Frontier(s) (2007)

Directed by: Xavier Gens | 108 minutes | crime, drama, horror, thriller | Actors: Karina Testa, Samuel Le Bihan, Estelle Lefébure, Aurélien Wiik, David Saracino, Chems Dahmani, Maud Forget, Amélie Daure, Rosine Favey, Adel Bencherif, Joël Lefrançois, Patrick Ligardes

Where did the horror movie go wrong? Just a question that the French horror film ‘Frontière(s)’ raises. The American tidal wave of glossy films in which beautiful girls are chased by masked freaks are instantly relegated to a collection of soft comedies after seeing this French film. ‘Frontière(s)’ is a bleak, thrilling slasher that will haunt you for days afterwards. So good.

The film immediately puts you on the wrong track because of the realistic tone of a Paris ravaged by riots. The reason for the riots is the election of a far-right president who puts the relations between white and black and poor and rich on edge. A youth gang no longer sees life in the French capital and decides to go to Amsterdam. The fact that the group has committed a robbery and is being chased by the police also plays a role, but that aside.

When one of the members, Sami the brother of ‘heroine’ Yasmine, is hit by a bullet, the group takes a stand. Tom and Farid are already crossing the border, while Yasmine takes her brother to the hospital with her ex-boyfriend Alex. Later they join the two friends. At least that’s the plan. A plan that means the beginning of the bitter end…

‘Frontière(s)’ doesn’t like the story. This French film is sort of a cross between ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and ‘Killing Zoe’ (minus the bank robbery), but then a bit harder (and not a few teeth). In the first half hour, director Xavier Gens presents the film as a kind of urban crime story and then switches to hard-hitting horror. While the transition isn’t completely smooth, it does work. The atmosphere gradually becomes more and more uncomfortable – and the roaring promo lyrics on the DVD cover have already made it clear that you can expect brutal violence – and you just feel that it can’t possibly end well.

As thin as the story is, the actors take the source material very seriously. The acting is convincing and very strong across the board. Lead actress Karina Testa portrays Yasmine as a frightened bird that slowly transforms into a killing machine, but one against will and thanks. The realistic atmosphere, the coarse-grained appearance of the film and the sparse soundtrack also provide chilling tension. It is very clever that Gens can make his film about cannibalistic murderers, a disturbed family and a psychopathic Nazi credible. If there are three clichéd subjects in horror films, it is the holy trinity for the genre.

The greatest merit of ‘Frontière(s)’ is that the film does what most horror films fail to do, which is to generate fear. Over the years, horror has become a kind of male version of the rom-com. The mathematical formula ‘beautiful teenager(girls) + sadistic killer = blood and naked’ has become so familiar that the average moviegoer knows what to expect. Horror has become nice and easy, a diversion. Think of it as a gift that the recipient has chosen himself: nice, but the surprise is gone. Gens also works through certain formulas, but knows how to strike the right chord. Horror must be scary, a confrontation with your own fears.

‘Frontière(s)’ is terrifying and shocking, because it’s about powerlessness, about surviving in a world you don’t know. Whatever the film does is disrupt you. If the heroine survived, what kind of life would she have left? Death even seems like a liberation to some, because “then she is rid of it.” Gens delves deep into the psyche of humanity and confronts you with its most gruesome aspects: cannibalism, racism, abuse and blind hatred. As grotesque as the scenes can be at times, there is always a glimpse of realism. The despair, desperation and extreme violence will not leave you in the cold and will remain in your head afterwards. And that’s how horror should be: oppressive, challenging and exhausting. And let ‘Frontière(s)’ be the textbook example of this. To stay in cannibal terms: mandatory reading!