One of a new wave of ultra-explicit French horror/thrillers, FRONTIERS is everything a gore-drenched thriller should be. Set in the near future, it sees the usual bunch of unsuspecting victims holing up in a remote hotel, where they find themselves at the mercy of a hillbilly family who make the Texas Chainsaw clan look like the Brady Bunch. What follows is an odyssey of bloody murder, torture and revenge, expertly directed by Xavier Gans.
I'm not really a fan of gore films per se. A lot of the horror films I love were made by Universal and Hammer, and of course these are considered tame by modern standards. But I don't mind gore when it's done right, as in the likes of HOSTEL, and it's certainly done right here too. We see brutal violence and punishment meted out to innocent victims before the tables are finally turned and the bad guys get their comeuppance, and that's just the kind of bloodshed I love watching. The film can hardly be applauded for originality but it certainly makes up for it in execution.
This is a taut, tense and extremely gruelling affair which barely lets you catch your breath from beginning to end. Gans' direction is adroit and the spare script allows the story to be told mostly through action rather than needless dialogue. The performances are decent for what is clearly a low budget film, and the special effects are, of course, grisly and spectacular, especially that saw scene. FRONTIERS is a film for movie-goers who like their horror full-blooded and gritty and it beats any Saw movie hands down.
