Frontière(s)

Plot synopsis:
A far-right candidate is elected to the French presidency, sparking riots in Paris. Hoping to escape Paris but needing cash, a street gang making up of Muslim Arab youths; Alex (Aurélien Wiik), Tom (David Saracino), Farid (Chems Dahmani), the pregnant Yasmine (Karina Testa), and her brother Sami (Adel Bencherif) take advantage of the chaos to pull off a robbery. Sami is shot and the group splits up: Alex and Yasmine take Sami to a hospital, and Tom and Farid take the money to a family-run inn near the border. Innkeepers Gilberte (Estelle Lefébure) and Klaudia (Amélie Daure) claim their rooms are free and seduce the two men.
At the hospital, the emergency room staff report Sami's injury to the police. Sami insists Yasmine run before the police catch her. His dying wish is that Yasmine not have an abortion. Alex and Yasmine flee, leaving the fatally wounded Sami behind. Alex and Yasmine phone their friends for directions to the inn. Tom and Farid give them directions but soon after are brutally attacked by Gilberte, Klaudia, and Goetz (Samuel Le Bihan). When Tom and Farid try to escape, Goetz runs their car off a cliff. The injured men wander into a mine shaft, where Tom is quickly recaptured. Farid must fend for himself in the mine with the family's rejected children. Unaware of the danger, Alex and Yasmine arrive at the inn and are captured by the family.
Alex and Yasmine are chained in a muddy-floored pig pen. Alex breaks Yasmine's chains and allows her to escape. When the captors discover Yasmine's escape, the family patriarch, von Geisler (Jean-Pierre Jorris), cuts Alex's Achilles tendons. Meanwhile, in the mine, Farid finds the storage area for the victims. The family realizes something is amiss in the mine, and Hans (Joël Lefrançois) chases Farid into a boiler where Farid is cooked alive. Yasmine flees from the inn but is quickly picked back up by Goetz. Back in the pig pen, von Geisler personally grants Alex's last wish, which is to be put down quickly. Initially, von Geisler wishes for Karl (Patrick Ligardes) to "wed" Yasmine to carry on the family lineage, but when von Geisler learns she is already pregnant, he entrusts her to the meek Eva (Maud Forget), who tells Yasmine that she came to the family in a very similar manner and that she is obedient because the family promised her that her parents would return for her some day. Eva also tells Yasmine of the rejected homeless children she and Hans care for in the mine.
Eventually, Eva leads Yasmine down to dinner, where the family awaits her. Von Geisler is revealed to be a former (and still practicing) Nazi having been living at the inn since the end of the second world war. Von Geisler offers up a toast to the new blood and Yasmine quickly grabs a large knife and takes von Geisler hostage. Hans grabs a shotgun and shoots and kills von Geisler in the confusion; Karl shoots Hans dead in turn. Yasmine escapes and is chased by Karl and Goetz into the mine. Yasmine eventually makes her way into one of the body storage rooms where she fights with Goetz. After a bloody struggle, she repeatedly hits him with an axe before impaling him on a rotating table saw. Karl catches Yasmine as she tries to return to the surface, but Eva comes to the rescue, blowing off Karl's head with a shotgun. Yasmine searches for car keys to escape, but is ambushed by Gilberte and Klaudia bearing sub-machine guns. During the shootout, Yasmine hits a gas tank, blowing up the room. Gilberte survives the explosion and attempts to kill Yasmine only to have her throat torn out by her. With everyone else in the neo-Nazi family dead, Yasmine tries to persuade Eva to leave with her, but Eva stays to take care of the children in the mine. On the road, Yasmine runs into a police blockade near the border where she surrenders to the authorities.

Tags: violence, psychedelic, cruelty, sadist

Review:
Churned out by the New French Extremity Movement, a new wave of French horror responsible for extreme classics like High Tension, Inside & Martyrs, Frontier(s) arrives as another one of their features that aims to break all barriers of censorship or morality by exploiting every taboo subject that's available, but fails to achieve the same impact as its better counterparts.Set during the violent aftermath of a political election in a near-future France, Frontier(s) concerns a gang of 4 young thieves who decide to run away from Paris with a bag full of robbed money in order to start a new life.
While on their way, they decide to check-in at an inn near the border to spend the night but end up discovering that their hosts are actually a group of sadistic cannibals of a Nazi family.Although the film offers sufficient amount of disturbing content over the course of its runtime, the plot isn't as effective or sturdy enough as it was in Inside or Martyrs, and it is pretty much a disappointment in every filmmaking department.
"Frontieres" by Xavier Gens plays like the berserk and utterly deranged French version of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Hostel" with the family of bloodthirsty Neo-Nazis instead of stereotypical redneck crazies.The violence with the exception of the great and gory band saw scene is rather suggestive and wasn't explicit with the camera panning away or jump cutting almost all the gory bits.Still "Frontieres" is a very intense and visceral experience that will surely please the most hardcore horror fans.The killings are pretty brutal in their extremity,the acting is fine and some scenes are incredibly intense.I enjoyed the music in this flick,which was excellently blended into the action.The plot goes like that:running from Paris the group of youths end up taking refuge at a run-down motel on the Luxembourg border presided over by the Von Geisler family and is thrown into bloody nightmare.The two older "sisters" entice the guys with a vigorous foursome while the marginally less depraved youngest girl-plucked from her real family years earlier to be a breeding vessel for this one-assists our heroine when she is eyed up as representing new blood to continue the family line.9 out of 10..
While some of the performances and characterizations veer dangerously close to camp, Gens comes close to establishing the same sort of fever-dream madness that made "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" so endearing: when an extreme right-wing candidate is elected to the French presidency, the citizens take to the streets in protest (the film's opening images are culled from actual news footage); using this as a cover, 5 small-time crooks knock off a bank and meet up at a countryside hostel that just happens to be run by several generations of an inbred, neo-Nazi family (including a patriarch that looks like B-movie king Roger Corman; and a sister who resembles Gen from The Genitortures); what ensues is a survival-of-the-luckiest chase through bowels-of-hell settings that have been well-established in the "Saw" and "Hostel" flicks.
Gens also pulls (un)inspiration from the likes of "The Descent" (a fantastically claustrophobic tunnel-crawl; subhuman critters in underground caverns), "High Tension" (the beleaguered heroine spends the last 20 minutes wearing a literal coat of gore), and seemingly every one of the "Texas Chainsaw"s (coming closest to the family dynamic of Part III).
When viewing Frontiers horror fans will notice the vast array of influences/rip-offs from the previously mentioned Hostel to The Hills Have Eyes, The Descent, Wrong Turn, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, House of a 1000 Corpses, Blair Witch etc etc!
I would recommend avoiding Frontiers if you like your horrors to be engaging but that maybe you'd enjoy it if you're only after high levels of violence and gore - just fast forward the first few scenes..
That might be a good thing, but it also means that all the pre-story gets thrown away after the mayhem begins ...If you're looking for gore and terror, this is the only reason for you to watch this movie.
I went in expecting this horrific tale and honestly speaking I did not find anything disturbing or suspenseful that I hadn't seen done better (TCM).The story itself could have led to so many different avenues and yet it seems they decided to stick with a basic run of the mill people get attacked by crazy family film and hope people are shocked because they happen to be Nazi's.Some people have said that it is up there with Haute Tension and I think they're right as Haute was a let down in itself (those of you who have seen the film will know what I'm talking about), great premise but just something lacking in the end.Frontiere(s) is not something I would probably watch again, if you watch suspense, horror and gore watch À l'intérieur instead..
Brothers Tom (David Saracino) and Farid (Chems Dahmani) arrive first to a run-down village inn fronted by nymphomaniac sisters from hell...Featuring a collage of ideas ranging from Nazi nymphos, retarded mutant offspring, mindless cannibalistic butchers and some of the dumbest victims in movie history, "Frontier(s)" attempts to ditch story for a plethora or gore, guts and other such ravings.
Total chaos in Paris after political election.Some young thieves flee from the town and will meet up at a hostel near the border to Luxemburg.What they don't now is that the owner is an old Nazi-general that could have been Hitlers best friend during world-war11.Also his other family members live there and they all total sickos who like the taste of blood.I build up big expectations for this film as I read a lot of positive reviews on internet and all pictures I seen looked great.Did I like it,well its a good solid horror film thats really the director Xavier Gens pot a lot of energy on.Its bloody and has a lot of violence,but to be honest I expected more on that department.On the + side it has a lot of tension and atmosphere.Actors do good performance and the film gets never boring.Can not say its original as I felt echoes from both Texas Chainsaw Massacre&Hostel but that doesn't matter.Frontiere(s) has a lot of potential but no masterpiece.But don't get me wrong the movie is good enough to be recommended.Often compared to another French classic Haute Tension and I must say I prefer Frontiere(s).Out in Sweden on DVD in June and its a must to my horror-collection.Recommended,I give it 7/10.
A Extreme French horror action film from 2007 directed by Xavier Gans the director of 'Hitman' and 'X is for XXL' from 'ABCs of Death' and that movie is 'Frontière(s)' This film, Frontière(s) is a truly extreme experience a better example of new french extremity than something like 'Ils' or 'Inside'.
'Frontière(s)' is a 7 or 8/10 an all around extremely violent and gory movie full of torture and savagery not for the faint of heart or those with a weak stomach.I really liked the film its a ultra-violent little horror flick with a bad attitude and even worse gore 9/10 just really an all around awesome as well as highly recommended splatter/exploitation/naziploitation/hixploitation/slasher horror film worth a watch if you can handle it Similar films: 'Haute Tension', 'Martyrs', 'Inside'.
What is it about European movies and psychotic families...??,well,to be honest it delivers every time you put in so much gore and violence combined with some psychotic group seeking pleasure in doing so,Frontier(s)is a new mixture of the same old formula,an effective one,The movie is brutal & violent and so a perfect one for Thriller/Slasher fans.I am always on a regular lookout for such films and somehow i always find it safe to go with some European slasher,and so along came Frontiers which is an entertaining thriller/slasher movie from France.The movie contains good 50 minutes of thrilling experience which obviously goes in its favor making it worth your time,the film at some levels is Intense & very disturbing but this makes it more interesting...great movie,loved it.
Recently,there have been horror films (for example,Vacancy or The Hills Have Eyes) which show a lot of sadistic and graphic violence which results pretty intense.But,that films do not result too satisfactory because there is not enough endorsement on the plot.In other words,although the violence results graphic and very well done,it never produces emotional impact on the spectator.And Frontiere(s) also belongs to that.The gore this movie shows is simply delicious and I have to say the film kept me entertained for its intensity.But,the gore never produces emotional impact because there is not enough character development or deepness in the story.Also,the villains do not have a clear purpose for what they do...they just like to kill people.Also,some actors do not result credible on their roles.But,not everything is bad on this movie.The element I most appreciated from this movie is that it has some social commentary in it.This movie has an unusual politic level for what we are accustomed to see on horror films and,on that aspect,the movie tried to go a little more far away.This movie never bored me and I always appreciate when a horror movie is not afraid of showing extremely bloody violence because that helps for increasing the level of intensity.In summary,with more deepness on character development and if the villains had a porpoise,Frontiere(s) would have been an excellent horror film.But,it is not like it,and the movie is an entertaining but hollow horror film..
Riots, Nazis, Cannibals, Gun firing & bad ass torture and crime, it's all there and you can't go wrong with all these combinations.To me it's like putting "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974 & 2003), "The Hills Have Eyes" (1977 & 2006), Inglorious Bastards, Saving Private Ryan & The T.V Series Prison Break into a whole bout together.There are somethings that I really loved about this film, though there were some hate moments.
We have escapes, near escapes, gruesome deaths, a family of murderers with a strong family bond, an elderly relative that needs help eating her chopped up human dinner and all the things we've seen before.So, if you liked any of the Texas Chainsaw films or are generally a fan of the genre, you could certainly do worse than Frontiers.
Whenever it comes to the ultra-violent flicks, French movies have already been appeared as SHOCK CINEMA and France have excelled in showing gore and slasher movies.Frontier(s) is about a group of young people involved in the riots in Paris and they just want to elope from the city,eventually they found themselves engulfed in an Inn. The story revolves around the deeds in the Inn and you won't discover anything extraordinary which keeps this movie in a different league (Beside there are one or two scenes which will remain with you and shock you too).If you expect something like Inside, Martyrs or High Tension, then it disappoints you by all means.
While this film isn't a genre classic by any means, it's a decent attempt, though the whole "throw so much disturbing stuff at you that you think it's a good horror flick by that merit" motif was worn thin by films like Hostel and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.It's gross, it's unnerving, and it's directed well.
Most notably, there are 6-8 reviews that specifically mention Saw and/or Hostel, and while many critics' reviews made these comparisons, viewers were obviously not able to view Frontiers without carrying in the preconceived ideas of what it should/would be,lots of complaints that the story offered nothing new and followed similar formulas to films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hills Have Eyes, etc, andcomments on pace being slow in the beginning.With regards to the first three, it's always a bummer when a decent, enjoyable movie is panned because of a viewer's preconceived notions and already-established expectations.
Gens smartly switches between static and manic camera work where needed, applies his filters well and desaturates his shots in such a way that the movie emits a rather menacing feel without becoming too dark and lifeless for its own good.Frontière(s) is a real visual feast, which continues the tradition of modern horror films morphing from cheap looking realism to films that carry a lot of their atmosphere in the presentation.
As a horror fan, I've tried not to expect anything from each of the films I watched over the years, so I can view them individually and form a better opinion, so far the movie THEM and this film, have both been my introduction into the french horror circuit, THEM was one very intense movie experience, relying on virtually no gore and more on atmosphere.I found out about Frontiere(s) when I checked out info on the 2007 horror fest, and found that it wasn't allowed because of scenes of extreme violence, me and my friends actually found it funny because you would think people actually go to see a film like this at such an event, and me being the first to see it can safely say, what they allowed and did not allow turned out to be a huge difference, because in comparison with the horror fest films (the majority of which were not really horror films) it was certainly the best, and in terms of SAW and HOSTEL, I liked SAW but HOSTEL in my mind is a total joke, by that I mean the film tries so hard to shock you by relying on over the top gore and torture scenes that are so over acted or so unconvincing the only torture I went through was thinking Eli Roth believes he can shock people, well just think again, because he can't shock me and never will, but this film however managed to do it with very little effort, because it was very straight forward in telling the story it set out for, and relied on more atmosphere, and the gore though very little, was very effective when I saw it.Overall, A very effective shocker that accomplishes everything it sets out for and more.So in terms of the shock factor, Xavier Gens 10, Eli Roth -100..
Maybe it was the unexciting promise of another needless trip into Texas CHAIN SAW MASSACRE territory – but I persisted, took a deep breath and watched it all the way through regardless of my lack of enthusiasm.Well, once one gets past the gallons of blood and reams of recycled situations – not just CHAIN SAW but also more recent stuff like Rob Zombie's HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES (2003) and, reportedly, Eli Roth's HOSTEL (2005) – I have to admit to having found the whole ungodly mixture of juvenile delinquency, social upheavals, degenerate lifestyles and pseudo-Nazi idealogy to be peculiarly compelling.The victimized youngsters here are a bunch of thieves (three males and one female) who, to escape the ongoing street riots and potential police capture, unwisely take a deadly detour into an unwholesome motel in the middle of nowhere and, eventually, the hellish mansion situated in a disused mine.
that's how powerful and gritty this film is.Some bash it for being derivative of things such as "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "The Hills Have Eyes" and even "House of 1000 Corpses", and while there are parallels and I cannot fault them for saying so, the movie does what it does very well (better than those three installments) and I think it was more of a homage to those other quality horrors.It's fair to say when watching a movie with such a shock factor involved, things like acting and direction fall leeway; taking up the passenger seat and letting the violence lead.
It captures the bleak atmosphere of the film beautifully, to the rolling hills of the France-Luxembourg boarder to the depths of the Von Geisler chambers.I feel like I'm rambling, and quite honestly I feel at the same time I have not written enough of how AWESOME this movie is.All lengthy paragraphs aside, and if you can stomach brutality -- watch, buy, love "Frontiers"..
A fantastic combination of the best of Hostel, The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre it is unsettling and thrilling throughout and should be on everyone's must see list.Most horror in recent years has been nothing but unnecessary gore and violence filmed for no other purpose than to induce vomiting, but leave it to the french to make what is easily one of the best horror movies in recent years..
If you want to judge a movie by the themes it contains, you'd best be ready for a long, depressing life of writing the same review over and over, with only different movie titles at the beginning.Yes, Frontier(s), contains themes of torture and cannibalism (just like any "ripoff of Texas Chainsaw"), but there is more to this film.
This is not even as cruel as I hoped so, most of the killings, and deaths were seen at least a thousand times and there is not any surprise or new edge, it feels rather like some mixture of Hostel, The Devil's Rejects, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Død snø.Comparing this film to The Martyrs, À l'intérieur, Eden Lake, Salo or any deeply cutting flick is just a simple insult.
They call Alex and Yasmine that are fleeing from Paris to join them in the inn, but sooner they discover that their hosts are sadistic cannibals of a Nazi family leaded by the deranged patriarch and former SS officer Le Von Geisler (Jean-Pierre Jorris)."Frontière(s)" is another brutal French horror movie and a good variation of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Hill Have Eyes".
As a fan of horror movies, I note that French directors are making extremely violent and gore movies, like "Haute Tension" and "À l'Intérieur" that I have recently seen.
Since "High Tension" skyrocketed the popularity of the horror genre in 2003, this nation already delivered a couple of ultimately brutal movies that  without the slightest form of exaggeration  make U.S. films "Saw" and "Hostel" look like soft and sentimental Disney cartoons.
The last 30 or so minutes were some of the stupidest scenes I've watched in any movie, you can tell it just had absolutely no direction and almost felt like the director thought of an ending on the spot while they were filming this garbage.