As a lot of you may know, I am infatuated with the horror genre! Although, I find that a lot of horror films only get seen and make money these days if they are remakes, never-ending franchises, or filled with a cast of talentless hacks who often wind up on the cover of Us Weekly. It seems like it’s all about making a commercial product, rather than making inventive, scary, and creative films.So I thought I would start a blog every week on my recommendations of horror films that deserve to be seen. Feel free to comment on your own suggestions!International horror films are usually known for perfecting a certain subgenre in horror. (Where as North America is known for remaking their perfections.) Italian horror films are known best for their superb giallos, Japanese horror is known for their chill inducing supernatural films, and French horror is known for pushing the ultimate limit with real life horror scenarios. For the past few years, audiences have been shocked by films like ‘Haute Tension,’ ‘Ils,’ and ‘Frontiere,’ but none of these films have affected and scared me as much as ‘A l’interieur.’
This French shocker is about an unhappy pregnant woman(who lost her husband 4 months before in an unfortunate car crash) who decides to spend the night before she’s going to be induced, (which also happens to be Christmas Eve) home alone while she wallows in severe depression. Her quiet plans take a deadly turn when a female stranger comes knocking at her door, begging to use her phone. She soon discovers this stranger is ready to do everything and anything to get inside her house……and inside her pregnant belly.
Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury have really knocked the door down with their gripping and gut wrenching directorial debut. They made a movie to scare ALL audiences, for putting a pregnant woman in danger of having her baby ripped out of her stomach is as scary as it gets.
What’s even more brilliant about this horror film is its ability to make the viewers feel completely immersed in the heroine’s dilemma. This wasn’t a horror movie with stupid and one note characters that you scream at to do the right thing. You feel as utterly hopeless as the pregnant woman, (played brilliantly by Alysson Paradis) for the audience can not even think of ways for her to possibly get out of her house quick enough without endangering the unborn baby and herself. (She gets extremely injured through out this ordeal.)
I also want to commend the directors for making a truly scary villainess. (Something that has been hardly seen) Beatrice Dalle makes Javier Bardem in ‘No Country for Old Men’ look like a wimp. Her character is unrelentless and the fact that she dispatches of some of the innocent bystanders (who come to check on the heroine) so effortlessly, made the experience of watching this movie far more terrifying.
Anyone who prides themselves for being able to sit through ‘Hostel’ and ‘Saw’ are in for a huge surprise, because this movie pushes the envelope with the blood and gore. Many will watch this movie and probably be so disgusted with it by the end for the gratuitous and offensive gore. (That I will not give away for the fear of turning you off the film) To me, this movie’s gore was far different than how popular ‘torture porn’ display gore. Each scene that displays blood is meant to get a strong reaction from the crowd. The gore is meant to challenge the viewer to even finishing the movie, and to feel just as trapped as the protagonist feels in the movie. Each scene involving grisly horror is a powerful one, and that is something I appreciated.
Forget contraceptives. Many women will feel the need to get their tubes tied after viewing this! This movie is not for the squeamish and I highly recommend anyone who is pregnant to NOT watch this film. If you can get through this controversial horror film without feeling completely unsettled and scarred at the end, then you can pretty much watch anything. (That…or you may need a psychiatric exam. :P)
Catch the film that was too shocking to show in a wide theatrical release on DVD this April 15, 2008.
