Frontier(s) (Lionsgate/After Dark Horrorfest/Eight Films To Die For/DVD)
Picture:
C- Sound: C- Extras: D Feature: C
For those
of you who don’t know, the After Dark
Horrorfest is an annual week-long event during which theaters across the
country do special screenings of eight selected recent horror films that were
supposedly dubbed ‘too scary for regular theatrical release’. Having seen five of the films that have been
featured in the past two years, I’m not so sure that that’s a valid claim. To be honest, while I’m not saying it’s
necessarily a better movie, I do think that Saw is more graphically and psychologically extreme than most of
these films. But even if they don’t
quite live up to their reputation, they’re still fun gory horror films for the
avid enthusiast, and Frontier(s) is
no exception.
Unlike
most of the horror you see coming out these days, it is neither American nor
Japanese. This is in fact a French film
and as I understand it, it is supposed to be very politically relevant for
those who are familiar with recent social and political developments in France.
Sadly, I am not. So for those of us who are not familiar with
the sociopolitical climate in France, while it is abundantly clear that there
is subtext going on, all we get is a French version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
A group of young people venture out into the country to get away from
the chaos in Paris, and end up getting killed off by a family of murderous
cannibal Nazis… more or less. There’s
also a lot of subtext concerning family and indoctrination, but it feels
underdeveloped. There are a lot of
fragments, but they don’t ever seem to add up to a complete statement.
But I
know there are those of you out there who are bouncing up and down in your seat
asking “But what about the gore? Tell us about the gore!” Very well. There is a lot. From steaming flesh to circular saws this
movie has everything a splatter fan needs to keep him/her satisfied. There are even a couple of scenes that will
legitimately make you cringe when you watch them. (Think the hobbling scene from Misery.)
I do have
one major complaint about the film, and it involves missed potential. The actual horror of the film revolves around
the Nazi family, and there are a few references to “the children” of the family
who came out strange, even by the murderous cannibal Nazi’s standards. So what I want to know is, why aren’t they in
the movie more? We even see them a few
times, and they get one semi-scary scene that looks like it’s building up to
kill, but then it just cuts away and apparently nothing happened. There is a lot of potential for creepiness
here, but aside from the aforementioned scene, they’re just part of the scenery
in one or two scenes.
The
picture quality is only OK. It is
presented in anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 widescreen which is the standard
for theatrical viewings. The lighting is
following in the trend of a lot of recent films, and especially horror films
with a slight green pallor cast over almost every scene. Personally I think that it is meant to create
a visually pleasing contrast with the bright red blood that flows profusely
throughout this film. The sound is
either Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 but either way it’s French dialogue with either
English or Spanish subtitles, which is how it should be. Too bad that is not impressive sonically in
any way.
Frontier(s) is a decent horror film even if
it does tread dangerously close to well-worn territory. If you’re not familiar with the subtext then
you may be left with a small hole where your meta-narrative should be, but if
you’re just looking for a good slasher, you won’t be disappointed.
- Matthew Carrick
