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Frontier(s), one of the latest French horror flicks to become something of an underground sensation amongst the hardcore horror contingent (following on the heels of High Tension, Inside, and Them) may not appear to be much more than a Gallic Hostel clone at first glance, but viewers who dig deeper will find not only a suitably gory thrill ride (something the French have become almost as good at as they are at surrendering) but an interesting bit of social commentary on French politics in Xavier Gens’ brutal little genre offering.

When a right wing conservative is elected in France, the country breaks out in riots. Yasmin (Karina Testa) and her group of friends partake in the looting going on around them and come away with a nice sized bag of cash. Unfortunately, while making their getaway, they encounter the cops. Yasmin’s brother winds up shot. The group splits up and Yasmin and her ex take her brother to the hospital (where he promptly croaks) and their two other accomplices set out for the border. In an unwise move, the two guys decide to stop at an isolated hostel-and if you guessed that this establishment is run by a crazed family of cannibal Nazis, you win a cookie. Naturally, much bloodshed and carnage ensues.

Frontier(s), like High Tension and Them provides an interesting hybridized take on horror. They’ve much in common with the recently popular “torture porn” subgenre (which is a phrase I hate) but they’ve also incorporated elements of slasher cinema (the ubiquitous “final girl”-although in these French offerings she’s rarely virginal, but invariably winds up covered from head to toe in blood and viscera by the final shot) and the popular “rednecksploitation” films of the 1970s. Frontier(s) takes all these elements and combines them to form sort of a “genre cocktail” that may taste familiar but still has enough kick to knock you on your ass. The fact that it boasts some fairly impressive (by genre standards) subtext is just the straw that stirs the drink.

This familiarity with concept and characters is what holds Frontier(s) back from being a classic horror film. Not even the copious bloodletting and vicious level of violence are quite enough to counteract the fact that this is a film that every serious horror fan has seen before. The idea of urban dwellers leaving their home and running into trouble out in the sticks has been clanking around the genre for decades (being a major plot element of films like Deliverance, The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I Spit on Your Grave and at least 30 other horror flicks) and Frontier(s) doesn’t really do anything new with the idea. I know it’s fashionable to bag on Eli Roth and Hostel, but at least Hostel tweaked the formula a bit by taking the heroes outside the country (and played on the whole xenophobia/unpopular Americans angle in the process). Instead of aiming to cover new ground Frontier(s) is simply content to retread an already well-worn path. This hurts the final product a bit.

Something that the film does do is reinforce the new image of France. Once a city of romance known for Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower, modern day France is becoming more known for a sense of general unrest and an ever-present undercurrent of danger. The riots that spark Frontier(s) to life are all too familiar to anyone who follows world events. The French citizenry has taken to the streets numerous times in recent years and Gens’ film does a nice job of capturing this sense of unease and using it as a springboard for the gore and carnage to follow.

And what gore and carnage it is. Once our leading characters wind up at Chateau du Nazi Frontier(s) kicks into high gear, unleashing a torrent of blood and mayhem that is sure to set any gorehound’s heart atwitter. Violent death lurks around every corner of this isolated locale-be it from being locked inside a gas chamber to having your Achilles tendons chopped by a nasty set of bolt cutters. Gunshots, stabbings, eviscerations, meat hook hangings, and sliced throats are all on the menu at this veritable smorgasbord cruelty. That the special FX work is so good only added to my enjoyment. Those of you with weak stomachs will want to be careful when sitting down with this one.

Equally impressive is the film’s direction and cinematography. Gens is a consummate stylist and while that has led to times when I’ve found his work to be more style than substance (e.g. Hitman), he’s finally found the balance here. Frontier(s) is filled with excellent shots that highlight not only the isolation of the locale (and the terrible things that can be inflicted upon the human body) but all of that extreme carnage I just so lovingly described in the last paragraph. The film has a very distinctive visual look-with lots of heavy blues in the outside shots and muddier Earth tones inside. It’s pretty-which is odd for a film with this level of violence.

Overall, though, Frontier(s) is just an average film with some above average gore. If Xavier Gens had spent more time on the script (or at least tried to add something new to the whole “urbanites in country running into hillbillies” motif) I’ve little doubt that we’d all be championing the film as an instant classic. Kudos for not holding back on the graphic violence and infusing some social commentary on the nature of modern day life in France are certainly due, but at the end of the day the film is just too familiar to give it an above average score. As an example of the new wave of French horror cinema, this is worth checking out-and at the very least, maybe all these French horror films are signaling an end to putrid Asian girl ghost films that have been dominating the genre for far too long. Catch Frontier(s) on DVD. You’ll know what’s going to happen before it actually occurs, but the gore makes up for a lot of the plot’s shortcomings.

Horror Geek Rating: 3 out of 5

Tags: extreme cinema, Film Reviews, French Horror, Frontier, Frontier(s), gore, Xavier Gens

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.