The French film Inside (2007) was the last great slasher movie. Given a quiet DVD release, the acclaimed film found an appreciative U.S. audience.
The French film Inside (À l’intérieur) was the last great slasher movie released in the United States. Given an underwhelming DVD release through the Dimension Extreme label in 2007, the critically-acclaimed film eventually found an American audience who embraced its violent, darkly comic attributes.
The horror landscape in the first decade of the 2000’s was marked by remakes of classic horror films and the last gasps of successful franchises. The Platinum Dunes’ remake of Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 2003 set the tone for the theatrical output: recognizable titles with big budgets and little imagination. For every stylistic aberration like Alexandre Aja’s French import High Tension (2003), there were a half dozen reboots like Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007). Most of the original and visually dynamic cinematic horror experiences came from foreign filmmakers and were relegated mainly to DVD and streaming platforms.
One of the many original genre films to get lost in the DVD void was Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s Inside. Part of the “new wave French horror” movement that trickled into America without much fanfare, Inside was one of several titles that pushed the envelope on violence and unrelenting suspense. Other films released during this period included Them (2006), Frontier(s) (2007), Martyrs (2008), and the previously mentioned High Tension. These films were lauded for their unique plotting and bleak world view. However, their extreme violence and often downbeat endings were deemed too controversial for U.S. audiences.
Why Inside (2007) Was A Superior Slasher Movie
What sets Inside apart from the rest of its violent brethren is its dark comedic bent and its clever visual appropriation of American slasher tropes. Inside revolves around expectant mother Sarah (Alysson Paradis) who is still recovering emotionally from a recent car accident that killed her husband. On Christmas Eve, as she prepares for a quiet night at home before her induced delivery the next day, she receives a knock on the door from a female (Beatrice Dalle) who needs to use the phone. Sarah refuses the persistent woman, who begins an all-out siege on the home; she wants to get inside so that she can take Sarah’s unborn baby.
This simple premise is used to great effect as Sarah reacts in the most plausible of ways to keep the woman from getting inside—both literally and figuratively. The police, her mother, and a caring father figure are all involved in the evening’s events, and each one is systematically killed by the psychotic intruder. While Inside is most definitely not a typical slasher film—and on paper reads more like a home invasion/torture porn hybrid—its unstoppable killer and murder set pieces are direct references to the sub-genre. The directors have even pointed to John Carpenter’s Halloween as a visual reference. Its kitchen sink approach to the chaos is also evocative of the suburban slasher aesthetic of the 1980s.
What makes Inside stand out from other French films of the era is the sly sense of humor imbued throughout. The violence in the film and the physical ordeal that the pregnant protagonist goes through would have been far more difficult to endure without Bustillo’s darkly humorous screenplay. Both Paradis and Dalle each strike the right tone, playing off the extreme nature of the situation with intense dedication. After Sarah has locked herself in the bathroom and “the female” can’t get through the door, a psychotic cigarette break offers little respite. The pitch black ending, adding a gentle, ironic exclamation mark on the violent proceedings, is difficult to shake. Inside managed to set itself apart the formulaic slasher movies of the early 2000s by being truly original, and hasn’t been topped since.
Contact Information:
BRADLEY HARDING
Tags:
, Wire, United States, English
Contact Information:
BRADLEY HARDING