harsh 18+ rating (the first time such a designation was applied to a French genre film), which practically amounts to an outright ban. If you choose to see what the fuss is about, brace yourself.
Martyrs is a visceral and deeply disturbing exploration of what it is like to experience the furthest limits of human endurance. While many genre pundits immediately compare the two films, last year's French shocker À l'intérieur is an amusement park ride compared to the effect of the brass-knuckled sucker punch thrown by Martyrs."
I don't see how that's even possible.
Huh. Well if it really is I'm
Huh. Well if it really is I'm quite interested in hearing from you about it. As long as they don't go the Cannibal Holocaust way and torture animals to death...
New wave of french horror
I think the French make good horror because they go over the top on their violence (as I think most non super duper violent countries do....see Japan)
American horror doesn't even desire to go into this territory as we always have to "think of the children".
Inside is so sadistic that it gets into a horror version of magical realism.
Kudos to the French for making me a happy horror dude
Having seen Martyrs (you can
Having seen Martyrs (you can read my review over at Cinema Suicide), I found À l'intérieur to be the more disturbing of the two films. Not that Martyrs was something I'd call an amusement park ride.
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