Frontier(s)
Language: French with English Subtitles
Brief Synopsis: After the presidential election of an extremely conservative candidate, riots break out throughout France. Five young thieves make an attempt to escape to Amsterdam and start a new life there, away from the "oppression". Due to a botched escape they are forced to stop at an inn in the countryside, which just happens to be run by a Neo-Nazi family intent on making the one female thief into their new broodmare for future generations.
My Take: After reading several poor reviews for the film, I had my reservations going in. Many said that it was simply a French Texas Chainsaw Massacre, others claimed it stole from a number of movies and was a sort of Frankenstein of horror cinema. While I definitely agree that the basic plot is similar to Texas Chainsaw, and I saw where there were some similar shots/scenes, I did not feel as if it was a direct rip-off. No, Frontiers was actually something unique.
The film starts with an ultrasound image of a fetus and closes in on the beating heart. A voice-over explains that this is the child inside of one Yasmine, and that she intends on aborting the baby to prevent it from ever having to deal with the cruelty of the world. The credits start, overlaid on fake news footage of the riots in Paris.
After Yasmine's brother is shot by police, the group splits; Yasmine and a friend going to the hospital, with her boyfriend and another male going to find an inn in the country somewhere to lay low. The two men that go to the inn find it inviting, even sleeping with two of the women there, and they tell Yasmine to come to the inn as a safe place. Shortly after, they discover that the inn is run by a family of neo-Nazis. Things spiral downhill from there.
The film is graphically violent. With an NC-17 rating in the US, it is above and beyond even the Hostel or Saw films. Unlike those franchises though, I felt myself more deeply invested in the character of Yasmine. I wanted her to survive. The assistance of the youngest of the Nazi family clan, a young pregnant woman who was kidnapped as a child and held hostage since, made the film more interesting. A number of movies have done this, with one family member acting out against the rest in their new friendship (The Hills Have Eyes remake comes to mind) but I really liked Eve, the young woman. She genuinely cared for Yasmine, and while she was damaged, she wasn't rendered as a simple two-dimensional character. Eve had backstory, and she was acted superbly.
One thing I found the most interesting about Frontier(s) is that the protagonists are young French Muslims. The obviously evil family are Christian, with a large crucifix in one scene and a character making the sign of the cross in another. This is something you would never see in a Hollywood flick, to be sure!
Overall, I found the movie to be entertaining from a horror-movie standpoint, and thought-provoking in places. There were some beautifully shot sequences, while others had shaky-cam-itis. It wasn't perfect, to be sure, but it definitely holds its own with its New French Extreme contemporaries and is deserving of more praise than critics have given it.
Entertainment value: Medium-High. I was on the edge of my seat for a good deal of the movie, and I was emotionally invested in some of the characters. Then again, with the violence of this film, it is not for everyone.
Scare value: High. Dead bodies, squealing pigs guarding cages, murder galore...
Realistic?: Medium. It honestly really could happen. Pretty easily.
Violence/Gore: Extreme. More blood and guts than a slaughterhouse. Fantastic special effects.
Sex: Medium. Sex in the beginning (not too graphic but there is female nudity.)
This movie is for: Those interested in the New French Extreme, slasher movie fans.
Films like it: Martyrs, in style. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in story.
IMDB Entry for Frontier(s)
Trailer
