À l'intérieur (Inside) is a horror thriller starring Alysson Paradis and Béatrice Dalle. Directed by Julien Maury, Alexandre Bustillo.

I was not ready for this one.

As the credits rolled, I sat on my couch, totally spent, with the final moments of this film playing over and over in my mind. My first instinct was to lash out and write a nasty review, as I was angry at this film for the traumatic 83 minutes it had just put me through. After a while, though, my admiration for it grew and grew. One means by which I judge the quality of a film, no matter the genre, is how much it “stays” with me after I see it. I’m sure Inside will haunt me for quite some time.

The startling opening shot shows a CGI rendered fetus in the womb being comforted by its mother’s voice. The fetus is then violently jolted forward. We cut to the aftermath of a car crash. A very pregnant young woman, battered and bloodied, regains consciousness in the driver’s seat. She checks on her husband. He did not survive.

The film’s simple yet effective plot begins: Four months after the crash, Sarah, the young widow, is scheduled to have labor induced on Christmas Day. Sullen and withdrawn, she refuses offers from her mother and her boss to spend Christmas Eve with them and chooses to stay home alone. As she begins to drift off to sleep, she receives a knock on the door. And all Hell breaks loose.

The visitor, known only in the credits as The Woman, is determined to take Sarah’s baby as her own, even if it means cutting the child from Sarah’s womb with a long, shiny pair of shears. The rest of the film is basically a battle to the death between Sarah and The Woman (along with some unfortunate victims who get in The Woman’s way).

Unlike most American horror films, Inside is uncompromising in its nihilism, brutality and gore. Once The Woman shows up, there are no false scares, humorous asides, or pat resolutions. The film refuses to let the audience have a breather. Lines that studio films might not dare cross, this film leaps blindly over.

This film pushes the woman in peril angle about as far as it can possibly go. Sarah, desperately trying to save her baby, is brutalized. The fights between the women, as well as the murders, are truly violent, nasty and gory. Loved ones and police who get in the way are slaughtered, graphically and painfully, by The Woman as the camera refuses to turn away. The walls are soon soaked in blood. Perhaps the most merciless aspect of the film: at certain points when Sarah is attacked, we even see the helpless infant as it is being jostled inside Sarah’s womb! This film becomes so intense and unflinching in its brutality that I was not surprised at all to read that there were many walkouts at film festivals (Note: the uncompromising gore and tension are also assuredly why this film went straight to DVD rather than getting a theatrical run, as it might be just too strong to stomach for many mainstream American critics).

Beatrice Dalle is unforgettable as The Woman. With her tight black corset dress, long black hair and angled, gap-toothed face (oddly homely and attractive at the same time), she is truly a fearsome, hateful villain. While some critics might compare her to other classic horror villains, I think a more apt comparison would be to Anton Chigurrh from No Country for Old Men. Both often seem more than they initially appear to be (ghosts, or Angels of Death perhaps), yet are all too human at other times (they can bleed and feel pain). Both have a unique killing machine of choice-The Woman’s shears; Chigurrh’s infamous cattle gun). Most importantly, both operate on a moral code known only to them, are obsessed with one goal and will slaughter anyone and anything that gets their way.

This film continues the wave of top notch horror film that have recently begun to come out of France and Belgium, starting with the slightly overrated High Tension, but continuing with the superbly creepy and tense thrillers Calvaire and, especially, Them. Inside is the best of them and in my opinion, places France as one of the leaders for overseas horror.
I have to be clear with this point: Inside is a nasty, brutal and nihilistic horror film. It is an unrelenting, merciless assault on the viewer and I would be nervous around anyone who wasn’t at least a little shaken by it. I have to recommend this film because it knows what it is and succeeds beautifully: it horrifies, disgusts, gives us a heroine to care about and creates an unforgettable villain. However, while I recommend it, I have to add (this coming from horror film buff) that I was too spent to want to see this one again for awhile. I wouldn’t recommend this film to anyone who is not a fan of horror (and I can’t see how a pregnant woman could possibly sit through it). If you find yourself lying awake at night after seeing this film, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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