Gratuitous Scary Movie Post - Inside
This is one of two posts I'm hoping to do on films from the recent new wave of crazy-ass French horror.
Inside (or À l'intérieur, if you want to be snooty and use the French title) is, at its core, a "home invasion" story, along the lines of Panic Room. Only way - WAY - more violent and disturbing.
Sarah, who is a several months pregnant, is in a car accident in the very first scene. Her husband is killed, but her baby survives. Fast forward to a few months later, on the evening before Sarah is to be induced, and she's packing and making preparations to go to the hospital and have the baby.
A woman knocks at the door, and Sarah's night of hell begins. The woman starts with a ruse about needing to use the telephone to call for help. Sarah tries to get rid of her by saying that her husband is asleep, but the woman seems to know Sarah's husband is dead. *cue Twilight Zone music* Sarah takes a photo of the woman through a window and calls the police; the woman has disappeared by the time the police get there, and they tell her she will be fine (presumably thinking that she is overly anxious due to her condition), but they call for a patrol car to come by to put her mind at ease.
Sarah figures out that the woman has been stalking her, but feeling relatively safe inside her home, she goes to bed. I'd say this was a big mistake, but what happens next would have happened even if she had stayed up all night and watched the door like a hawk. As Sarah is drifting to sleep the woman appears in her bedroom (!!!), wielding a pair of scissors and puncturing Sarah in the navel with them (!!!!!!!). Sarah manages to fight her off and locks herself in the bathroom. Like anyone would, Sarah asks the woman why she's doing this. The woman says, quite simply, as if this is the most reasonable thing in the world, that she wants Sarah's child.
Sarah's employer arrives, I think, to pick up some photographs that Sarah wanted enhanced. The woman, still in the house, pretends to be Sarah's mother when the man finds her. Eventually, however, Sarah's real mother arrives while the woman is in another room. The mother, unaware of what is going on, goes looking for Sarah, who has crept out of the bathroom, intending to catch her intruder unawares and subdue and/or kill her. Seeing her mother in the hallway, but thinking she is her attacker, Sarah kills her. Meanwhile, the woman has stabbed Sarah's employer to death.
The police arrive, first the patrol car, then the original pair of cops that Sarah called, who come by after trying to follow up on Sarah and failing to get a response from the patrol car. The woman lays waste to them all. I don't care how many movies you've seen where the hero overcomes all obstacles and wins in the end, you should know at this point, without even watching any further, this woman is going to get that baby.
There's a fairly spectacular standoff, during which Sarah goes into labor and - horror of horrors - actually has to rely on the woman to help her deliver. The baby is stuck and, in the film's pièce de résistance, the woman takes the scissors, literally cuts the baby out of Sarah's belly, and leaves her dead in a puddle of blood as she rocks the child and sings to it. Win.
This is a pretty outstanding movie. As ridiculous as the set-up might be, it's very well executed. The tension feels very real and Beatrice Dalle, who plays the unnamed woman, is truly frightening. She's like the Terminator - she will. not. stop. The lengths she is willing to go to to get this child are outrageous. I had to laugh when a character comes into the house and, upon seeing the carnage, exclaims that it looks like a war zone. And it's all from one crazy woman! And just the idea that this woman, who is nine months pregnant and just about as vulnerable as she could possibly be, has to defend herself against this maniac is highly upsetting.
Great, great horror flick, but definitely not for the faint of heart, as you probably know already if you've read this far.
Inside (or À l'intérieur, if you want to be snooty and use the French title) is, at its core, a "home invasion" story, along the lines of Panic Room. Only way - WAY - more violent and disturbing.
Sarah, who is a several months pregnant, is in a car accident in the very first scene. Her husband is killed, but her baby survives. Fast forward to a few months later, on the evening before Sarah is to be induced, and she's packing and making preparations to go to the hospital and have the baby.
A woman knocks at the door, and Sarah's night of hell begins. The woman starts with a ruse about needing to use the telephone to call for help. Sarah tries to get rid of her by saying that her husband is asleep, but the woman seems to know Sarah's husband is dead. *cue Twilight Zone music* Sarah takes a photo of the woman through a window and calls the police; the woman has disappeared by the time the police get there, and they tell her she will be fine (presumably thinking that she is overly anxious due to her condition), but they call for a patrol car to come by to put her mind at ease.
Sarah figures out that the woman has been stalking her, but feeling relatively safe inside her home, she goes to bed. I'd say this was a big mistake, but what happens next would have happened even if she had stayed up all night and watched the door like a hawk. As Sarah is drifting to sleep the woman appears in her bedroom (!!!), wielding a pair of scissors and puncturing Sarah in the navel with them (!!!!!!!). Sarah manages to fight her off and locks herself in the bathroom. Like anyone would, Sarah asks the woman why she's doing this. The woman says, quite simply, as if this is the most reasonable thing in the world, that she wants Sarah's child.
Sarah's employer arrives, I think, to pick up some photographs that Sarah wanted enhanced. The woman, still in the house, pretends to be Sarah's mother when the man finds her. Eventually, however, Sarah's real mother arrives while the woman is in another room. The mother, unaware of what is going on, goes looking for Sarah, who has crept out of the bathroom, intending to catch her intruder unawares and subdue and/or kill her. Seeing her mother in the hallway, but thinking she is her attacker, Sarah kills her. Meanwhile, the woman has stabbed Sarah's employer to death.
The police arrive, first the patrol car, then the original pair of cops that Sarah called, who come by after trying to follow up on Sarah and failing to get a response from the patrol car. The woman lays waste to them all. I don't care how many movies you've seen where the hero overcomes all obstacles and wins in the end, you should know at this point, without even watching any further, this woman is going to get that baby.
There's a fairly spectacular standoff, during which Sarah goes into labor and - horror of horrors - actually has to rely on the woman to help her deliver. The baby is stuck and, in the film's pièce de résistance, the woman takes the scissors, literally cuts the baby out of Sarah's belly, and leaves her dead in a puddle of blood as she rocks the child and sings to it. Win.
This is a pretty outstanding movie. As ridiculous as the set-up might be, it's very well executed. The tension feels very real and Beatrice Dalle, who plays the unnamed woman, is truly frightening. She's like the Terminator - she will. not. stop. The lengths she is willing to go to to get this child are outrageous. I had to laugh when a character comes into the house and, upon seeing the carnage, exclaims that it looks like a war zone. And it's all from one crazy woman! And just the idea that this woman, who is nine months pregnant and just about as vulnerable as she could possibly be, has to defend herself against this maniac is highly upsetting.
Great, great horror flick, but definitely not for the faint of heart, as you probably know already if you've read this far.