[Frontieres]
Plot:On the eve of an extreme right-wing candidate advancing to the second ballot of the presidential election, a group of young armed robbers hole up inside a backwoods inn, located in an old mining wasteland. But the inn's owners, neo-nazi cannibals...aren't too happy about their new guests.

Cast:Maud Forget, Samuel Le Bihan, Estelle Lefébure, Patrick Ligardes, David Saracino, Karina Testa, Aurélien Wiik.

My Thoughts:Manages to be thrilling despite following familiar patterns.

Review::"Frontieres" is a French horror picture which tries to push the envelope, and raise the bar on French horror in general. The pic follows a group of young bank robbers who are on the run from the law, while violent protests are taking place against a current election which is being held. Some of the group make it out of dodge, some don't. The ones that do take refuge in an inn located on the outskirts of a small mining town, an inn run by a very strange group of men along with one woman. You can prety much guess what happens from here on out if you've seen films such as "Hostel", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (and it's sequels), and "Wrong Turn".

That's why I say, this film treks through "familiar" territory. It contains nothing we haven't seen before, although it does toss in a small wrinkle by making it's villains neo-nazi cannibals. Despite that though, this movie presents another scenario where young people encounter the typical kooks who reside on the outskirts of a city, town, or state. Kooks who love to torture, kill, abuse, and bloody anyone who they encounter that comes from outside of their inner circle. However, the movie does somehow, magically...manage to be a very entertaining and disturbing film. This is the key component most horror films like this are missing. They take the "TCM" route, but never add any meat to it.

It's just torture, torture, torture, and then kill with the script alowing for one person to make a break for it. This film, "Frontieres" somehow manages to be alot darker than the usual "TCM" or "Hostel" clone, and it does this due to the performances of it's villains, and the setting of the madness and horror. This movie also does an excellent job of making you feel pity and sorry for the victims of the neo-nazi cannibals rampage. This is done by presenting us with more than just one-dimensional white-bread american kids who look like they've stepped out of a GAP ad.

Although the victims in this film are played by white French actors, still...they seemed easier to take pity on as opposed to if they were american kids. Maybe it's just that they were introduced, and presented differently via the films script as opposed to how american writers would introduce these characters which would be through a group of youngsters who say "dude" all the time, and are obsessed with sex, drugs, and drinking. These kidshowever seemed like down to earth, likeable young adults who simply made a string of bad decisions. The violence in the film also has a very realistic tone to it, and alot of the torture scenes are pretty creative, with machinery being used such as steamers, and log-cutting saws.

"Frontieres" does begin to get a tad bit repetitive though, as we switch back and forth to the slow, painful demises of the group of kids, at the hands of these psychotic cannibal types, but the movie seems to notice it's own repetiveness and rectifies it by starting the intense third act right on schedule. This is where the film kicks into high gear, with what's left of the group of young thieves having to make a decision to fight for their freedom and their lives. That fight contains some of the films most intense, piercing, and action-packed moments, which really help the pic to end on a sharp, entertaining, and violent note.

The final battles between captor and captive in the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" films don't hold a candle to the final battle seen in "Frontieres", and that's amazing in my opinion, even for a foreign horror film. "Frontieres" is an excellent horror picture, and when it hits theaters and DVD in late May, I'd certainly recommend checking it out.

Positives:Great performances, decent story, very realistic scenes, lots of blood and gore, and a classic finale.

Negatives:The torture scenes can get a bit repetitive sometimes.

Overall:Worth seeing atleast once.





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