The Bottom Line
Pros
- Well-rounded characters
- Gory without being overly exploitive
- Beautifully filmed
- Action-packed
- Quirky, intriguing villains
Cons
- Some parts are a bit too drawn out.
Description
- Starring Karina Testa, Aurélien Wiik, Patrick Ligardes, David Saracino, Maud Forget, Samuel Le Bihan, Chems Dahmani
- Directed by Xavier Gens
- Rated NR
- DVD Release Date: May 13, 2008
Guide Review - 'Frontier(s)' DVD Review
The Movie
The French film Frontier(s) gained a Peugeot-load of notoriety in '07 when it was deemed too violent for an R rating and was dropped from the After Dark HorrorFest. The resulting expectations that built up in horror fans' minds of the depravity contained therein will almost certainly fail to be met, however. Sure, it's graphic, but it's no more extreme than French gorefests High Tension and Inside. That said, Frontier(s) is a remarkable achievement in that it manages to create what some thought impossible: a good torture porn movie.
The story is simple: five looters in the midst of Parisian riots split up and agree to meet at a hotel near the border. Unfortunately, the hotel is run by a family of cannibalistic Nazis. The clan sets its sights on Yasmine as a key to repopulating the "master race," while the others are merely dinner.
I'm not anti-torture porn, but Frontier(s) succeeds where many films of its ilk fail, for several reasons. First, it doesn't dwell on the torture and gore. The nastiness is there, but it's not sensationalized. Second, there's enough back story to round the characters (Nazi and non-Nazi alike) and make us interested in what happens to them. Finally, the film keeps us guessing. It's not a straightforward capture-and-kill tale. There's mystery in the nearby mines, and the Nazi family has unpredictable dynamics. It's precisely because there is so much going on other than mere sadism that the torture is downplayed.
Frontier(s) is more accessible than most torture porn because it's so well done. Plus, at the end, it evolves into a sort of action hybrid, complete with shootouts and explosions. It's harrowing but never off-putting and accomplishes what many overly nihilistic films fail to do properly: it takes us on a journey of death to make us appreciate life.
The DVD
No special features at all.
Movie: B+
DVD: F
