Inside French Horror

At Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear in 2008 a phrase that kept popping up was "French Horror", two director's who need no introduction Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper separately said that good things are coming out of France in the horror genre. I was baffled and in no doubt that there was some French horror films of note, mainly the astounding Eyes Without a Face or the ultra violent High Tension (aka Switchblade Romance). But if told to keep an eye on the horror output from the European continent, I would look towards Spain as both REC and The Orphanage had blown away audiences that year.

So I looked up what these French horror films are. I was surprised to find that the leader of the pack Inside has never been released in Ireland or the UK.

Inside is a very simple set-up, a young heavily pregnant lady is alone in Christmas Eve while riots rage in the city. A mysterious lady calls to her door with a pair of scissors and a goal. To cut the baby out. Violent, raw and visceral. The film takes over the top scenes of violence that other films might make light of but doesn't make light of it. So you get the crazy kinetic gore of an American 80's horror movie with none of the comic relief. It delivers exploding heads and various stabbings with a deadly straight face. Making for one gut-wrenching ride with a strangely emotional finale.

What you get is a weird mix of unrelenting violence of old school horror film, but with a great script and fantastic performances from some fine French actors, who fight and fight to a primal state, Plus very little CGI and a lot of practical latex, prosthetic work, that's the secret.

For more on the French Horror Wave see Frontier(s), Martyrs and Them. I may talk about them in the future. But yeah well done the French