THREE FILMS - INSIDE, MARTYRS, THE HORSEMAN

It seems like movies from the horror genre are where it’s at these days….Most of the innovative and interesting films I’ve seen have been horror films or at least partly horror….And they have also been foreign films.

Here’s three that particularly stand out….

INSIDE is a French film that came out in 2008 about a pregnant woman who at the beginning of the film survives a terrible car crash that kills her boyfriend. Later, on the eve before her expected delivery she is visited in her home by a strange woman who tells her that she wants her baby and then attempts to cut it out of her….The rest of the film is cat and mouse game in the house between the pregnant woman and the crazy woman that also involves those who visit the house (the pregnant woman’s mother, boss, and several police officers)….It’s an extremely violent and gory film but it does ratchet up the tension and has one of the best surprise endings I’ve ever seen….A superb shocker that is disturbing and dark that will stay with you afterwards.

Even more so is another French film MARTYRS In fact I would go as far as to say it is one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen….The gore makes one cringe particularly a scene near the end that involves someone being skinned alive….The plot is actually quite complex so I will only say here that it’s all about faith….In fact this is one of the deepest most complex philosophical films I have ever seen….The end “keep doubting” says it all….This is a stunning intellectual statement that just happens to be a horror film.

THE HORSEMAN isn’t quite a horror movie it’s an Australian revenge flick….It was suspenseful and well-made….It was ultra violent but not gory which means much was left to the imagination rather than shown in graphic detail.

For the first hour of the film, the vengeful father kills and tortures people left and right to get to the bottom of his daughter’s death….However, unlike say a film like DEATHWISH , the viewer is left wondering who the real bad guy here is as the people killed are in a gray area of wrongdoing (pornography industry) rather than black and white bad guys….I found this made for a slightly more thoughtful take on this type of action film.

However, the film changes into typical bad guy mode for the last half hour and I think it loses a bit there….Still, I think this has future cult film written all over it….The lead actor, Peter Marshall, is also really good and a very scary anti-hero....His relationship with a daughter surrogate, a pregnant teenage runaway, reminds me of George C Scott and Season Hubley in Paul Schrader's HARDCORE ....In fact there is some similarity between the films (aside from the ferocious violence in this film)