Review of Frontier(s) (2007) by Martin A — 28 Sep 2010

It has become quite clear the last five years, that if you want a good horror flick, you'll have to turn your head to France. This movie is the epitome of French of horror. Sure, it's not as twisted as Haute Tension (High Tension or Switchblade Romance, depending on where you're from) or as psychologically demanding as Martyrs, but damn it, it got frenzy to spare.

The story in itself is quite conventional - a couple of young people ends up lost in the countryside and make a really bad stop. The hostel they decide to stay is run by a family of inbreed Nazis who eat people. You know the drill. But as I said before, what distinguish this movie from other similar slasher-films, is the frenzy. The panic. Because as soon as the killing starts, you start to feel for these people. In ordinary slashers there's no emotion, just death after death with people you can not feel for. Often because they act stupid all the time. In Frontière(s) you can feel the protagonist's struggle for survival, which makes you emphasize with them. You want them to survive, yet you know that won't happen.

When I bought the dvd it said on the front: "the most brutal movie ever made". Is brutal? Yes, it is, but "most"? I don't believe so. The reason it is believed to be brutal, is that the violence feel more real. It's still over-the-top, though, but as I've stated before, you feel the characters and therefore you can also feel the violence they are being put through. And one thing that was quite interesting is that the scenes that were most uncomfortable to watch, wasn't the scenes of extreme gore, but the more simple ones, such as the cutting of Achilles' tendon.

Then we have Götz. I will not say more than. Just Götz. Motherf*cking (probably even literally) Götz.