Home
Home

Frontière(s) (2007)

DVD Cover (Lions Gate)
Add to Collection
Sign up to add this to your collection
Add to Favorites
Sign up to add this to your favorites
User Lists:
> Best Films of 2008
Overall Rating 71%
Overall Rating
Ranked #3,109
...out of 20,319 movies
Check In? Sign up to check in!


During violent political riots in Paris, five young activists--Tom, Farid, Alex, Yasmine, and her brother, Sami--try desperately to flee from the dangerous capital with a bag crammed with cash. Hell-bent on escaping to Amsterdam, the fugitives need a safe hideout to spend the night, and much to their relief, Tom and Farid find a remote hostel. Nevertheless, by the time Alex and Yasmine join them, the friends are already in a life-threatening situation, as the sadistic neo-Nazi family who runs the inn has a taste for blood and torture. Now, the hopeless captives must fight tooth and nail for their survival, trapped in a nightmarish labyrinth of horrors from where there is no easy way out. Can they go beyond their limits and escape from the blood-thirsty clan of cannibals? --IMDb
User Image
Review by Tristan
Added: May 9, 2008
A few weeks back, I reviewed a little film called Inside - the newest addition to a wave of French horror films which have been making a huge splash among die hard horror fans. Frontier(s) first came on the scene at last year's Toronto film festival, and did so well that it is receiving another theatrical, albeit limited, release just days before its DVD release. It is being released by After Dark Films which, while being very hit-or-miss, have given us a few gems by a lot of first time directors. I have no idea if Hitman was successful or not, but writer/director Xavier Gens made this indie horror flick long before he ever saw the mainstream spotlight, and as it would seem he definitely has a knack for making a very brutal and fun horror film.

Amidst a city wide riot, a small band of thieves - led by the pregnant Yasmine (Karina Testa) and her boyfriend Alex (Aurelien Wiik) - must get out of the city and head across the border to evade capture. They split up into two groups, one being Alex and Yasmine, the other being Farid (Chems Dahmani) and Tom (David Saracino), with the latter deciding to wait for their companions at a small motel a few miles from the border. Upon arrival they are offered nothing but sex and booze from the two bartenders, which they accept with little convincing from the two ladies. Things quickly take a turn for the worst however, as their hospitable hosts, led by the massive Goetz (Samuel Le Bihan) violently attack them after their meal. Shortly afterwards, Alex and Yasmine arrive at the motel where they're told their friends went to another motel because there aren't any available rooms. Considering there are no cars outside, they are understandably confused, but accept a ride from the motel employees to what they assume is the other motel. They couldn't be more wrong. What follows is a gruesome journey full of torture, blood, and oddly enough a few good laughs.

When it comes to brutal, in-your-face, survival horror films, it seems that the French have the market cornered. When Haute Tension came out a few years back, it took horror fans by surprise at just how visceral and dark it was. I can speak for more than just myself when I say it lived up to my expectations, and greatly surpassed them. The same can be said for this film, which completely blew me away. While being a mix-up of several different genres, as well as paying homage to some of the classics as well as some newer films, Hostel and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre being a large influence, this movie is a survival flick, plain and simple.

Karina Testa ranks up there as one of the best leading ladies I've seen in some time. The horrific experience she goes through changes her character drastically, and the way she develops her character then completely changes for the third act of the film was fantastic. Another standout performance was carried out by Samuel Le Bihan, who some of you may recognize from The Brotherhood of the Wolf. He barely had to say a word, as his presence alone was enough to chill you to the bone. His role as the soldier for the family was probably the most important, even though I'm not very familiar with his body of work, after seeing him in this, I couldn't think of another person who could pull the role off as well with so little dialogue, and what did exist was made up of a lot of growls and roars.

This movie is mostly being hailed for the gore and gross-out factor. I would have to disagree with this, as there isn't a whole lot of gore to be found. Maybe it's because I've grown immune to this sort of thing, but there were very few "gross-out" moments, and the gore was used only for realism and to keep the pace of the story. That is to say, after a certain point, there had to be a certain amount of killings and gore, otherwise there would be no movie. I'm not one for spoilers, but there is a scene in particular where one of the young thieves, the one I was hoping made it, no less, is boiled alive inside a small chamber. The progression of this scene was great, and when the door finally opened up and he spilled across the floor, I loved how gooey and truly disgusting he looked.

Even after all this praise, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't tackle the obvious problem with this movie. A group of young adults stumbles across a kind of backwoods family, insults them, then are tortured and butchered. Not exactly the freshest storyline ever created. For anyone who's seen Blood Feast, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Wrong Turn, Hostel or a dozen others, you know exactly who will live, who will die, and what to expect more or less. So essentially, it is up to the actors, the special effects, and the camera work to pull this movie off. Why would anyone pick this off the shelf over such classics as Blood Feast and TCM? Because of the actors, special effects and camera work. Xavier Gens is a newcomer, but he has certainly cut his teeth with this picture. I can only hope that he strays away from the Hollywood scene - honestly, who thinks Hitman looks good? - and starts making more movies like this. I will watch each and everyone of them.

10/10
grain of sand #1: grain of sand - added May 9, 2008 at 9:33pm
I'm so stoked to see this when it comes out on dvd, I had heard some Best Buy stores got it early but no such luck in my area :/
waxtadpole3657 #2: waxtadpole3657 - added May 10, 2008 at 12:22am
Should be arriving from netflix early next week. Pretty excited.
Tristan #3: Tristan - added May 10, 2008 at 12:41am
Robbie, I guarantee you'll love it.
Cryptorchild #4: Cryptorchild - added May 11, 2008 at 9:00pm
I'm so excited to see this movie!
Nirrad #5: Nirrad - added May 11, 2008 at 9:11pm
I'm pretty excited to see this too, but i just read a review, and it only received a 6/10.
grain of sand #6: grain of sand - added May 16, 2008 at 3:34pm
I did love this, every kill is beautifully done and the whole movie has a nice creepy feeling going for it, the colors helped.. I wish I could comment on the kills..
10/10
Chad #7: Chad - added May 20, 2008 at 5:49am
I loved the gore, the insane violence, and the kills... but I can't give this a perfect score as damned near everything in here was lifted from somewhere else. I'm not saying this in the broad sense (ie, "it's a survival horror film - they've been done before"), but what I am saying is that almost every character, every scene, and every plot twist has been heavily "inspired by" something else. There's paying homage to the classics, and then there's blatantly ripping them off; this one leans more towards the latter.

Still, it's not a bad film and I actually enjoyed it for what it was, but I have to disagree with that perfect rating. This is one of those movies that you'll remember for a handful of scenes, not for how great it truly was. 7/10.
bluemeanie #8: bluemeanie - added May 26, 2008 at 2:24am
Brilliant little French horror film. Felt like a French adaptation of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", but it still maintained that French style of horror that has always intrigued me. I thought the Nazi father was fucking incredible and delivered his lines wonderfully. One of the best horror films I have seen this year. 9/10.
Tristan #9: Tristan - added May 27, 2008 at 12:17am
I'll be honest, I did not expect that at all.
bluemeanie #10: bluemeanie - added May 27, 2008 at 12:47am
LOL. See...I can surprise every now and again.
Cryptorchild #11: Cryptorchild - added June 15, 2008 at 4:42pm
I finally got around to watching this and I must say that I was very pleased with it. And I agree with grain of sand, I thought the film looked amazing. And the gore was very nice. Didn't care too much for the very end though. But overall, brillant movie. 10/10.
Kari Byron's Sex Cyborg #12: Kari Byron's Sex Cyborg - added July 5, 2008 at 1:56am
I'm in the same boat as Chad, but I most always fight urges to name scenes and such as ripoffs and end up giving the benefit of the doubt. Doing so here, I felt that the movie was awesome all-around, aside from its lack of originality.
8.4/10
Lucid Dreams #13: Lucid Dreams - added May 8, 2009 at 6:36pm
The beginning was pretty boring, but the ending was cool. The table saw scene was sick. 7.5/10
Sign up to add your comment. Sign up to add your comment.
Recommended Movies
Borderland Captivity Kill Theory Rape Is A Circle American Psycho The Devil's Rejects Inside Saw II Girl In Captivity: Psycho Torture Chamber See No Evil The Eleventh Aggression Godsend UKM: The Ultimate Killing Machine Look @ Me Goodnight Mommy The Purge: Anarchy The Purge The Deaths Of Ian Stone
Layout, reviews and code © 2000-2024 | Privacy Policy
Contact: Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Review Updates