10 Dark Films For Dark Times

Do politicians set the national mood? If they preach hatred and violence, does it send a message that it’s okay to target minority groups?

This French horror thriller argues that it does, and while it’s easy to dismiss Frontiers as an efficient massacre movie, there’s more going on here than meets the eye.

It’s the not-too-distant future, where the extreme right wing is vying for control (“We’re where America was 10 years ago,” says one character), leading to riots that leave the cities ablaze. Taking advantage of the chaos, a group of Muslim Arab youths attempt a robbery that goes wrong and leaves them running for their lives, but they can find no refuge even in the middle of nowhere.

Seeking shelter at an isolated hostel, the gang encounters a group of fascists who refer to them as “half breeds” and set about dispatching them in the grisliest ways possible, even cutting one member’s Achilles tendons before locking him in a shed with pigs.

Making his feature debut, Xavier Gens (Hitman) takes no prisoners and delivers the kind of brutal thriller he’d never be allowed to make in Hollywood. Heads explode, bodies are ripped apart by a circular saw and heads are bashed in, but its Frontiers’ fiercely charged political motivations that stick with you.