Frontier(s)

2007
Director: Xavier Gens
Cast: Karina Testa, Samuel Le Bihan and Estelle Lefebure

Plot: A gang of young thieves flee Paris during the violent aftermath of a political election, only to hole up at an Inn run by neo-Nazis.

Country Nazis Mean Business
by C. True

Continuing on with contemporary French horror, the next movie on the list was Frontier(s). It has a simple plot: a group of young Parisians flee the city during riots (they’ve done something illegal but I’ll be damned if I knew what it was) and stumble upon a totally sick and twisted family. Not just any kind of sick and twisted either, they are Nazis trying to start up a pure race. This means butchering the men who happen to stumble on their Inn (after the daughters have had their sexual fill) and capturing the women for wives! Even though they are neo-Nazi’s, and all about producing this pure race within their family they don’t seem to be that picky about who is a new wife since our leading lady is pointed out to be “unpure” with dark eyes and black hair. But no matter, just chop off her hair and pretend that she’s whiter. And the French seem to really love that symbolism of cutting off a woman’s hair, since lengthy moody hair-cutting sessions made it into both Frontier(s) and Martyrs. Initially I felt while watching the first half of this movie that I had seen this all before, but the movie really built up steam as it went along and I can tell you I don’t think it got banned in Thailand for the hair cutting scene. People get chopped up like mad in this movie. First, all the Parisian boys are tortured and killed in gorific ways, including one getting both of his Achilles heals cut with pliers that look like they belonged to a French Paul Bunyan. Then when there is only the girl left, we have a dinner scene reminiscent of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. And while most of the family is just ominously German-looking, the father, who presumably was a Nazi, is a real creeper. With a lecherous grin he points out to our leading lady Yasmina that “I think you’ve met before” referring to the roast of boyfriend they are about to consume. But Yasmina is a fighter, and makes a ballsy escape from the dinner table by holding the “Father” hostage and this is where the movie really turned around for me. Your classic guns-pointed hostage standoff with quick cuts of the family members nicely built up the tension for the ensuing 30 minute final massacre extravaganza that was to follow. Yasmina barely escapes the dining room only to make it to the underground mine on the property where ominously deformed children of the family are kept (so much for pure genes). She is chased by Goetz, the dumb muscle of the family in the dark tunnels of the mine and his demise is intense so I won’t spoil it. When she finally makes it back to the elevator out of the mine shaft she is absolutely covered in blood and has got one bad case of the shivers. Yasmina is played by Karina Testa who I hope we can expect more from because she has one of the best screams I’ve ever heard and has got the traumatized tremors down pat.

Frontier(s) really delivers on all fronts for a formulaic chased-by-crazies horror film. It is scary, its is super gorey, it keeps a good pace and it ends when it should. It's not a breakthrough but it's a good example of how well the classic plot can work. If that doesn't sell you, this movie also contains one of the best head explosions I've ever seen, so there's that too.