User reviews

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.

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... "

Just one knifing/ stabbing or shooting after another with lots of blood and a decent story. There are a few scenes that made me look away and I can tolerate a lot of violence. YOU WERE WARNED.

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.

First thing: If you don't like blood or gore, stay far, far away from this. Also, don't watch this if you're pregnant. Really.

This is one hell of a horror movie, quite literally. What you need to know about this is that there's a pregnant woman in serious peril. And by peril, I mean, torture, gore, revenge, lots of blood, death and... scissors.

Like Irreversible, Sheitan, Ils and Maléfique, "Inside" is yet another proof that the best horror these days are coming from Europe (France, Spain and Germany specially). Filmed with what appears to be a micro-budget, most of the action occurs in a small, two-storey house. However, the talent of those involved with the film make this irrelevant.

One important thing about this film is that is very good at maintaining tension and suspense, something that very few gory movies do. You know you're watching something terrible, but you can't look away for curiosity's sake.

Many interesting details in the movie, such as the victim's house number, black cats and overall a feeling of dread and death. Worth watching twice for catching these pearls.

Anyway, as a last minute warning, THIS IS VERY violent and graphic. The ending was great and haunting, and with the exception of a scene or two that didn't really make sense and thus seemed somewhat out of place, this is a solid horror and fans of the genre won't be disappointed.

6/10

... 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.

'À l'intérieur' pulls off a surprising feat: it manages to take a concept that is, by its' very premise, provocative, and make it remarkably uninvolving. It performs this reverse alchemy by an unrelenting series of missteps, in both minor details and choices that the characters make, or don't make. Every time you get close to being sucked in by the action, you are suddenly ripped out of it by something that draws attention to the contrivance and implausibility.

Having said that, I still enjoyed the film due to the performance of the two leads and the remarkable, atmospheric direction. In fact, all of the actors were fine, doing their best with what they had to work with. In the end, this is a gore-fest, and at that the creators succeeded in spades.

I can't recommend this to anyone looking for an involving story or the kind of suspense that demands that you lose yourself in the film, but if you're looking for an 82 minute ride through a great looking charnel house, you could do a lot worse.

Just shy of maximum score because so much of it was so dark. Having said that I'm not sure I really wanted to see even more than I did of what was going on in this gruesome, gory French horror. A real achievement, particularly as a first film, this pulls no punches whatsoever and surely sends a clear signal to US film makers who seek to produce such fare. Don't mess about - just do it. But isn't this just the most harrowing and bloody, violent film ever? Well, maybe not ever, but that remains believable and involving from beginning to end. Where you want to look away but the action is so compelling you cannot. When you hope maybe there will be a pause in the nastiness but the makers just crank up the awfulness again and again. I have never seen a female attacker be so violent or so relentless outside of Japanese cinema. A remarkable achievement.

I honestly have mixed feelings about this: On the one end, I loved the tension, creepiness & graphic gore of this movie! Very effective & will stay with me...

On the other end, I feel there were stupid, unbelievable decisions made by quite a few characters, including the lead, that kind of took me out of the movie and required more suspension of disbelief than I was ready to give. Not to mention the graphic gore was way over the top & completely unnecessary at times (i.e. gore simply for the sake of gore, not to drive the story/plot in any way).

I'm sure there are other French horror films (I haven't seen), but I can't help but compare it to "High Tension" (2003) & "Martyrs" (2008). One has graphic gore, but is too over the top, and the other has graphic gore but each violent scene has a purpose & drives the overall story, respectively. The violence of "Inside" is like a combination of the two, but is closer to "High Tension". The French seem to love their women serial killers!...

Overall, I liked "Inside" more than I didn't & I'll mildly recommend it, especially for gore-hounds! A soft 6 out of 10 for me.

The best reassurance that the Hellraiser remake is in good hands, is actually watching Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's first movie. Once the credits roll, it becomes very clear why the team behind À L'Intérieur comes with Clive Barker's seal of approval.

The signs were on the wall. If Haute Tension and Scheitan were not enough proof that France is the epicentre of euro horror right now, this one just hammers the point home effortlessly. Taking a very simple premise (pregnant woman attacked by maniac woman in her house), the same awareness of scope and budget that made Saw effective, GALLONS of blood and a European flair for atmosphere, À L'Intérieur is simultaneously emotionally draining and bruising. The story takes place inside a house and that's it. It's more like three rooms actually. Very straight-forward and simple. That's called budget-awareness Asylum. And yes, it's very short too, clocking at a measly 78 minutes (5 of which are the credits). But, frankly, it couldn't have been anymore. It was enough to leave me exhausted.

There are easily more gory or more disturbing movies out there, but I can say that À L'Intérieur left me satisfied in both departments. There's something disturbing about pregnant women in peril and combined with scissors, exploding heads, custom built flame throwers and stabbing in the balls, it's gore heaven with the occasional cringe-worthy moment.

The violence is relentless and numbing. The splatter, of the same spraying variety that made Haute Tension's first half so beautiful. A particular scene of blood spraying across a wall would make Dario Argento and fans of Tenebre proud. Although, unlike HT, there are no gimmicks and ridiculous twists here. What makes À L'Intérieur so effective by comparison is that the violence piles up and leads to a climactic finale. And the final image is haunting beyond words...

Some people might be eager to dismiss it as torture porn, a hack term often thrown around these days. It might be so. But unlike rubbish like Hostel, it's packed with atmosphere, tension and has its heart set in all the right places. In the end of the day it's a horror movie. If some people want their horror watered-down, harmless and PG-13, the big studios will have something in store for them. À L'Intérieur is for the rest of us blood-hounds.

Anyways, grab it if you can find it. It just goes to show what you can do with a relatively small budget and DV technology.

I am actually sorry I can't give this film a higher score. There are moments so strong and deeply shocking (and one genuinely disturbing and unforeseeable moment) but those are drowned out by so many over-the-top (albeit extremely well done) acts of violence. The set-up is simple but effective in terms of suspense. For those who may complain that they need more back story to sympathize or care about the lead I can understand that. However for this viewer it was enough that she was pregnant and seemed reasonably nice (and distraught over the misfortune that begins a movie which helps buy more sympathy). If nothing else my heart was with the little baby in the belly. Plus the actress does well with her thinly written part. The set-up begins in an understated way that leaves you tense and on guard. Very well done so far. Once the action of the plot begins it still is on the right track. Then the violence begins. One act of over-the-top violence after another. This viewer is a fan of over-the-top violence but it depends on the film. Something like this where the premise is disturbing enough already would have gained more from drawing out the suspense and slowly building up the violence. By the time the film reaches its conclusion we've been so numbed and accustomed to the relentless violence that the end does not pack nearly as much punch as it could have and the deaths kind of blur into one another. The movie no longer becomes about a pregnant woman in peril. Over halfway in it feels more like a gore fest, preferring instead to go for well crafted shocks instead of hitting you with just a few but heavy acts of violence. To put it simply it blows its wad way too early. However there are moments here and there that emerge from amongst the splatter fest that point to two directors with great potential (I won't spoil). Beatrice Dalle is great as usual. A nameless character that could have become just another stock killer in the hands of the wrong actress feels alive in Dalle's hands while still retaining an air of mystery. I recommend it...but reluctantly. I recommend it for sure to the gorehounds (for the record this reviewer is not opposed to gore considering that Argento is adored by this reviewer for example). Also very much recommend it to Dalle fans (which this reviewer loves as well). But for those who are neither of the above I recommend it for a strong beginning and for a dulled but nonetheless strong ending and for two or three great moments in the between.

P.S. The few CGI effects were terrible and should have been cut out altogether.

One of the goriest films I have ever seen. Blood spews, spouts, spurts, and sprays from just about every body part, and the blood is splattered, splashed, smeared, slopped, and sloshed in just about every nook and cranny of the house.

Normally, I would immediately reject the film as nothing more than pure exploitation and try my best to forget about it, but with this picture there was something more to the proceedings than just it's blood soaked surface. Indeed, there was a great amount of intelligence behind the gore, providing ample subtext about motherhood.

For instance, director Bustillo made the strange choice of fogging the mother's home, giving it a dream-like ambiance that suggests an outward manifestation of the character's subconscious. As a result, we begin to question the validity of the proceedings - Is the black-cloaked woman a representation of the protagonist's fear of motherhood? Is the bodily torment and self-mutilation a response to the protagonist's guilt she feels for causing her husband's death? Many questions are raised and the only answer given is rather simplistic and contrived, though still logical enough to be acceptable. However, it is still ambiguous enough at the film's conclusion to allow for further pondering.

In addition to the rich subtext (and on a more visceral level), the film features stylized direction and beautifully executed sequences of creeping dread and pulse-pounding suspense that are simply a joy to behold.

However, despite these wonderful qualities, the film delves into its violent excess to an unnecessary degree, most likely only to provide shocks rather than further develop its potent subtext. Also, the inclusion to the police officers and their rapid deaths seemed pointless, and though one could argue that they were a representation of the husband's own death and her inability to save him, I would argue that there were simply included to increase the body count and add a few more shots of gooey, gunky gore.

If the gore wasn't so repulsive, I might have said this was my favorite horror film of 2007 as the intelligence and skill that went into the making of this film is very much evident. Unfortunately, Bustillo indulged a little too much in adding shock value to his film, causing him to undermine many elements within his own picture.

Flawed yet still a good movie.

While driving in a rainy day, the pregnant photographer Sarah (Alysson Paradis) crashes her car against another one in a road with no survivors. Four months later, in Christmas Eve, Sarah decides to stay alone at her home, grieving her deceased boyfriend Matthieu and preparing to go to the hospital on the next morning for the delivery. During the night, a stranger (Béatrice Dalle) wearing black heavily hits on her front door asking to get inside, but Sarah calls the police and the woman vanishes. Later, while sleeping, Sarah is attacked by the woman that broke in her house with a pair of scissors and she runs to the bathroom. During the bloody night of terror, the woman attacks Sarah's visitors and discloses to Sarah who she is and what she wants.

"À l'Intérieur" is one of the most brutal and gore low-budget movies that I have ever seen, comparable to "The Descent". The story is scary, disturbing and bold but the storyline is very simple and with few characters; therefore it is not difficult to guess who might be the evil woman in black. Very few directors and writers would dare to submit a pregnant woman to the graphic violence of this slasher, therefore for the fans of the genre like me, the debut of the promising Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury could not be better. There are some flaws along the story, like for example why Sarah does not shout out when the police rings the bell and arrives in the living room; or why Sarah does not use the revolver the detective had given to her; or why the last detective has not called for backup when he heard the gun shots. Last but not the least, this movie is not recommended for sensitive persons and pregnant women. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Invasora" ("The Invader")

Note: On 22 February 2014, I saw this movie again.

I first saw this in 2008 on a dvd which I own. Revisited it recently to put up a review.

When I first saw this back in 2008, I was blown away by its relentless nature.

This is most definitely one of the most extreme films I have ever come across.

One important thing about this film is that is very good at maintaining tension and suspense, something that very few gory movies r able to.

This movie will keep you on the edge of the seat from the beginning to the end.

The score and sound effects r excellent. Made on a pretty low budget, but the acting n direction is top notch.

It's shot in jus one house n has very few dialogues. Definitely not for pg-13 lovers n shud not be seen by pregnant females.