Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Inside


Review by J.C.Walsh

Inside is an unrelenting, over the top French horror movie. It focuses on a pregnant woman named Sarah who lost her husband in a terrible car accident. Four months pass and it is now Christmas Eve, she just wants to spend some alone time, awaiting the arrival of her unborn child. Later that evening she is stalked by a madwoman who knows a lot about her. The madwoman disappears after Sarah calls the police. The police leave, strongly believing that the woman won't came back and Sarah should be safe. The mad woman comes back and tries to kill Sarah, after that all hell breaks lose.

The movie starts off with a slow build, enabling the audience to get to know Sarah very well before she has to face her nightmare, fighting for her life and her unborn child's life while sustaining some nasty injuries. With great acting and well written dialogue (French with English subtitles) both female roles make a powerful impact to the story. The filming is very unique, where some scenes Sarah would fall or is attacked, it would switch to the baby shaking around inside of her womb actually feeling the distress that its mother was going through. There isn't much to the score, which sometimes can be a bit eerie, but where there is mostly silence, it adds a more realistic tone to the film's atmosphere. Although, there are some sound effects used only in scenes when Sarah is upset, or when the antagonist is growing more insane with each failed attempt to make her kill. These effects add to the disturbing feel and the uneasiness the film successfully invokes.

And the blood! There is so much blood in this movie you feel like you're drowning in it. During the film Sarah locks herself in the bathroom to protect herself from her attacker, giving room for other characters to come into the story, all try desperately to help her. This takes the story in a whole different direction, creating more intensity and then the body count begins to rise, leaving Sarah no choice but to fight back. Each scene of violence and gore left my jaw dropping, not giving me enough time to pick it back up.

Overall, Inside is an unforgettable horror movie. The characters are strong. The story is realistic and controversial. The gore and violence is as extreme as you can get. It's an intense film that will have you on the edge of your seat, and it'll keep you breathless all the way to its shocking conclusion.