Incest and table saws.

Goddamn! It's been a while since I watched a horror film that actually had the balls to go all out and not care about offending anyone. A film that doesn't aim to give you a message. A film that's completely content to spill blood unrepentantly. That film is Xavier Gans' Frontier(s). Another in a growing line of French horror films that has cemented them as the reigning kings of international horror. High Tension, Inside, Martyrs and this. All able to not only be scary but also present the gory goods that we American horror fans have grown tired of Hollywood failing to deliver.

This particular one starts off during the French race riots of the mid '00s. It follows a group of characters that have just committed a heist of some sort. The details of the heist are never given and are not important. They split up in two groups and agree to meet at a small hotel in the French countryside. The first group gets there and meets the family that runs the place. As an audience member we know that things aren't right but the characters are typically ignorant of this fact until it's too late. Things go downhill for them fast and we are forced to watch as the second group, consisting of a girl named Yasmine and her former boyfriend, get to the same hotel. What follows is a brutal example of what human beings are capable of.

Without going into spoilers let me just say that tables are turned and a hell of a lot more blood is spilled. Yasmine is not going quietly into that dark night. This movie delivered exactly what I needed. It has proactive characters who tried different things to escape. One of the things that I hate the most in horror films are characters that ignore the dangers and are given every opportunity to escape and yet don't. Eden Lake being a recent example. One of the absolute worst films I've had the displeasure of sitting through. A 90 minute movie where the main characters ignore the danger for an hour and then do nothing to get back at their torturers besides running away. Inactive protagonists , one the worst sins a filmmaker can choose to commit.

In this movie the characters become aware of danger and then immediately attempt to flee and fail. That's all I need. Just an attempt and I'm able to agree with everything that follows. And in this one what follows is painful and absolutely delightful revenge. Xavier Gans makes the film feel dirty, you want to take a shower after seeing it. He keeps the tension up and is not afraid of showing us the gore in excruciating detail. He failed to follow this film up when he chose to make the adaptation of the video-game Hitman, but I have hope that he'll return to this type of film later on down the road.