Review: Inside (A L'Interiéur) (2008)

*This is a repost of our review if Inside that we did 10 years ago (it's been that long?!?), to coincide with the release of its remake.

This is a story about the miracle of life; a sweet, young French chick (Alysson Paradis) is knocked-up and just about to give birth, while another French chick (Beatrice Dalle) really wants to help her deliver the baby, in any way she can... or maybe she just wants to take the baby for herself, and kill a bunch of people in the process. Either way, it's really all about love.

This is not love.

The bond between two women can be an immeasurable thing; it can be a special, and an often-times precious thing. When one of the women is pregnant and about to give birth, that bond ascends to a new level. The Police can't interfere with it, nor can a Mother or a Boss... they all just die horribly if they do. What can come between two friends though, and ultimately destroy an entire relationship, is a pair of fucking scissors.

"Friendship's over, bitch!"

I'd love to ruin what happens next (especially the ending) for you here, because then I could share my thoughts on what and how everything in this movie unfolds, but I don't want to spoil your fun. By fun, I mean disgust and terror.

Um, she can see you.

I'll be damned if this movie took any more than 30 seconds to make me cringe; the opening credits even made my stomach start to churn. From the absolute beginning, this movie had me feeling uneasy, and as it went on, the unease turned to shock and eventually to genuine terror. I don't know if I've ever seen a movie that was this viscerally violent and hauntingly creepy all at the same time.

To say that Inside is full of blood and gore is almost funny; it's jam-packed with the stuff, and to the point where I turned from the screen on more than one occasion. The gore, coupled with the terrifying atmosphere and tension of the movie, should mess with even the toughest of Horror fans.

Who knew scissors were so multi-functional?

The claustrophobic feel of the house (where most of the movie takes place) adds to the tension and the overwhelming feeling of dread brought on by the circumstances that our main character finds herself in. The colors were bleak, the shadows were plenty, and the ghost of creeping doom was around every corner. Oh, and the last shot of the movie is truly haunting, and won't likely be leaving my mind for some time to come.

Beatrice Dalle's performance as "The Woman" was nothing short of amazing. She was crazed, ominous, terrifying and eventually sympathetic in a very odd way, and she kicked my ass for the entire time she was on screen. There is a scene where she is trying to get through a door to have at Alysson Paradis... I'll just say that it didn't look like acting to me.

INSANE!

No... not the cat too!!!!

Poor Henri. All he wanted was some catnip, and maybe a hug.

Fuck me sideways, this movie is mean-spirited and a tough watch. That's all I've got to say.

This was pretty much our reaction during this movie.

Vomit. Blood spray. Pregnant stomach stabbing. Nut-sack gouging. Scissor/face dancing... And that's only by the halfway mark... and it only gets worse. I don't want to say too much and give away the plot, but this movie will definitely turn stomachs.

The half-way mark.

Unless you count pregnant bellies as nudity, then no nudity. There is a creepy make out scene though...

Not hot.

Drive careful, forget the fuse box and run, and don't watch French Horror flicks if you want to sleep later that night.

Fuck me sideways

If you're any kind of a self-respecting Horror fan, this one is a must own. Beautifully shot, directed, acted and drenched in buckets of blood,  this is a complete Horror film in every way.

A+

Inside is available now on DVD and VOD.

Ugly movies, pretty ladies.

Shudder Review: Among the Living (2014)

"So the directors of Inside decided to make themselves their own version of Stand By Me, huh?"

Released in France way back in 2014, and in many other parts of the world since then, Among the Living is finally available to U.S. audiences, thanks to the superb streaming service, Shudder.

The filmmaking duo Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury burst onto the Horror scene in 2007 with the superb Home Invasion Thriller, Inside (review HERE). It took them four years to deliver a follow-up film, Livide (review HERE), and yet another three years to arrive at Among the Living.

They're also the duo responsible for this year's Leatherface, which we reviewed a few days back, right HERE.

While nothing they've made since Inside comes close the the twisted perfection of that film, they sure do know how to make movies that offer gorgeous visuals and graphically disturbing bloodshed.

On Halloween night, a deranged pregnant woman tries to kill her asshole husband and mongoloid son Klarence, only to turn the knife on herself to escape her shitty existence as a French housewife. Father and son then take off to "start a new family" somewhere else.

YOU DROVE HER TO THIS!

Some years later, on the last day of school, three teenage friends decide to skip class and have some fun. After trying their best to burn an old man's barn down, the trio of Dan, Tom and Victor head for the ruins of an abandoned film studio where they find a bound and gagged woman in the trunk of a car. A man in a clown mask spots them and gives chase, but they elude him, and escape. They tell the Police their wild story only to be laughed at, because the kids are assholes who are always causing trouble and lying.

THEY KIND OF HAVE IT COMING.

Later that night, the hairless freak known as Klarence seeks each of the boys out, with the intent to kill them so that they can't tell the Police about what he and his father's new home, and the fact that they kidnap girls and force them to join their new family. Of course the no one believes the kids anyway, so really, killing them could have been avoided altogether.

Creepiness and blooshed ensue.

NOTHING CREEPY ABOUT THAT.

Among the Living had the feel of a Spielberg movie from the 80's, and I'm pretty sure that was by design. Some people have called it Stand By Me meets Slasher flick, and while I get that, I have to say that the kids in this movie aren't likable enough to draw that sort of comparison. I mean, they plot to burn down a guy's barn, and one of them almost kills his sleeping dad with an axe, so they're hardly on the same tier of lovable that the kids who starred in movies like The Goonies, Super 8, or even Stranger Things, which Among the Living definitely tries its best to vibe off of.

Seeing that the film spends a lot of time developing the kid characters, and showcasing their school-skipping adventures, you'd think that you'd want them to come off as less asshole-ish than they do.

The film gets better marks for its intensity when the kids are evading the masked creeper at the film studio, and even higher ones for ratcheting up that intensity in the 3rd act of the movie, where said creeper comes after the boys, intent on killing them all. Kudos to Maury & Bustillo for taking the film where they did; I figured it would be about the kids being trapped at the movie studio, trying to survive while being chased around, but it was kind of ingenious to turn it into a hunt-and-kill type of thing where the killer comes after them later on, in their own homes.

There are definitely parts of the movie that are unnerving, and downright scary. Klarence makes for a terrifying movie monster, and the part in the bedroom gave us chills. Uneven it might be, but it delivers on the scares. It was cool to see Maury & Bustillo regulars Beatrice Dalle and Chloe Coulloud show up in this one too.

DAT ASS.

There's gore frigging galore in this one, including, but not limited to: pregnant belly stabs, foot-in-mouth violence; a nasty cast break; a face being shorn off; and all sorts of other bloody and brutal bits throughout. The long, drawn out kill scene in the house towards the end was all kinds of disturbing.

It's odd though, that with such a bloody beginning and finale, that they don't show the kills in the middle of the movie...

GORE GALORE.

We get to see Klarence in all of his fully nude glory, and the gorgeous Chloe Coulloud sheds her top in death.

AU REVOIR, MON AMI.

While we wish that the movie had been stronger and more cohesive overall, we have to give credit to Maury & Bustillo for crafting a gorgeous, scary, and overtly-bloody film in general. It's not quite Inside, but it's still an above average effort.

Give it a watch if you're a fan of the films of the French new extremity.

C+

Among the Living is streaming now on Shudder.

Chloe Coulloud is tres magnifique.

VOD Review: Raw (2017)

"Shocking, but not as much as you'd think."

When Raw made its run of the festival circuit last year, there were reports of audience members passing out, throwing up, and fleeing from theaters in a panic. Those reports, coupled with the movie's subject matter, naturally had us expecting a disgusting gore-fest that would leave us retching.

Unfortunately, Raw never quite gets to that level, and that's fine, but it certainly could have used a bit more of a nasty punch. It's still a great film, and it's definitely disturbing, but it left us a bit underwhelmed in that respect.

Justine is a 16-year-old from a strictly vegetarian family who is about to go away to veterinarian school; French veterinarian school, which means that there's going to be lots of sex, parting, and hazing of the weirdest kind. Her older, rebellious sister, Alexia is already a student there, but that doesn't mean that the hazing will be any easier for Justine, and in fact, it might even be harder.

COLLEGE: THE BEST TIME OF A YOUNG GIRLS LIFE.

After being forced to eat a rabbit kidney, Justine becomes ill, her skin breaks out in a nasty rash, and she begins developing a taste for flesh. At the same time, her sexuality is starting to blossom, so whomever she becomes intimate with is in danger of getting a chunk bitten out of them.

YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO LOOK OUT FOR THE BITERS.

Is Justine becoming a cannibal? Does she just need to get laid? Are veterinarian schools in France really like this? Far be it from us to spoil anything for you here, but as far as that last question goes, we sure hope so, because it looks like a salaciously good time. Minus the blood, of course.

IT AIN'T EASY BEING A TEENAGE CANNIBAL.

Raw is an odd movie, and a disturbing one. It's an allegory for burgeoning sexuality, and making your own way in the world. It's also about how vegetarians can turn into cannibals if they so much as get one taste of meat. Alright, that last one is pure fantasy, but one that the movie uses as its main template, and it's a terrifying one.

This is a gorgeous film, and one that I dare call artistic. Director Julia Ducournau has quite a visual eye, as well as a knack for telling a compelling story, and one that certainly goes to some dark places to say what it needs to say.

Garance Marillier owned the role of Justine. She started off convincingly as a shy, awkward girl who was out of her social depth, and transitioned into a predatory sex kitten with ease. The scene where she's dancing and making out with the mirror gave us chills.

SHE SHOULD HAVE STUCK TO VEGETABLES.

I understand why women get bikini waxes, but after seeing this movie, I'll never understand why they would want to.

SWEET JESUS, NOOOOOO....

Oh yes, this movie has its share of gore and disturbing scenes, chief amongst them, that damn bikini waxing scene...

FRANCE IS WEIRD.

This movie isn't shy about the sexuality either, although it's not as overtly explicit as we expected it to be.

GOUTE L'ARC-EN-CIEL.

Raw is a stylish, visceral, disturbing, thought-provoking movie, although for a cannibal movie that uses teen sexuality to show us how tough it is growing up in this day and age, it didn't really push the envelope to that place where so many other French Horror flicks have gone in recent years.

It's still one to watch though, if you've got the stomach for it.

A

Raw is available now on VOD

Garance Marillier and Ella Rumpf are in this.