Provocative and shocking, Inside is a refreshing and quite effective French horror movie. When I say effective, I mean it’s really nasty and gory, even for the fans of the genre. I just love European horror movies that have excellent production values and I’m glad that they finally broke into the mainstream, but just to fuck it up. Opting for shock value instead of proper character development, Inside might not be the best example. However, the themes explored here are quite potent. Motherhood, murder, envy, and a lot of other shit make for one intriguing movie. Not to mention the short running time of just over 75 minutes. And it features the second time I watched a really fucked up scene involving a pregnant woman. The first one was in another French movie, I Stand Alone.
On top of that, we have amazing visuals. The cinematography is simply gorgeous, especially you consider the $2.5 million budget. Now, I should also tell you that Inside is one of those horror movies where characters make some pretty unreasonable decisions. I mean, we already talked about this at length in other reviews but anything can happen and does happen. So, what we’re looking for might be that freak accident case where someone makes an incredibly stupid decision. I mean, we all know all those incredible stories of survival, especially during the war. Starring beautiful Alysson Paradis, Inside features a rather small and solid crew. Béatrice Dalle also gave one hell of a performance as The Woman.
It has been a difficult few months for Sarah. She lost her husband in a car accident and now their baby is almost due. Still recovering from all, she keeps having these strange visions. And on Christmas Eve, she hears a knock on her door…
What makes Inside a movie worth watching is its approach to visuals and gore. I kept saying “no way they showed that” and was constantly surprised by the bloody and almost insane events unfolding before my eyes. Especially because the pacing was so strange. The movie starts off rather depressingly and it takes about thirty minutes for the story to develop. However, once it starts slapping you with events, you get sucked into this strange atmosphere where all boundaries are erased. I mean, Inside goes from zero to one hundred in an instant and it doesn’t stop ’till the end. The violence is very graphic, with fountains of blood and all kinds of nasty shit. Just what the horror fans love in movies like this.
This is by no means a mainstream horror movie, like Saw or Hostel, although they are all connected by the term torture porn movies. This is a worthy entry into the New French Horror genre and if you’re interested in what Frenchies have to offer, check out Martyrs for more info. I also recommend you check out the Bustillo and Maury filmography, starting with Livide. Again, the events are unfolding inside a house, this time on Halloween. There’s also the 2016 remake of this movie starring Rachel Nichols and Laura Harring. It’s everything you would thought it would be and I’ll leave it at that.
Directors: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
Writers: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
Cast: Béatrice Dalle, Alysson Paradis, Nathalie Roussel, François-Régis Marchasson
Fun Stuff: In the scene where the three policemen come check on Sarah, you can see to the left end of the screen the house number, it’s 666. And it is a human number :D
Rating:
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0856288/
