FRONTIER(S)
Written and Directed by Xavier Gens
Starring
Karina Testa as Yasmine
Samuel Le Bihan as Goetz
Estelle LeFebure as Gilberte
Aurelian Wiik as Alex
David Saracino as Tom
Chems Dahmani as Farid
Maud Forget as Eva
Amelie Daure as Klaudia
Joel LeFrancois as Hans
Patrick Ligardes as Karl
Jean-Pierre Jorris as Von Geisler
After rioting breaks out in the streets of Paris due to the election of a conservative candidate to the French presidency, five friends (Alex, Tom, Farid, Yasmine and her brother Sami) take advantage of the chaos to pull off a robbery. One of the friends, Sami, is shot and Alex and Yasmine, who herself is pregnant, take him to a hospital while Tom and Farid flee to a family-operated inn near the border. The four of them, minus Sami, eventually re-unite at the inn. They may as well have re-united in hell. The family is a crazed, cruel group whose patriach is a former, yet still practicing Nazi. To say that there will be blood is an understatement of monumental proportions. The proper statement would be ‘Wear a raincoat, for there will be blood. Gallons of it.’
With Frontier(s), the French prove once again that they can make as gory and as terrifying a film as any American filmmaker could ever hope to make. The gore in this film comes at you from all sides and in many different way. One character is literally cooked alive, another has his Achilles tendon severed, there is death by table saw, death by shotgun decapitation, yada yada yada, there’s enough blood, gore and death to satisfy the hardcore horror fan. This film was intended to be a part of the 8 Films to Die For at Horrorfest 2007, but was instead released unrated to 10 U.S. theaters for one weekend. It was finally released on DVD as part of the Horrorfest lineup.
I can tell you without any hesitation that I loved this film. Along with Inside, it is one of the most grueling, harrowing and downright nerve-wracking motion pictures that I have ever had the pleasure of viewing. Director Xavier Gens and the amazing cast have delivered a horror film that packs all the wallop of a semi traveling full speed downhill on an icy road. If you can stomach the gore, you need to see this film.
One of the taglines for the film is ‘What are your boundaries?’
Well? Do you have any?
Posted on 03/28/2011, in Films From The After Dark Horrorfest series, Films Released in 2007, French Horror Films, Movies and tagged After Dark Horrorfest, Arts, Divide, Frontiers, inside, Movie, Sami, Sami people, Xavier Gens. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
Love this film mate. The plot the pacing the gore a reall conender to texas chainsaw maasacre i think. Super review as always.
Thanks, Chaz!!
Dude, this is some heavy duty stuff. lol. Awful, love it.
Thanks, Sonia. It is an intense horror film.
Not that I’m against blood, but I don’t watch horror because so many of them don’t really have much of a story, or too many of the characters do such wrong things, like running to hide upstairs in the attic when the murderer is hot on their heels (or some such nonsense). So tell me, does this one have a story or is it just for the blood?
It does have a story. The friends are hoping to flee Paris and all the rioting. They attempt the robbery in the hopes that they can get away from all the chaos. Instead they find themselves in hotter water than if they had stayed in the city.