Frontière(s) (2007)

The French seemingly can't be beat when it comes to visceral, savage and in-your-face sadistic survival/torture porn flicks lately. Since "High Tension" skyrocketed the popularity of the horror genre in 2003, this nation already delivered a couple of ultimately brutal movies that – without the slightest form of exaggeration – make U.S. films "Saw" and "Hostel" look like soft and sentimental Disney cartoons. The more or less simultaneously released "à l'intérieur" (a.k.a. Inside) thus far remains the absolute highlight of shocking controversy, but this "Frontière(s) surely ain't no Saturday afternoon picnic, neither. The rudimentary concept is a variation on the infamous mid-70's sub genre of 'Rednecksploitation'. These films revolved on maniacal hillbillies terrorizing and butchering big city folks in rural areas far away from the civilized world and usually strictly for their own sheer entertainment. Considering the high population density all across the European continent, it would be pretty ridiculous to introduce unworldly rednecks and so Xavier Gens' script cleverly replaces them with extremist cartels. There are several of those around here, including fanatic minions of Hitler's Nazi principles. The city of Paris is in complete chaos following the announcement of the election results, and a bunch of young thugs grabs this opportunity to commit a bank robbery and flee towards the French-Luxembourgian border. They arrive in a place far worse than the Parisian suburbs when checking into a hotel run by a deeply deranged family of Nazis. The family, led by an elderly patriarch who easily could have been one of Hitler's closest drinking buddies, need the girl for breeding reasons and subject the men to various games of sickening torture.

Admittedly "Frontière(s)" sounds like a compilation of gratuitous gore and perverted characters, but writer/director Xavier Gens definitely had some more admirable ambitions. Extreme right-wing political parties unstoppably march forward in pretty much each European country (in fact, their victory triggered the whole chain of events here), and Gens actually attempts to illustrate – albeit quite vigorously – what the consequences would be if they regain power one day. Anyway, you obviously shouldn't watch this movie for its valuable morality lesson, but rather because it vividly depicts hardcore violence and uncompromising cruelty. Unless you have nerves of steel and a properly insulated stomach, you might want to consider turning your head away from the screen most of the time. There's a truly nauseating massacre involving a mechanical band saw, various close range shotgun killings, slit throats, stabbed chest and one excruciatingly uncomfortable moment featuring pliers and someone's Achilles tendon. Yikes! Vile, revolting and totally unnecessary? Perhaps … but definitely fascinating to behold. "Frontière(s)" suffers a bit from messy cinematography and limited imagery, but at the same time you could claim this also increases the primitive and savage atmosphere Gens intended to reflect. The film is definitely a bit too long for its own good (110 minutes of running time for a sickie film?) and some of the redundant sub plots and character drawings during the first half hour could easily have been cut. The make-up effects are simply great and Xavier Gens' surefooted directing skills already bought him a one-way ticket to a promising career in Hollywood.