Rating of
3/4
Brutal And Creepy In Equal Measure
cockney0_1 - wrote on 07/02/09
Who'd have thought that nearly a decade into the new millennium France would be the main producer of quality gore movies? While Hollywood blindly stumbles on, churning out dull remakes and pointless sequels, our French brethren have been releasing some outstanding examples of how 'horror' should be done. 2002' 'Irreversible' and 2003's 'Haute Tension' arguably upped the stakes for what was acceptable to be shown on-screen, whilst 2007's 'Frontièr(s)' and last years 'Martyrs' overwhelmed audiences with relenting brutality in the case of the former, and an almost progressive style of filmmaking in the case of the latter. How does 'Inside' compare to these modern masterpieces? It actually falls somewhere between the last two, showcasing bludgeoning violence nailed to an intense ride of a story, all nicely wrapped up in some of the most atmospheric filmmaking since John Carpenter had an idea about killing babysitters.
It's difficult to say too much about the plot without giving too much away, but the basic premise is pretty simple. An expectant mother named Sarah (Alysson Paradis, sister of Vanessa) and her husband are involved in a car crash that kills the husband. On Christmas Eve, Sarah has a last scan before she is due to give birth the following day and returns home, where she will be collected the next morning by her boss, Jean-Pierre (François-Régis Marchasson), and taken to the hospital. That evening there is a knock at the door and a woman's voice asks to use the phone. When Sarah refuses to open the door and tries to call the visitor's bluff, the woman (Béatrice Dalle) reveals that she knows Sarah is alone in the house and tries to get in. Sarah manages to get a blurry photo of the woman and calls the police, as well as Jean-Pierre. After being unable to find anything untoward, the police promise Sarah that a night patrol will come and check on her in the night, unaware that the woman has managed to creep into the house already. Sarah goes to sleep but is awoken when the woman appears in her bedroom and tries to cut open Sarah's stomach with a pair of scissors. What plays out now is a cat and mouse game, with Sarah fighting for her and her baby's lifes against a seemingly unstoppable lunatic who is desperate to get her hands on Sarah's baby at all costs.
With more than a passing nod to the slasher movies of the late seventies/early eighties (especially 'Halloween'), 'Inside' is certainly an atmospheric movie; the use of shadows and lighting is pure John Carpenter, whilst the terror-filled performances of the two main leads is startlingly realistic. Newcomer directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury obviously know their stuff as, although there is nothing new in the style of filming and it all looks fairly familiar, this sort of 'creeping dread'-style movie is rarely done to this level of excellence. It is the subtle touches that are as important to the overall feel of the movie as well as the violence - the scene after the police have left and Sarah wakes up on the sofa is one of the creepiest cinematic moments of recent times. There are other subtleties that are thrown in - the baby being due on Christmas Day, Sarah giving Jean-Pierre a set of house keys, the police not being readily available due to riots, etc. - that, although in retrospect seem obvious, give the movie a sort of psychological edge; similar to, say, 'The Silence of the Lambs' or even 'The Sixth Sense', where there's lots of little visual and aural touches that may not give much to the plot at the time, but when the movie is reaching it's climax, they all add up to give the audience as much of a thrill as any scenes of action or brutality. Of course, though, most people are going to want to see this because of the gore, and there is plenty of it, especially as the movie reaches it's disturbing end. Although not as intelligent a film as 'Martyrs', it certainly is above the gratuitous gore and violence of 'Frontièr(s)', and what the audience gets to witness are some of the most realistic and sickening acts of savagery to have ever been seen in the movies. Unlike 'Martyrs', though, the ending isn't completely downbeat. Not what you may expect, but certainly better than the alternative - the last shot, although not what one could call satisfactory, is certainly one that will get etched on the brain.
As far as negatives go, the main point that resonates is the fact that Sarah is a fairly unlikeable character at the beginning of the movie. Maybe a deliberate move by Bustillo, who wrote the story, to make more of a contrast between a grieving mother-to-be who may not care about her baby as much as she should and the vulnerable victim who will go all out to protect her unborn child, as she is later on, but whatever the reason, she doesn't come across as a character you can relate to. And although this is a movie that will test the mettle of the most hardened gore freaks, it won't linger in your thoughts in the same way that 'Martyrs' stark imagery did.
Overall, 'Inside' is dark, creepy, gory, disturbing and shocking. It's well made and well acted, the story and effects kept within the barriers of realism and it's very uneasy to watch. Recently, as a trawl through some of the movie websites will reveal, there have been a lot of 'The Most Disturbing Horror Movies Ever'-type lists being put up on the forums, and 'Inside' is frequently featured. The most disturbing thing about it, however, are not the scenes of gore - if these were taken out the movie would still be effective, although maybe not as much - but rather the idea of what is happening. Young, sex-mad teens getting stalked by faceless zombie killers with axes and machetes makes audiences laugh, as do chainsaw-wielding rednecks and gipsy curses, but when the victim is a pregnant woman and the monster somebody who from the outside appears normal, but harbours a dark desire that they will stop at nothing to satisfy, then disturbing is certainly the right word; the events in this movie could happen, and probably have, and that's the really scary thing.
