A Invasora

A mother-to-be is menaced by a strange woman who traps her inside her own house. What does the stranger want? Why, her unborn baby, of course. This film received a great deal of praise from the horror community, but when I watched it shortly after it's U.S. DVD release, I didn't think it was worthy of any of it. Since I blind bought it back then, I figured I might as well give it another chance. Alas, this film didn't improve at all upon my second viewing. French horror seems to be all the rage among fellow genre fans these days, but where films like Haute Tension and Martyrs succeed at being more than envelope-pushing for the sheer hell of it, Inside fails miserably.

I'm a fan of Béatrice Dalle. She's fantastic in 37°2 le matin, and her menacing performance is easily the best thing about this film. To be frank, it's the only thing this mess has going for it. Alysson Paradis is the victim, but pregnant or not, the film didn't give me much of a reason to invest in her character. Clearly, this kills any potential suspense factor. Another suspense vacuum is the rampant idiocy on display here, most notably from the police. A cop's two partners just disappeared into a dark house where gunshots emanated from. Am I to believe that the moron would head into the house with his latest arrest handcuffed to his wrist, all without calling for backup? Then there's the thing with the circuit breaker, and it's just absurd. I also didn't care for the inside shots of the baby at all. I thought it was an awful idea, made all the more annoying by the obvious CGI and ridiculous expressions the baby would make. Was I supposed to be disturbed whenever this popped up? If anything, it was amusing that the directors thought this would work in any way, shape or form.

Now, onto the film's sole reason for existing... The gore effects are wet and brutal. They're not always convincing, but they're very graphic. And that's all there is to Inside. Honestly, this thing is basically just one big excuse for pushing the envelope with gore effects and attempted shock factor. There is no depth, no suspense, no scares... It's a revolting bore. I'm surprised by how well-liked it is. This belongs at the bottom of the barrel with other French drivel such as Sheitan and Frontière(s). The only true horror that comes from watching this is realizing that something so bad is actually being praised to the heavens.

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... "

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.

This is a movie about every mother's worst nightmare; the fear of having your baby taken from you. A relatively taboo subject, that get's tackled masterfully in this flick. I was thoroughly surprised at how intense and beautiful this movie was, given that it largely takes place inside a house. This film is disturbing, violent and bloody but it isn't without artistic value. This is extreme art house cinema, with lots of symbolism.

The high- and low-key settings is used beautifully and really draws in the viewer and encourages you to think about what you see, while forcing you to concentrate about every scene. The colors are used so excellently, so subtlety and yet not so subtlety if you know about movie symbolism. It directly affects your mood and sets the tone perfectly, along with the intense and sad music. This is a movie, that makes you feel something that you don't want to feel, but that it reminds you, that you are alive.

Even though I didn't understand a word they said (watched it without subtitles), I understood everything as it unfolded right before my eyes. That is no easy task to accomplish for a movie, spoken in a language you do not understand. After waiting many years to watch this film, simply because I thought the plot sounded incredibly generic, my only regret is that I can't unwatch it. Not that I thought it was too extreme, but simply because I haven't watched a movie yet that holds up to this amount of artistic value, and certainly not in the horror genre. I have watched a few art house cinema, but I thought they were boring. I have yet to watch any of the other movies from the New French Extremism, but I can't wait to get started.

This is not a movie for the faint of heart or pregnant women. But if you like extreme, thought provoking horror and films, that isn't extreme just for the sake of controversy, then you're gonna love this. I will definitely buy this movie to add to my collection sometime soon.