I have, in the past, covered both the Italian and Asian (primarily Japanese) horror film genres. If you have followed my articles, you will know that I just love all things dodgy and Italian in Movieland. I also happen to worship French cinema - and I have written about high art films (the canon of Robert Bresson) as well as the kinkier side of things (Les Valseuses, Maîtresse, Emmanuelle). French cinema is often viewed as being extremely arty or extremely kinky. There is, however, another facet of French cinema which I am focusing my beady eye upon in this article, and that is the French horror movie. Most of them are the product of the New French Extremity movement and are therefore fairly recent. But there are couple of French horror classics with films such as Les Yeux Sans Visage and Les Diaboliques to throw into the mix. French horror films are noted for being extreme in their subject matter, super stylish and inventive. I have picked out 15 of the finest French horror films for you to rendezvous with...
15. Frontiers (2007)
A far right candidate is elected as French President sparking massive riots in Paris. A group of young people see this as their chance to stage a robbery and make some money. Of course, things go wrong they end up on the run, staying at a motel which is run by insane and murderous Neo-Nazis who proceed to humiliate, torture and kill our fugitives. I don't like Frontiers. I don't think it is fit to lick Martyr's or Inside's boots, but I'm sure a lot of people out there appreciate it. I think it is trying to be too many things at once - a comment on society, a heist movie, a crappy rip-off of films like The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You don't even get any decent gore for your money - it is obligatory stuff for a film of this ilk. Some decent gore may have enlivened it, but I found it dreadfully boring and I was impatient for the damn thing to end. The acting is lame and the whole format of the film has been done to death already. I included the film on the list because it is one of the most prominent French horror films of recent years, and I would love any fans of Frontiers among you to prove to me that it has merit.