'Inside' 2007

 'Inside' (2007)

7.7/10

"Four months after the death of her husband, a woman on the brink of motherhood is tormented in her home on Christmas Eve by a strange woman who wants her baby."

Next up on the wife & I's uncomfortable watch list was another wildly disturbing and ultra violent French film. 'Inside' was a film I watched for the first time and not only was it brutally disgusting and gory, but the subject matter was so twisted and gruesome that it stuck with me for a very long time. Again, like 'High Tension,' this era of French extremism in the horror genre was so intensely violent, bloody, and difficult to watch that you were almost certain to be left baffled and grossed out after watching any of them. I loved 'Inside' back in 2007 when the guy at Vintage Vinyl (RIP) sold it to me early with the warning "This one is gonna fuck you up!" and I still love it now after revisiting it. It's just so intense and dares to go where few films ever have, so I just cannot look away. It's every expectant mother's worst nightmare, and in my opinion, the most extreme and provocatively disturbing take on the home intruder concept that we've seen time & time again in the horror-thriller genre.

The story-line of this film is not particularly in-depth, it's actually very simple and easy to follow. Sarah is a young photographer that recently lost her boyfriend in a tragic car crash, and is rightfully so, still mourning his death. We learn in this opening car crash scene, Sarah is pregnant. The CGI shot of the baby in her belly is painfully awful, but I'll forgive the film for it. It is now the night of Christmas Eve and Sarah's pregnancy is going to be induced the next day. Home alone, she is visited by a mysterious woman dressed in all black who wants to get inside her house...this jolts her, so she soon calls the police. In classic horror film fashion, the cops assure her that things seem to be fine and to just lock up for the night. I had a laugh at the number of Sarah's house being '666' but thats about where any laughter ends with this dark film haha We as an audience can see the woman in black sneaking into the house in the background. Soon enough the woman's goal becomes clear, while Sarah sleeps, this woman plans to try and cut the unborn baby out of her belly. She will do anything to get this baby. She begins slicing into Sarah with giant scissors, but Sarah obviously wakes up and fights back, throwing the woman around while getting sliced a few times by the huge scissors. This scene is so gnarly...you see the tip of the scissors dip into Sarah's belly button in graphic detail. You also get a shot of blood seeping into the baby's embryotic chamber in another painfully awful CGI shot. Sarah bolts up when the woman is down and locks herself in the bathroom. This is where the majority of this film will take place; this setting really adds to the tension and torment of the film...extreme feelings of claustrophobia with no escape. Add to the fact that once she steps into the bathroom, her water breaks. Ugh...we get to see the fluid spill out all over the floor. This film goes there and shows you everything...even if you don't want to see it.

After not hearing from Sarah about Christmas dinner and what time she needs to be taken to the hospital for her birth, friends and family members begin to show up while Sarah is locked in the bathroom. The woman in black is of course still loose in the house. She convinces Sarah's coworker (who came to look at a dark photo of the woman in black that Sarah took earlier) that she is Sarah's mother, but suddenly Sarah's actual mother shows up...so you know this is about to get insane. Sarah's mother runs up the stairs looking for Sarah...Sarah now thinking it's the woman in black, opens the door and accidentally drives a knitting needle through her own mother's jugular vein. Fucking brutal. Blood squirts all over the walls like that famous ending scene in Argento's 'Tenebre,' as Sarah falls and cries out for her mother. Sarah screaming "Mommy!" repeatedly doesn't make this any easier to watch. Hearing the cries, Sarah's coworker runs up the stairs but is quickly stopped by the woman in black: stabbing through his knee. She then stabs his crotch in gory detail and slices his throat, and yes, we get to see it all in very graphic/realistic detail. It's so gross and intense, but you cannot look away. Seeing what Sarah has accidentally done to her own mother, the woman in black laughs and attempts to get into the bathroom again. This time her hand is stabbed by her own scissors by Sarah. 

It is here that she reveals her intentions of stealing Sarah's baby and why...all over a lit cigarette. The constant cigarette smoking only adds to the woman's dark tone in character; it's wonderful. It is revealed that she was the other person involved in Sarah's car accident in the beginning of the film, during which she lost her own baby. Not that big of a twist, but an actual realistic motive, right?

Soon, the police return to do a wellness check, but the woman in black dispatches them rather quickly. Even blowing one's brains out via pistol, splattering them all over Sarah's face. Yes, again we see this all in gory detail haha the effects are truly nauseating and amazing at the same time. Now ensues a bloody game of cat and mouse between the two characters throughout the house. Sarah uses the woman's bad smoking habit to her advantage and blasts a spray can in her face as she lights up...lighting the woman's face in a ball of flames. 

You'd think this would kill her and stop her right? Wrong haha now burnt & horribly disfigured, the woman is still coming for her. Sarah at this point has given up; almost willingly talking and surrendering to the now burnt woman...a waving of an invisible white flag of surrender for Sarah: she's had enough. Then suddenly, one of the believed to be dead visitors gets up in a pseudo-death rattle moment, accidentally shoots Sarah, in his zombie-like last gasp of life. The burnt woman in black dispatches him angrily because she almost had Sarah's baby willingly! Now crawling with her last breaths, Sarah begins giving birth on the stairs. The woman in black wastes no time and slices into Sarah's belly to remove the baby...killing Sarah. This is one of the most disgusting moments I have ever witnessed in a film.

 The blood is just spouting everywhere and covers every inch of the stairs. In the final scene we tour Sarah's lifeless body with a gaping hole ripped into her stomach alongside all the other corpses and carnage left in this film's wake. The final shot sees the burnt woman in black cradling the baby in a rocking chair...rocking ever so slowly. A truly chilling final shot...a sort of "wow, the bad guy won" moment that really sticks with you.

I really love this film. It disturbs me so much...even as a married man who does not plan on having children, it is just so remarkably grotesque and just a haunting concept. The main actresses are remarkable every step of the way. Sarah (Alysson Paradis) is great at playing the helpless expectant mother. Her screams, tears, and utter fear are palpable and so believable throughout every crazy event in the film. The woman in black (Béatrice Dalle) is just simply remarkable. She is so haunting and scary, even in her mannerisms. Her gap-toothed grimace and smirks have haunted me since I first saw this film, which is a testament to how well she played the role. The film is shot very well for a film that takes place almost entirely in a small house and bathroom. It is very dimly lit and dark throughout, which adds to the tension and claustrophobia this film makes you feel. Kudos to the lighting department because the lighting really helped this film's atmosphere in my opinion. Normally I'll end up complaining that I can't see anything, but this film lights up just the right spots at every moment perfectly. Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, the directors of this film didn't have a whole lot of success after this film; segments in 'ABCs of Death 2' and the 'Texas Chainsaw' prequel: 'Leatherface', both were met with "UGHHHHs" by me at least. The twosome's 'TCM' film is the absolute worst in the series in my opinion. But, I thank them for 'Inside' and its contribution to this amazing moment in French horror extremism. 'Inside' is a home run for me; a spectacle all the way through...and hey, not everything is going to be a hit.

It's the gore and ultra-violence that takes center stage in this film though. It is so graphic and gives you the chills at just how much you get to see. Kudos to the SPFX team here as well; it's just so real looking that it is bone chilling and makes you wince. They must have used thousands of gallons of blood in this film. Imagine making a fake pregnant belly to be cut open in a film? Yikes and holy shit! So gnarly. It is just unrelenting from start to finish: the bloody carnage of a car crash in the opening moments, scissors cutting through a pregnant belly/hand/man's genitals, heads exploding, brains splashing all over faces, heads being lit on fire, a baby being removed from a woman's stomach, and just blood everywhere...whew, just saying it all grossed me out. Like I've said countless times, you see all of this in graphically vivid detail. It's disgusting, but you cannot look away...this film is not for the weak stomached, but in my opinion it is worth it for the haunting storyline and just the guttural experience haha! This is one of those instances where I think the filmmakers intended on being disturbing and shocking for the sake of being just disturbing and shocking...but it works for me in this one! My only complaint I have for this film is the CGI baby in the womb shots...they just look so cartoon-ish and corny. When a film has such amazing special effects, you'd think they would have made a practical baby for those shots, but oh well. This movie did fuck me up...you were right Vintage Vinyl employee in 2007! And it still fucks me up, which is why I enjoy it. Am I a masochist? This is not going to be for everyone, but I enjoyed the extreme brutal violence and gore brought into the home intruder sub-genre. Great, now I'm scared to be home alone haha happy watching and vomiting friends!