Inside [À l'intérieur] by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury [2007]

Title: Inside / À l’intérieur
Director: Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury
Starring: Béatrice Dalle, Alysson Paradis
Runtime: 83 minutes
Year: 2007

I’ve never heard so much good about a single movie as I have about Inside [exceptions being Halloween and Jaws]. And like those movies, this is one I’d recommend to anyone and everyone. There wasn’t a single aspect or scene that disappointed me.

First of all the two main characters are strong female leads, a nice treat. Both are easy to identify with, easy to fall for, and very human. An element most horror villians lately seem to lack.

First we have Sarah, a young pregnant woman dealing with the recent death of her boyfriend. She’s so distant and cold you’d almost assume she wanted absolutely nothing to do with the scheduled birth that is to take place the very next day. Almost as though she is left to just go through the motions, alive but not really living. The photographers scattered around her home just echo the reality that she is now just merely a shell of her former self.

Once the amazingly put together character, commonly refered to as La Femme, enters the picture the blood just starts to pour. Plenty of blood. No chainsaws, no hardcore ammunition, just everyday scissors and knitting needles. Never again will those simple objects be looked at as just household items. You could arm an army with these bad boys and get the job done as La Femme clearly demostrates. Basic tools tend to always get the job done the most visually appealing way when it comes to horror, time and time again.

As the movie gets going there’s this heavy, nauseating feeling that just comes over you that prove just how damn good of a job this pair of directors did. They managed to pull of a constant urgent sense of emergency, the ongoing dread of no escape. This castrophobic moment where all Sarah can do is scream and beat at the walls that are keeping her confined is all to easy to relate to.

It seems easy enough to toss around buckets of blood and ruthless masked monsters, but to pull off what these dudes did? That level of suspence that keeps you demanding to know what’s going to happen next. Man, all I can say is thank you. Easily one of the best films I’ve seen in recent history and already an instant classic in my collection.

I had waited quite a while to see this little number, but the wait was well worth it.

Highly recommended.