"Frontière(s)" (2007)

Directed by Xavier Gens
Review based upon U.S. unrated DVD version

I've been thinking about what to write here for about an hour now, and frankly I'm still speechless. This movie had that kind of effect on me.

It is, without a doubt, one of the grimiest, grittiest, demented, vicious and downright nasty films I have seen in many years.

The plot, centering on a group of friends fleeing Paris after the riots (where they also happened to have committed a burglary), is solid but pretty much redundant here. What matters is the unrelenting gore and visual style, which is here in abundance.

Xavier Gens (who got the terrible "Hitman" gig on the back of this flick) really does show an amazing amount of cinematic flair. The visuals are incredible, even when the content itself is incredibly unpleasant. In many ways, "Frontier(s)" reminded me of Dario Argento's best movies, where the style of the whole piece takes precedent over everything else.

From a horror buffs point of view, it's also refreshing to note that like Argento, director Gens does not flinch or pull the camera away when the tone of the piece shifts after 30 minutes into a hybrid of "Hostel", "Saw" and "The Boys From Brazil". However, this is more than simply a dark fusion of other movies, as Gens arguably has a lot more respect for the cinematic intelligence of his audience than those he could be perceived to be borrowing from.

"Frontier(s)" is a shocking watch in many respects even for me, and I really did think that after 30 years of watching one gorefest after another that I'd seen it all. That was however until about 20 minutes before the end of this flick, when a character ends up meeting the sharp end of his own rotary saw. Yes, it sounds nasty, and it is. And this is only one scene within many others that possess the same impact.

For me, having heard a lot about this film, it was great to not feel even slightly disappointed. "Frontier(s)" delivers exactly what 21st Century horror fans want; excellent performances, characters that are not simply made of cardboard, fantastic visuals and multiple bucketloads of gore.

Bloody brilliant... and perhaps one of the most important genre flicks in the last 5 years. What a pity Gens completely killed his blossoming reputation with his next movie. Let's hope he's got more stuff like this up his grubby little sleeve.

9 out of 10
A European movie that beats "Hostel" hands down... brutal, chilling and unforgettable