Frontier(s): Unrated Director's Cut (After Dark Horrorfest)

Paris. The presidential election of a far-right politician leads to large scale riots. Amidst demonstrations and exploding molotov cocktails five young robbers flee after a heist. There is three months pregnant Yasmine, her brother Tom, who has been shot, Farid, Sami and Alex. They decide to split, and while dying Tom is brought to hospital, two guys are sent in advance to find a quiet hotel near the border. To make a long story short and in order to avoid giving too much away, let's suffice to say that all four end up in a miserable hotel in a remote area (and later in an abandoned mine) in the hands of cannibalistic nazis.And blood will flow in rivers...I am a big fan of FRONTIER(S). I have already watched it numerous times and of course there will be repeat viewings in weeks, months and years to come!The movie is incredibly intense, with lots of atmosphere (like the creepy dinner scene, where the nazis toast to "pure blood"). It makes excellent use of the run down locations and the nazi theme. Admittedly FRONTIER(S) is not the first backwoods splatter movie, but it is the combination of various plot elements that make the story so original (the political subtext, pregnant heroine, gore galore, nazis). The film manages to be absolutely convincing and believeable due to Xavier Gens' assured direction. It never ever is campy or trashy. The excessive bloodletting will appeal to all splatter fans, trust me on that!And of course more intellectually minded viewers will have a heyday discussing the political subtext afterwards.Actors deliver powerhouse performances and most have outstanding screen presence (especially Samuel Le Bihan as Goetz). I was particularly impressed with the gorgeous looking Estelle Lefébure as blonde nazi bitch Gilberte (given her looks I would not mind running the risk of landing on the dinner table) and Jean Pierre Jorris as head nazi Von Geisler. I also give kudos to Karina Testa as Yasmine in what must have been an exceptionally challenging role, both physically as well as emotionally. (Wait until you see her character's escape from the pigsty!)It has been said that the gunplay in FRONTIER(S) is unfitting for a horror movie. Quite aside that firstly this is not the first horror film with gunplay (e.g. THE DEVIL'S REJECTS features lots of it) and secondly many other ways of inflicting mayhem and violent death (from steam chamber to axe and also including a hearty bite in the neck usually seen in zombie movies to mention just a few!) are graphically shown, I think that the shootouts are not only excellently choreographed and filmed, but also quite appropriate for the characters and the nazi theme. Von Geisler has a Luger handgun, Gilberte sprays bullets with a Schmeisser submachine gun, Junior nazi boss Karl shoots a German carabine and big Goetz even a light machine gun!FRONTIER(S) is in my view however not without faults. I have two complaints: The nazi father's few sentences in German (mostly well-known Third Reich slogans like "Arbeit macht frei") are oddly accented and once or twice there are mispronounciations. Of course, this will likely go unnoticed by international audiences, but as a native speaker of German I could not help notice it (okay, okay, I admit I am really nitpicking here). More grave is the occasional ultra-fast paced editing. I am no fan of MTV-style editing. However it would be very unfair to emphasize these rather minor shortcomings, as these do in no waydiminish the impact of this exceptional horror fest.Unfortunately there are no extra features on the DVD to speak of, just a couple of admittedly very well made and interesting trailers - THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN, the new RAMBO movie, the excellent THE BACKWOODS and rather fittingly, HIGH TENSION, the gory slasher film which started the new French horror wave a couple of years ago (by the way, check out the last two movies, I have seen both of them and can assure you that you won't be disappointed with them).FRONTIER(S) comes with this reviewer's highest possible recommendations. Every self-respecting gorehound and splatter fan needs this DVD in his collection. Do yourself a favour and buy it. NOW !

Xavier Gens' Frontier(s) owes so much to Tobe Hooper's original Texas Chainsaw Massacre that you almost feel Hooper should be collecting royalties on it—and yet when you look at it from a different angle, Frontier(s) has so many innovative takes on the basic TCM scenario (a group of young city slickers running afoul of a backwoods family with strange customs) that it would really be a shame if it were judged only or primarily as a TCM tribute (or ripoff, depending how you feel about it). And yet, I think it's worth looking at the two side-by-side.I've done my best to give only the tiniest of spoilers here, just itty bitty hints of what goes on...I think of Tobe Hooper as a sort of Thelonius Monk, jazzing it up in all sorts of ways nobody was expecting and dashing all kinds of expectations. So many elements of Leatherface and his family go unexplained, the pace of events shifts at all sorts of unconventional places, and it ends in a spot that almost feels like there should be a whole other act.Whereas Gens is like this obsessive classical composer focused on using structure to his advantage. Not to spoil it, but the whole second half of this film is basically an escalation of adrenaline-filled, climactic moments so well planned an executed that it's almost impossible not to watch without getting an adrenaline rush.Hooper dropped all sorts of cultural and even subtle political references into TCM, and just let them swim around like goldfish; Gens's F(s) has a political point about racism in France that he's hammering home from the very first moments of the film when Yasmina says her world is anything but fair and equitable and then we cut to a massive Paris riot in response to the election of a far-right-wing French President.TCM was shot on the cheap, and the film-stock graininess gives it a natural and inimitable time-stamp as a work of the late 70s. Hooper and his people went to great lengths to spell out the madness of Leatherface clan in ever element of set dressing possible, throwing in details like the weird ornaments skewered on the barren branches of the trees outside the house, details for the curious viewer to puzzle over before the carnage begins.F(s) on the other hand is very slick. I've no idea how much money it cost to make and no interest right now in looking it up, but it looks pricey to me, and while there are all sorts of little details in the set dressing here as well, they are overpowered by a great attention to atmosphere. The air in the barnyard looks thick, the palette of the farmhouse interior seems to exude a musty odor and you can almost picture the rust on the hinge of the scissors during the haircut scene. But I promised no spoilers.I will say, though, that the key element of the crazy, backwoods family is much more fleshed out here than in TCM. Each character gets something of a backstory and a character arc.If there's one thing I find similar about these films, it's that, moment-to-moment, they were both quite unpredictable to me on first viewing. I had a general sense in both films of where things were heading (and, I mean, come on, with a name like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you sort of know what's coming), but if you had paused it for me in the middle of any scene in either film and said, "what do you think is about to happen?" I wouldn't be able to guess with much confidence. That's pretty rare once you realize how formulaic movies tend to be.

Trama :Yasmine attende un bambino che si può vedere in ecografia. La ragazza fa parte di un gruppo di malviventi di Banlieu che tenta un colpo approfittando dei disordini originati dal movimento politico Francese. Uno degli appartenenti viene ferito e il gruppo si divide. Finiscono però col finire dritti in un ostello al confine della regione, tutti nelle grinfie di una banda di psicopatici filo-nazisti che non vedono l'ora di divertirsi con le loro vittime.Si potrebbe definire anche un Horror politico, che dipinge la disperata situazione sociale della Francia.Le implicazioni politiche non sono mai banali, ma sono sempre chiare.Splatter/Gore-truculento francese del 2007, esordio alla regia di Xavier Gens. Che dire ? Un film davvero eccellente che prende spunto/ispirazione da molti titoli (Hostel, Saw, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc.) La regia è quasi sempre chiara (alcune sequenze action finiscono per essere un pò confuse), Mentre la direzione artistica è veramente meravigliosa (Montaggio, Fotografia, Colonna Sonora). Le scene gore e raccapriccianti sono tante, meglio ancora : un punto a favore. Il finale è stratosferico ed assolutamente incredibile. Il miglior esempio di Ultra-Violenza Esplicita mai visto in questi anni. Consigliato solo ed esclusivamente al solo pubblico adulto. Vietato ai minori di 18 anni.Grazie della spedizione, Amazon !

In this 2007 French horror [with English subtitles] a gang uses race riots as a distraction to commit a robbery, but when Sami (Adel Bencherif) is shot, Alex (Aurélien Wiik) and Sami’ pregnant sister Yasmine (Karina Testa) take him to a hospital while the other members of the gang, Tom (David Saracino) and Farid (Chems Dahmani) take the money to an inn near the border run by two women. So will the gang meet up or will events overtake them?From the very first scenes this is fast paced and only slackens the pace when the ‘horror’ kicks in. Most scenes are dark or shaded and added to the atmospheric music, gives this an eerie feel. The acting is superb, capturing a strong sense of panic and fear as the mood takes it. Full of ‘bad’ language, this actually seems to fit the action as does the violence, so doesn't seem gratuitous.The single disc loads to 3 trailers before going to main menu offering play, scene selection, special features [making of, trailer, teaser trailers] and subtitles on [default]/off. This is a definite 18 rating with its swearing, graphic violence, mutilation, shootings, torture and strong racial themes. It’s a sort of ‘Mum & Dad’ go to the ‘Hostel’ at 'Devils Bridge' and meet ‘The Boys from Brazil’, which makes for an exciting mix of wacko social engineering. Plenty of tension, some jumpy moments, gore brutality and the fear factor all add up to a worthwhile movie for the horror collection –provided you don’t mind subtitles.

ce film et un petit bijoux dans le genre on a vraiment rien a envier au u s a pour faire un bon film d horreur inport allemand avec version française en d t s h d une tres bonne affaire

Die Story verläuft sinnfrei im Sande, dennoch ist Frontiers einer der besseren Horrorstreifen.Die guten Darsteller liefern teils eine brilliante Leistung ab.Die deftigen Schockmomente verlieren duch den harten Schnitt kaum ihre Wirkung.Frontiers ist ein knallharter Streifen im Stile von 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'und genau so gut.Fast volle 5 Sterne sind mir das Wert.

La custodia è rovinata, il disco rovinato. Nella definizione del prodotto indicava: " ottime condizioni ". Il dvd va, ma è tutto rovinato.