Frontier(s) (2008)

Studio: Lions Gate

DVD Release Date: May 13, 2008

Directed By: Xavier Gens

Cast: Karina Testa, Aurélien Wiik, Patrick Ligardes

Brutal As Hell Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Review By: Marc Patterson

From the After Dark line of horror films comes a familiar tale of horror.  Paris is on fire.  Riots have broken out after a recent major election.  In the midst of the chaos we pick up on the story of five young adults who have pulled of a heist and are attempting to escape Paris to Amsterdam.  One of the crew has been shot and has to get to the hospital.  His sister Yasmine (Karina Testa) and friend Alex (Aurélien Wiik) drop him off, while the other two take the money and go ahead, all agreeing to meet at a rendezvous point before the Holland border, (or in French “frontier”, hence the name of the film).  When the first two arrive all seems fine.  Two beautiful young women with a countryside aire to them greet the boys, and proceed to make them feel quite at home. And I mean quite at home, if you catch my drift.  Despite the warm welcome, something is lacking and clearly not right.  When fast talking Farid (Chems Dahmani) pushes his boundaries, by shooting off his mouth, he and his friend end up meeting the entire family in a fashion far from hospitable.  Alex and Yasmine show up a couple hours later and the action has no time to slow down.   They find themselves blindsided and locked in a deadly battle for their life. 

Frontier(s) is fucking brutal, nasty, and a straight blast of pure adrenaline.  It’s the most amount of blood I’ve witnessed in a film in awhile, and carries the fine tradition of nail-biting horror that has been emerging from France over the past few years.  Writer/Director Xavier Gens (of Hitman), demonstrates his chops, and has pieced together a wicked little film that will satiate the bloodlust of most gore hounds, without tipping the scales into the overtly extreme.  The production values, acting, and direction were all top notch, making this an extremely eye pleasing film to watch.   

The major, and only, drawback to my viewing experience was that I, as well as so many of you horror freaks out there, have seen this all before.  The plot maintains familiar ground, without taking any chances, or risks.  Fellow Frenchman Alexandre Aja cornered this more recent market with High Tension, and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes a few years ago.  To be fair, countless other American filmmakers kick started the “crazy hillbilly” craze decades ago (al la Texas Chainsaw Massacre).  Shit, if you want to split hairs let’s go way back to HG Lewis’ Two-Thousand Maniacs!  While Frontier(s) may not be a highly original piece, it more than compensates for lack of originality by delivering an end result that is steeping with the level of emotional intensity seen in High Tension, and even the more recent French piece Inside.   

When it comes to mind-numbing anxiety ridden drama that will quicken your pulse and make your hands damp in dreaded anticipation no one gets it done better than the French these days, and Frontier(s) is no exception. The level of tension, gore, and violence is through the roof and guarantees to keep audiences squirming in delightful anguish!  Without a doubt, it’s a “must-see” film and well worth the purchase.