DVD Review: Inside (A L'Interieur)

Directed by Julien Maury & Alexandre Bustillo
Starring - Alysson Paradis, Beatrice Dalle.
France, 2007

Lately I had been in the mood for a hard-hitting horror film and when I read about last week's US DVD release of Inside (A L'Interieur) I thought I had found exactly what I was looking for. Touted all over the internet as an impressive addition to the resurgent French Horror genre, Inside is the story of Sarah (Alysson Paradis), a pregnant young widow besieged by a crazed intruder (Beatrice Dalle) intent on forcibly removing her unborn child on Christmas Eve.

There is no shortage of brutal and exploitive horror films as directors now go for broke in an attempt to shock and frighten jaded genre aficionados, and though all the reviews I read warned of Inside's potent violence I was unprepared for just how far directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo were willing to go. To call their movie scary is to damn it with faint praise; Maury and Bustillo are adept at composing sickeningly elegant shots - both visually and aurally - and their violence is a step above their peers in artistry and realism. They almost completely avoid the campy scares and/or redemptive moralizing found throughout the genre and despite the lack of context offered by the film it avoids being violent just for violence's sake. Lest the audience forget just how vulnerable she is, shot after shot focuses on Sarah's pregnant stomach and Inside becomes an incredibly anxious film about obsession and fear. Even Sarah's relentless tormentor is not above succumbing to the tension, screaming in animalistic frustration when her goal eludes her. Both women are so emotionally invested in the fate of Sarah's baby that it becomes impossible to watch the film with any kind of detachment and each successive minute reveals more cringe-inducing brutality and heart-pounding tension than the last; mercifully the film is only 80 minutes long.

I find it difficult to criticize a film that so ably accomplishes its goals but I also hesitate to recommend this to anyone who doesn't know exactly what they're getting into. If you're looking for a good scare, chances are this is far too graphic and intense and if pure gore and thrills are what you're after, Inside is likely too emotionally and psychologically demanding. Unless you're looking to spend an hour and a half with your heart racing in terror and disgust, there is little satisfaction to be found in Inside and you will be glad when it's over.