Frontière(s) (2007) Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set and Standard Blu-ray Review
Frontière(s) (2007) Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set and Standard Blu-ray Review
Shocking and thrilling audiences and offending (some) critics on its original release, French helmer Gens’ blood-fuelled, brutal feature is set for a stunning new Limited-Edition outing. The box set is presented in a rigid slipcase with new artwork by James Neal and a 70-page book featuring new essays and comes complete with a bucket load of special features. These will be available on both versions and include: an audio commentary with Zoë Rose Smith and Kelly Gredner, new interviews with cast and crew, the ‘Making of’, a short film and more! Please see full list below.
It’s a time of severe political unrest in Paris, an extreme right-wing party has come to power and violent protests soon turn into full scale riots. As the streets burn, a group of young reprobates use the chaos to their advantage, robbing anything and everything they can. But as they get in too deep, tragedy strikes and with the police on their tail, they’re forced to split up and flee the city.
Their situation goes from bad to worse as they end up holed up in a remote countryside guesthouse, where they come face to face with a strange clan, the Von Geislers – a ruthlessly and violently oppressive father, his fiercely sexual daughters, and brutish sons – who soon reveal themselves as neo-Nazis. The debauched family’s fantasy of starting a new Aryan race could soon be realised as Yasmine (Karina Testa, Budapest), could be the key to the fresh bloodline they’ve been waiting for. Can she and her friends survive the human abattoir, or will she become ‘one of the family’?
For most of the first decade of the 21st Century French horror cinema rocked! Labelled as the ‘New French Extremity’ the films presented a controversial no holds barred approach that led to debates about the violent and often also violently sexual content. Kicking off with Gaspar Noé’s IRREVERSIBLE (2002) and taking in such extreme and gory delights as HIGH TENSION (2003) INSIDE (2007) and MARTYRS (2008) along the way, they were the perfect anecdote to the likes of HOSTEL and the SAW movies that purported to be envelope-pushing with their gore-soaked content, but were a far cry from the nastiness of their French counterparts.
FRONTIER(S), released in 2007, was one such ‘New French Extremity’ movie. At the time of its release FRONTIER(S) packed a powerful punch with its high levels of shocking violence. With the passing years what was once considered ground-breaking in a visceral sense now seems commonplace, as is often the way with horror flicks that break new ground (only Wes Craven’s original LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT retained its power to shock an appal and remains to this day one of the only films I have opted never to watch again).
Stripped of its former power to brutalise the viewer’s sensibilities, FRONTIER(S) now plays as yet another variation on themes from Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1960) and Hooper’s original THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1975). Director Xavier Gens’ feature film debut is still a decent watch, however one that nowadays feels more muted in its effect on the viewer, no longer retaining the ability to bludgeon the viewer into a quivering wreck.
It’s very stylish and promised much for Gens’ future directing career which then unfortunately took a misstep with his HITMAN big-screen game adaptation. Samuel Le Bihan as Goetz steals the acting honours delivering a pitch-perfect performance imbued with simmering rage. He looks great too, which is always a plus as it’s always nice to have someone that’s easy on the eye to watch amongst the splatter.
Special Features
• Audio Commentary with Zoë Rose Smith and Kelly Gredner
• Reinventing the Extreme: a new interview with director Xavier Gens
• Going Method: a new interview with actor Karina Testa
• A Light in the Dark: a new interview with actor Maud Forget
• Lights, Camera… Fear: a new interview with cinematographer Laurent Barès
• Sounds of Violence: a new interview with composer Jean-Piere Taïeb
• The Making of Frontier(s)
• Fotografik Short Film
• Xavier Gens Highschool Trailers
• Frontier(s) Trailers
• Storyboard Comparisons
• Behind-the-Scenes Photos with commentary by Xavier Gens and Karina Testa
• Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by Xavier Gens and Karina Testa
Limited Edition Contents
• Rigid slipcase with new artwork by James Neal
• 70 page book with new essays by Dr Sarah Cleary, Mark H Harris, Carolyn Mauricette and Alexandra West
• Six collectors’ art cards
