Frontier(s)

Frontier(s) () is a 2007 horror movie. It was first shown at the Agde Film Festival in 2007. It had a limited release in the United States. The movie was originally rated NC-17 by the Motion Picture Association of America. The movie makers didn't want this rating, so the movie was released unrated. Earlier, it was shown at the After Dark Horrorfest.

Plot
A far right candidate is elected to the French presidency. That causes violent riots and protests in Paris.

A street gang made up of Muslim Arab teens hopes to get away from Paris. They need cash, though. The teens: Alex, Tom, Farid, a pregnant woman named Yasmine and her brother Sami perform a robbery during the chaos. Sami is shot. The group splits up. Alex and Yasmine take Sami to a hospital. 

At the hospital, emergency room staff tell the police about Sami. Sami wants Yasmine to run before the police catch her. Sami's dying wish is he doesn't want Yasmine to have an abortion. Alex and Yasmine run away. Sami dies at the hospital.

Yasmine and Alex are chained in a muddy-floored pig pen. Alex breaks Yasmine's chains and allows her to run away. When the captors find out Yasmine has escaped, the family patriarch, von Geisler, cuts Alex's Achilles tendons. 

Back in the pig pen, von Geisler grants Alex his last wish. Alex is killed. 

A woman named Eva tells Yasmine she (Eva) is obedient. The family promised her that her parents would come back for her someday. Eva and Hans care for rejected children in the mine.

Eva takes Yasmine down to dinner. The family is waiting for her. They find out that Von Geisler is a former and still practicing Nazi. He has lived in the inn since the end of World War II. Von Geisler offers a toast to the new person. Yasmine quickly grabs a large knife. She takes von Geisler hostage. Hans grabs a shotgun. He shoots von Geisler dead. Hans himself is shot dead by Karl.

Cast
 Karina Testa as Yasmine
 Aurélien Wiik as Alex
 Samuel Le Bihan as Goetz
 Estelle Lefébure as Gilberte
 David Saracino as Tom
 Chems Dahmani as Farid
 Adel Bencherif as Sami
 Maud Forget as Eva
 Amélie Daure as Klaudia
 Rosine Favey as La mere
 Joël Lefrançois as Hans
 Patrick Ligardes as Karl
 Jean-Pierre Jorris as Von Geisler

Release
Frontier(s) was going to be one of the 8 Films to Die For at Horrorfest 2007. However, the United States' MPAA Ratings Board gave the movie an NC-17. So the movie was instead released unrated in ten U.S. theaters for one week. It was released on DVD the next week.

Reception
Manohla Dargis from The New York Times gave the movie high marks. She said: "There's enough blood in the unrated film Frontier(s) to satiate even the most ravenous gore hounds. The real surprise here is that this creepy, contemporary gross-out also has some ideas, visual and otherwise.

Rotten Tomatoes' approval rating was 55% for the movie. That was based on 20 reviews.

Jim Ridley from The Village Voice, gave the movie a negative review. He said: "Give the French a taste of neo-fascism, race riots and paramilitary crackdowns, and they seek solace in the American cinema's current favorite pastime - vigorously art-directed torture porn.

References

French horror movies
Swiss movies
2007 horror movies
Movies directed by Xavier Gens