The Lowdown: One of the most intense, most gruesome, and most frustrating horror films I have seen in my life. This French horror gem takes suspense and gore to a whole new level. Inside (À L’intérieur) is insanely brutal and horrifying, and yet, it is impossible to look away.
1. The Plot: Sarah (Alysson Paradis) is a young, pregnant woman who gets into a car accident. Her husband is killed, but her baby survives. Months later, on Christmas Eve, Sarah stays at home, preparing for her delivery the next morning, when she is visited by a strange woman in the middle of the night. The woman’s intentions are sinister; she wants Sarah’s unborn baby, and she will do anything to get it.
Who knew pregnancy would be such a drag?
2. The Characters: Alysson Paradis is Sarah, the main protagonist. Depressed and moody after the death of her husband, Sarah spends her time buried in her work as a newspaper photographer. Her grief is silent; the sad, blank expression on her face says all that needs to be said. Her acting ability shines through later in the film when the creepy, crazy woman enters her home and begins terrorizing her. The hysterical screaming, sobbing, whimpering is all overdone, but given the circumstances, they can be forgiven.
The other solid, if also overdone, performance is that of Béatrice Dalle as the sadistic, psychotic, unnamed woman who wants Sarah’s baby for some reason. Dalle overacts, grinning maniacally and taking great pleasure in every kill. There is a scene where she takes a baby blanket and smothers her face in it, inhaling deeply and with apparent pleasure. If this isn’t overacting, then I don’t know what is. But overacting aside, Dalle is freakin’ scary as the crazy woman. The things she does to her poor victims, including Sarah, are gruesome and horrifying to a degree that I’ve never seen in a film before. There are supporting characters in the film too, but they are pretty much unimportant since the two lead actresses are equally excellent and outshine everyone else.
3. A Physical Reaction: It is rare for a film to garner a physical reaction from me. Inside, however, did just that. This film is one of the most sinister, sadistic, and graphic films I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s not so much the violence, but the context in which the violence is presented. The concept of a strange woman breaking into a pregnant woman’s home with the intention of taking her unborn child out of her is both wholly original and wholly terrifying. It is a situation presented to us that instantly makes the viewer fear for Sarah and intensely despise the evil, unnamed woman. It's simple, but it gets the viewer intensely emotionally-invested in the story. It doesn’t help that the violence and carnage is excruciating to watch. Gore and violence in horror films is commonplace these days, but it is usually portrayed in a comic, over-the-top fashion. In this film, the violence is bloody and realistic enough to make one cringe. The camera never shies away from the violence either. One scene involves a character’s hand getting stabbed through and pinned to the wall by a pair of sharp scissors, and the filmmakers show everything. There are plenty of other instances that make the viewer grit his or her teeth and make a “SSSSSS” sound. The famous scene at the end had me squirming in my seat, and probably had everyone else who watched the film doing the same.
Why, no, this film is not for children.
However, the context and the violence create a situation that is deadly serious, and yet, maddening. The supporting characters in the film are impossibly inept, and seem to only exist to worsen the situation. They constantly fail to get help. I suppose if they did, then there would be no movie, but as the situation grows worse and the bodies begin to stack up, the viewer begins to grow more and more frustrated. In the case of this film, it is a good thing since that is a mark of good storytelling; the filmmakers tried to tell an intense, emotional story, and the viewer does indeed feel an incredible amount of emotion. Still, despite how frustrating and depressing the film is overall, it is at least thematically and tonally consistent, and the ending makes sense. Just a note of warning, Inside does not have a happy ending, but after hearing the plot synopsis, did you really expect it to?The Bottom Line: If you want blood and guts for Halloween, Inside(À L’intérieur) is the film for you. It is easily one of the most intense, brutal, graphic, and horrifying horror films I have ever seen, and yet, I found myself captivated throughout the whole film. I squirmed several times throughout the film, but I could never bring myself to look away. As frightening experiences go, Inside is one of the most frightening. Highly recommended if you can stomach it.
Inside (À L’intérieur) is property of La Fabrique de Films, BR Films, and Canal+. This review was written by me.
Like the review? Post a comment. Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/filmaholicreviewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FilmaholicRvews
Copyright © Filmaholic Reviews, 2013
