Review of Frontier(s) (2007) by Dwain P — 25 Apr 2009

When I first started studying French culture years ago, the French proudly disdained the crassness of American popular culture. I am consequently amused to report that French filmmakers have seized onto perhaps the most lowbrow of all American film genres: the slasher film.

Since "Haute Tension," if not before, French directors have tried their hands at making American-styled horror movies...but, to persist in their rejection of American mindlessness, they've felt a need to add some "intellectual" or "political" content.

Thus we have "Frontier(s)," which is nothing more than another remake of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre": twentysomethings end up stopping somewhere out in the boonies and end up getting chased, abused, killed and/or eaten.

This film adds a not-so-subtle attack on Nicolas Sarkosy (and George Bush) as it laments the emergence of a French police state to be dominated by ultra-right wingers. It also dusts off Nazi racial theory by casting the murderers as raving neo-Nazis and uses these characters to make some commentary on contemporary French prejudices against Arabs, youth attitudes about the police, etc.

. "Frontier(s)" is a perfectly serviceable remake of "Chainsaw," but the Nazi bit is more camp than horror. It's worth seeing.