Inside was directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury and stars Béatrice Dalle and Alysson Paradis. It was released in 2007 in France, and has just recently been released on DVD in the United States.
First of all, if you do not appreciate stabbings, this is not the movie for you. At all. Just sayin'. It features quite a few puncture wounds caused by a wide variety of pointy objects, most notably by a shiny pair of sewing scissors. This especially freaked me out because I was working on a sewing project as I watched this movie, and just happened to have an identical pair sitting right in front of me on my desk. They were shining quite menacingly in the glow of my computer throughout the movie.
Also, according to Bloody Disgusting, this movie has been censored by Blockbuster in the states. They've removed a total of seven minutes, which I've heard really destroys the movie's integrity. Luckily, I managed to get a copy from a local independent rental place, (Video Fan, which, by the way, has an entire horror ROOM,) so my review will be of the complete film.
I think true suspense is not actually about the unknown, but more about knowing exactly what is about to happen and being powerless to stop it. Inside has a perfect understanding of this principle. I'm not one for yelling at the screen, but this movie had me cringing and shouting throughout. There were many moments where one could see exactly what was about to occur, which made that event so much more brutal to watch.
Accordingly, I think there is a legitimate place for predictability in horror. Twist endings are all well and good, but I feel they often result in "puzzle" movies. Figuring out the twist is entertaining, but as soon as the end is revealed, there is nothing left to ponder. Bruce Willis is dead and that's all one needs to know. I mean, there are notable exceptions, Fight Club (1999) being a prominent example, but most often all that results is a movie unworthy of a repeat viewing. There's nothing to care about once one knows the ending.
Consequently, it is when Inside attempts to be original that it fails. Towards the end of the film, the lights are shut off by La Femme, the killer who desires Sarah's baby. The police are of course killed when they go to the basement to turn them back on, along with a young Muslim man they had taken into custody earlier in the night for rioting. Later, Sarah enters the basement to confront La Femme in the dark when suddenly, the young man stands up and turns back on the lights. His eyes are blacked out, and I had a sudden "Huh? Is he a zombie?" moment before he was killed again. In a movie that seemed to pride itself in the authenticity of its brutality, this moment just didn't fit. It felt like a cop-out.
Similarly, La Femme's explanations for wanting Sarah's baby seemed a bit weak. It was just a bit too coincidental that La Femme and Sarah were both be pregnant when they crashed their cars into each other, killing La Femme's child and Sarah's husband. To me, it would have been more frightening to provide no motivation for La Femme's rampage beyond her desire for a child. Providing a reason breaks her character's actions down into a simple cause and effect reaction, rather than the result of a twisted human mind.Overall, this movie is intensely feminine. A majority of the weapons, from sewing scissors and knitting needles to hair sticks and kitchen knives, have especially domestic connotations, especially in view of the motherhood-centric plot. In general, it was refreshing to see, in light of the constant barrage of plots concerning hulking men chasing after nubile college girls.
Suspense: A+
Movie Overall: B+
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