Instinto siniestro

The French are having a bit of a horror renaissance on their shores right now it would seem. After Haute Tension stirred up a tremendous hype a few years back, films like Malefique, Them, and Frontieres are doing the exact same. But none of them have received the word of mouth that this brutal film has. Inside is a damn mean film. I think it goes too far in its excess, but that's what you have to do to shock an audience these days. And shocking it is. Can you imagine what the angry mob of parents that wanted to ban Silent Night, Deadly Night would think about Inside? If you've seen it, you probably can imagine. If you haven't, I suggest giving it a spin. The less I say about the movie, the more powerful the experience will be. Inside is a film I will most likely never watch again, because I'm sure I will never forget it.

... although the ones that follow aren't that shallow.

What would you do, a stranger's coming after you, just a day before you birth, with a rather heavy girth; finds a way into your home, from room to room she walks and roams, like a demon after blood, of which there ends up quite a flood (or a torrent or a deluge, take your pick).

The fantastic Béatrice Dalle, who gave us one of the most outstanding performances of her career in the brilliant Betty Blue, gives us another intense interpretation, as a stalker/house breaker intent on causing chaos and carnage, while wreaking havoc and mayhem - which she achieves with some aplomb and more.

I'll try to make it short without spoilers.

Movie is fast paced, brutal, bloody, violent and gory as hell. Recently I write review for another brutal movie from France - Frontiers and told how gory it was. Well this movie on my surprise is even bigger gorefest.

Delle is perfect as psycho stalking woman. You don't know who she is, but you know that whenever she shows up, it's not a good thing. During the movie you can see her madness and you can pray that it doesn't happen to you, but at the end you can feel some sympathy for her and understand why she started all that bloody rampage.

This movie is will keep you on the edge of the seat from the beginning to the end. It's not just brutal it's also very creepy. Hollywood filmmakers should learn how to make a good horror movie from this one. This is a pure horror masterpiece that we've been waiting for years to come. I was hoping if this would get cult classic status but as I see it now, it's already instant classic since it rocked every goddamn horror fan.

Recommended to every horror fan, this is MUST see, but try to get UNRATED version. I've seen rated version and it was already gory, now I'm looking for unrated version.

To all other people who are not familiar with this kind of movie and to those who are not horror fans, keep telling yourself "It's only a movie, it's only a movie... "

No doubt, Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury are skillful directors but what's way more dominant here is the visual experience. The team responsible for the lighting does an amazing job, perfectly complemented by cinematographer Laurent Barès, a name that will be worth paying attention to in the future. The real edge are the gore effects though. The make-up department simply outdoes itself, as far as I'm concerned, this is as good as it gets. Also the performances by the two leads don't leave any room for complaints. This truly is an exceptionally well executed movie.

Still, it didn't work for me. As a scriptwriter, director Bustillo leaves a lot to be desired. First off, the movie has next to no plot. The setup and the climax are suitable for a flick like this, but there is really not much in between, leaving you utterly uninterested in where this is going, or why it is not going anywhere at all, ever. Nor does Bustillo really try to produce any character development. The protagonist is a depressive, bad-tempered woman who doesn't care about anything (including the child in her womb, making it little more then a plot device for reduction of her mobility) and the fact that her agony is justified doesn't make her any more interesting as a lead either. The antagonist on the other hand has about one line of informative dialog all together. Nevertheless, the death toll is over the top as Bustillo mindlessly throws one puppet after the other into the blender to be slaughtered within minutes to seconds without ever giving us the slightest reason to shed a tear for them. They really are just sacks of blood wandering up and down a set of stairs before tearing open, spilling their content on the walls. If nothing else, this fact makes the movie feel like a film-school experiment concerning make-up effects.

Now watching the last shot, I can't deny, at this level, the visual experience does to some degree substitute for the lack of script. With all the gore, the seas of blood, the perfectly composed lighting and shots, the agonizing atmosphere and generally the direction itself the movie has a certain poesy about it, which probably was the directors goal.

Verdict.

If you are a rather sensitive person, the visceral stimulation might blow your mind and you won't care too much about a plot all together. If you are a fan of horror flicks, the movie really has the gore and some uniqueness going for it. "Experienced" audiences might feel a bit too much to be desired. Nevertheless, an interesting experience.

Of course I have seen films like MARTYRS, FRONTIER(S) and JACK KETCHUM'S THE GIRL NEXT DOOR but I have to say INSIDE was in a class by itself in terms of the ending, it was so bloody and violent I had trouble wrapping my head around what I just saw.

At first I wanted to hate the film and kick myself for buying it but later on I couldn't stop thinking about it, especially about the ending, very few films have had that effect on me, so in the end I thought maybe it was a good film, because I can't even remember the last film that had this particular effect on me, so I'll go ahead and say among all the graphic violence and all the intense moments there was actually a very unique experience.

If I could give good advice to all male horror fans, don't think of this as the ideal date movie, it might cause a few problems in your relationship.