Troma Entertainment Begins Work on TOXIC AVENGER 5.

Troma Entertainment has signed Los Angeles writer Collyn McCoy to ink the 5th iteration of the iconic TOXIC AVENGER series of movies. McCoy came to the attention of Lloyd Kaufman, President of Troma Entertainment and Creator of the Toxic Avenger, by a chance meeting with Josh Olson, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE at Gremlins director Joe Dante’s office where both were filming segments of Dante’s webseries TRAILERS FROM HELL.

“Collyn’s unique talent will do more than justice to Troma’s 35-year, no-compromises legacy of shit-disturbing movies of the future!” said Kaufman. “His script will undoubtedly be 100% Grade-A Troma!” McCoy’s recent script THE HIGH LIFE (with co-writer Jacob J. Mauldin) is currently being produced by Route One Films, a new film company recently formed by Troma alum Jay Stern and Chip Diggins.

THE TOXIC AVENGER is a seminal film in American film history, and has clearly influenced and inspired many of today's mainstream directors, such as Trey Parker, Eli Roth, James Gunn and Quentin Tarantino. It is perhaps the most beloved title of Troma Entertainment, one of the longest running independent film studios in history (36 years). Since his introduction into the film world, “TOXIE” has become the definitive youth-oriented “cult” monster hero, and is recognized world-wide. Among its many iterations, THE TOXIC AVENGER has spawned a hit off-Broadway musical, Marvel comic book series, four film sequels, a popular Saturday-morning cartoon show, action figures, video games, and is currently being remade into a big-budget, mainstream film by Oscar-winner Akiva Goldsman and his team.

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HATCHET Movie Review

HATCHET (2006)

The legend of Victor Crowley has haunted the Louisiana bayou on the outskirts of New Orleans ever since the young and deformed Victor was accidentally murdered by his father, as he tried to save him during a fire. Now, they say that the ghost of Victor roams the area of his abandoned home, and murders anyone who gets too close. But Ben, along with his buddy Marcus, have no idea of this curse as they take a night time boat ride through the swamp via a voodoo shop tourist trap. Along with a loving married couple, a sleazy director and his two bimbo actresses who flash their breast on command, and a young woman who does not appear to be on the tour for fun, they are about to discover that there is truth behind every legend. And sometimes truth hurts. A lot.

From the very get go of writer and director Adam Green's horror project, it was hyped as a return to old school horror, and a return to championing the slasher antagonist. Green went so far as to get Robert Englund and Tony Todd in cameo performances, and the monstrously burly Kane Hodder to step into the shoes of Victor. Did he succeed? Well, if your idea of "old school" horror is ripping off the countless low-budget slasher clones that permeated drive-ins and video stores in the 80's that were already ripping off FRIDAY THE 13th, then yes, yes he did. Almost.

Green major problem with HATCHET is that he is purposely trying to make a film that creates shallow characters that you want to see die, setting up gratuitous nudity with a wink to the camera, and trying to create a new slasher anti-hero that will automatically be embraced by the fans. He is trying to create a film that you'd find on some dusty shelf in a mom-and-pop video store twenty years ago. But the films he is lovingly try to xerox never set out to be "bad" and never set out to obtain cult stats, it was only through the very nature of their limited budget, crew and cast and luck that they naturally became the schlock we so adore.

However, in Green's defense, there can be no denying the energy the man has for the genre, or his determination to see his vision come to the screen, however flawed it may be. This comes through the most in his dedication to using purely prosthetic and in-camera effects to achieve his visceral and brutal kills. Sadly, it takes almost fifty minutes of the roughly eight-minute running time to get there. First, the audience must wade through a knowingly corny script and annoying characters that you quickly realize are just lambs literally being driven to the slaughter. Most of the characters purposely grate against the skin, while the rest are just dull.

Once the carnage begins, Green lets loose what is obviously his key reason for making HATCHET, and that is setting up one gore-tastic murder sequence after another. Knowing beforehand there would be no MPAA to get in the way, Green goes for absolute broke as he gives each of his characters a caro syrup drenched demise that will put a smile on just about ever gorehound's face. Heads are popped off, limbed are torn asunder, and a belt-sander is put to good use on one victim's face just for starters. Victor Crowley's make-up, which looks very close to Jason Vorhees circa FRIDAY THE 13th PART 2, looks great, and his tattered clothes leave plenty of room for his deformed body to poke through. Kane Hodder, of course, dominates the screen every time he pops up. The man is in the business of being a killing machine, and business is good!

Green tries to stick to the "rules" he knows so well, and never for a second contemplates adding something or trying to put his own mark on the genre, which quickly devolves into a series of connected skits you can guess the ending of pretty early on. And with no characters to even route for, let alone care about, the whole thing becomes little more than a special effects resume reel to shop around. While it makes for an enjoyable but rather forgettable viewing (again, almost succeeding in the "old school horror" department), HATCHET should never have received the hype or praise that it did, nor does it achieve its self proclaimed moniker. It is the ultimate fan film made with professional equipment, from the story an eight-year old who has just been exposed to horror make up. No more and no less.

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TETSUO III THE BULLET MAN Coming To United States

IFC Films genre label IFC Midnight, has announced that they have acquired North American rights to two films from director Shinya Tsukamoto’s acclaimed Tetsuo trilogy: TETSUO III: THE BULLET MAN, the third installment in the series and the first new Tetsuo film in nearly 20 years, and TETSUO II: THE BODY HAMMER (1992), the second film in the series.

TETSUO III: THE BULLET MAN, Tsukamoto’s first English-language film, stars Eric Bossick as Anthony, a young man who was born and raised in Tokyo and is now raising a family there. What should be a happy time in Anthony’s life is not: his wife is crippled by anxiety and unable to leave the house. She also has recurring nightmares about a horrible fate awaiting the pair’s young son, Tom. Those nightmares turn out to be prophetic when Tom is cruelly run down in the street. Anthony flies into a terrible rage, and soon discovers that the power of his emotion transforms him into a strange, metallic monster. This delights the mysterious man who ran down Anthony’s son, a man who now continually taunts Anthony from a distance.

The company plans to release both films on demand and in selected theaters in early 2011.

Until then, here's the trailer for TETSUO III

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Selection of Still Shots from THE EXPENDABLES

Check out this fantastic selection of photos from the upcoming film THE EXPENDABLES, which promises a last stand of unapologetic violence and a love letter (in the most hetero way possible of course) to the bygone era of blow-everything-up 80's action.

SYNOPSIS: Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is a man with nothing to lose. He is a true cynic who describes what he does as "removing those hard to get at stains". The team behind him is made up of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), former SAS and a savant with anything that has a blade; Yin Yang (Jet Li), a master at close-quarter combat; Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), who has known Barney for ten years and is a long-barrel weapons specialist; Toll Road (Randy Couture), a skilled demolitions expert and considered the intellect of the group; and Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), a combat veteran and an expert in precision sniping who struggles with his own demons.

This group of mercenaries have been hired to infiltrate a South American country and overthrow its ruthless dictator. Once the mission begins, the men realize things aren't quite as they appear, finding themselves caught in a dangerous web of deceit and betrayal. With their mission thwarted and an innocent life in danger the men struggle with an even tougher challenge, one that threatens to destroy this band of brothers.















THE EXPENDABLES opens in US theaters August 13th 2010.

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On October 5th Lionsgate Will Make Blu-Ray Players Drip Red

Lionsgate is proud to announce the upcoming Blu-ray Disc releases of The Blair Witch Project, horror fan favorites Open Water, Open Water 2: Adrift, 2001 Maniacs and Hard Candy all available on October 5th. Retail price is just $19.99 each!

The Blair Witch Project

Just in time for Halloween, the viscerally frightening hit film The Blair Witch Project makes its Blu-ray Disc debut this October from Lionsgate. Set in 1994, three film students travel to the woods of Maryland to investigate an urban legend, and find themselves terrified to the core. The friends - Heather, Josh and Mike - never return from the Black Hills Forest, and one year later their missing footage is found and edited together to tell the story of the amateur filmmakers' terrifying two-day hike. Featuring four never-before-seen alternate endings, the film that caused a stir worldwide is featured for the first time in 1080P High Definition Widescreen, along with additional bonus materials that include an audio commentary, a featurette and extra footage. The Blair Witch Project garnered the 2000 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.

Open Water

Based on true events, the film follows an American couple who embark on an island getaway to escape their workaholic lifestyles and marital problems. Daniel and Susan, both certified scuba divers, board a local dive boat full of other vacationers for an underwater tour of the reef. Due to a series of innocent miscommunications and a distracted crew, the couple is accidentally left behind. As isolation sets in, they turn to one another for support but quickly fall apart. Soon they are prompted to question their own fate as they fight to stay alive in the chilling open waters of the shark-infested ocean.

One of the best reviewed films of 2004, Open Water was hailed as "Diabolically clever" (Rolling Stone) and "An expertly made suspense thriller!" (Los Angeles Times) and was an Official Selection of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. The Blu-ray Disc bonus features include a director and producer commentary, actor commentary, deleted scenes and a couple of featurettes.

Open Water 2: Adrift

Based on a harrowing true story about a weekend cruise aboard a luxury yacht that goes horribly awry for a group of old high school friends who forget to lower the ladder before they jump into the ocean for a swim. The boat proves impossible to climb, leaving them adrift, miles from shore. As the reality of the situation sinks in, the friends begin to turn on each other. Soon the exhaustion of keeping afloat and the struggle to get back on board begin to take a terrible toll. What started as a joyful reunion becomes a fight for survival! The Blu-ray Disc contains a "making-of" featurette.

2001 Maniacs

Based on the campy cult classic by the Godfather of gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and starring horror legend Robert Englund, 2001 Maniacs is a bloody comedy/spoof that audiences will love. 2001 Maniacs tells the story of a group of college students on their way to spring break. They decide to take a detour through an old southern town - and are soon in for a big surprise. The residents of Pleasant Valley insist the kids stay for their annual barbecue celebration...but instead of getting a taste of the old south, the old south gets a taste of them! Special features include two separate audio commentaries, the "Inside the Asylum" making-of featurette, deleted/extended scenes, outtakes and an alternate opening with John Landis.

High Tension

High Tension is an intense game of murder and survival, which will rattle viewers to their core. Marie and Alexia are classmates and best friends who go to Alexia's family home in the French countryside hoping to prepare for their college exams in peace and quiet. In the dead of night, a psychotic killer breaks into the house, and with the first swing of his knife, the girl's idyllic weekend turns into an endless nightmare. When Alexia is captured and thrown into a van, Marie attempts to rescue her friend from the evil murderer. High Tension truly brings slasher films back to their roots with this gore-addled film, packed with blood and guts. Special features include the original unrated French Language Director's Cut, an English dubbed version of the film, audio commentary with the director and screenwriter, plus select scene commentary with the director and star of the film. The disc also contains three featurettes - "Haute Horror - The Making of High Tension," "Building Tension," and "Gianetto De Rossi: The Truth, the Madness and the Magic."

Hard Candy

This edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller is directed by David Slade (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) and features Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page. Precocious 14-year-old Hayley probably shouldn't be going to a local coffee shop to meet Jeff, a 30-something fashion photographer she met on the Internet. But before she knows it, she's mixing drinks at Jeff's place and stripping for an impromptu photo shoot. It seems to be Jeff's lucky night. But Hayley isn't as innocent as she looks, and the night takes a turn when she begins to impose a hard-hitting investigation on Jeff in an attempt to reveal his possibly scandalous past. Special features include two separate audio commentaries with the filmmakers and the actors, deleted and extended scenes, a making-of documentary and the "Controversial Confection" mini-featurette.

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SyFy and Roger Corman Present SHARKTOPUS!

How does one up a Mega Shark and a Giant Octopus? By merging them together into one spectacular creature - Sharktopus!

The U.S. Navy has commissioned a group called Blue Water to genetically engineer a half-shark, half-octopus to help combat Somali pirate ships. Then things go wrong.

SHARKTOPUS, which features THE DARK KNIGHT's Eric Roberts, will air on the SyFy Channel at a still unspecified date.

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DEEP RED Movie Review

DEEP RED (1975)

Helga is a telepathic visiting Italy who feels the frightening presence of a disturbed mind when she is at a lecture. That night, while trying to focus on that mind, she is brutally killed by a hatchet-wielding maniac. Her death is seen by Marc, a jazz pianist who lives in the same building as her. While trying to save her, Marc thinks he sees something as he races through her apartment. It is this sliver of memory, that he can't recall if he imagined or if he truly saw something, that propels him through the city streets, trying to piece together the puzzle. His path leads him into constant contact with a local reporter, Gianna, who is trying to make a name for herself. But as each piece comes into play, or as a person comes too close to a vital clue, the black-gloved assailant returns from the shadows to murder again. Marc is certain that he is closing in on the truth, but the final discovery could also spell the end of his life!

Director and co-writer Dario Argento once again returns to a familiar world of unknown killers in this genre defining mystery, which was also written by Italian screenplay master Bernardino Zapponi. Together, the two create a film that would shape the crucial ingredients for the 70's giallo - shocking gore, a dizzying storyline, characters that evolve so that any of them could be the killer, and a pounding soundtrack. But though these would be the standard ingredients, it is Argento's eye aided by Luigi Kuveiller's cinematography that keeps DEEP RED a unique film experience that brings fans new and old to the movie again and again.

The story, which revolves around Marc Dely (David Hemmings), is a swirling mystery that keeps the viewers guessing throughout, offering red herrings and subplots to keep things interesting throughout the two hour plus running time. Like most of the gialli that precede DEEP RED and like the hallucinating Argento films to follow, the story often plays second fiddle to the atmosphere and style of the set designs where the scenes take place, but it is never compromised to allow such scenes to exist. The script also allows room for some sex equality banter between Marc and Gianna (Daria Nicolodi), as they vie against one another to be the more important amateur detective.

Argento literally goes for the throat in his quest to shock the audience with his brutal assault on the body. The film's title indeed delivers, as the deep red stuff pours several times throughout, and each one out does the other. Helga's murder, which we all know is coming but is still startling when it does happen, sets the bar high early on. Her attacker cleaves her several times with a hatchet, and each time we see the blade sink in. It is a horrific murder, and Macha Meril's screams resonate in the air. Argento keeps the shocks coming, as a woman's head is scalded, a knife pins a victim's head to a table through the neck, another head is crushed, and the finale death that must seen to be believed. In the ironically titled alternate version THE HATCHET MURDERS, almost all of the gore is cut out, so it is best to avoid that one.

Beyond the atmospheric sets and the always-thinking storyline, is Kuveiller's stunning work with a camera. Early on in the film, the camera pans across a series of small objects, leading up to an extended switchblade. Each item is larger than life, crisp and in focus, and the fluid of the camera as it pans so close is just breathtaking. The camera repeats these extreme close ups of objects throughout, each time with the same precision, bringing our eye so close that we are unable to see the importance to object represents. Argento's framing of scenes, accompanied by the elaborate crane shots, wild zooms, and dollying through windows continues to be as smooth and fluid as a quiet stream. The camera merely hovers and floats around the characters trying to keep up with the subtle important clues.

Also hovering around the characters is the incredible thumping and booming of prog-rockers Goblin. DEEP RED marks the first of several collaborations between Goblin and Argento, and their work here turns the concept of music to create mood head over heels. Often times, when one would normally expect a soft violin or small horn section drawing out single notes to build suspense, Goblin cranks up the deep driving bass, lets the guitars rip, the keyboard eerily chime, and the tom-toms rattle and roll. The result is almost a music video, with a band playing over the scene, instead of being part of it, and slams out much louder than any of the conversations and ambient background. Goblin would go on to much wider acclaim with their soundtrack work on the Italian cut of DAWN OF THE DEAD, but here is where they got their start and created an unequivocal sound in the world of horror.

Over thirty years later and even looming in the shadow of Argento's greatest triumph, SUSPIRIA, DEEP RED remains an important part of both his filmography and the horror community at large. The professionalism of all involved, as well as the daring use of music, keeps this movie at the head of the list of Italian giallos. In a distant past where gore was an asset and accompaniment to the story instead of merely a distraction, Dario Argento was one of the greats.

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MACHETE No Longer Faux; Here's The Official Trailer

Once upon a time in a grindhouse not so far away, MACHETE was just a fun faux movie trailer sandwiched between PLANET TERROR and DEATH PROOF. But then something wonderful happened... Robert Rodriguez decided to make it a really real movie, and on September 3rd, that movie becomes reality!

In the official trailer above, you'll see that the fake film scratches, jumps cuts and audio glitches seen in the original trailer have been removed in favor of a little gloss. But all the style, mayhem, grin-inducing dialogue and 100% ass-kicking still remain.

MACHETE stars Danny Trejo as a double-crossed, left for dead, and now very, very pissed off Mexican looking to even the score. The cast is rounded out by a nigh-jaw dropping list including Steven Seagal, Cheech Marin, Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, Jeff Fahey, Don Johnson and Robert DeNiro and is co-written/directed by Robert Rodriguez.

The MACHETE trailer should be seen this weekend on the big screen in front of PREDATORS.

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THE DESCENT PART 2 (2009) Movie Review

THE DESCENT: PART 2 (2009)

Rescuers have been searching for two days for the six spelunkers that never returned from a charted course into Boreham caves when Sarah, the lone survivor of the relentless attacks of the cave's blind inhabitants, is found in a completely separate area of the county. Sarah can't recall what happened during her time in the caves, nor what happened to her friends, and the local sheriff, along with members of the search team, bring Sarah back into the caves in hopes of rekindling her memory and hoping to find the rest of the missing women. What they find however, is one wave after another of the cave's crawling residents, who once again take to turning the unwelcome visitors into their next meal. Sarah, whose mind has snapped back into place, shifts right back into survival mode. But will her knowledge of her attackers be enough to save the group or are the destined never to reascend to the surface?

Picking up right after the end of the original DESCENT, the next chapter is an almost a text book example of a film that suffers from sequelitis with more guts and gore, more chases, and more jump scares at the expense of less character development and a less engaging story. Director Jon Harris does an excellent job of imitating the style and pace of Neil Marshall, who has reduced himself to executive producer for this entry. Harris plays with the claustrophobic elements of the caves and frantic desperation of the first film almost pitch perfect, as he pours one scene after the next on the viewers trying to bigger and better with every turn of the corner.

Shauna MacDonald, who returns to her role as Sarah, also does a pretty good imitation of her character from the first time around. There is not enough time given to recapture that emotional connection that was established in the first, but it is still quite enjoyable watching her dispatching one crawler after the next with whatever is handy at the moment. The rest of the characters are even less worthy of becoming emotionally attached to, and therein lies the main problem with the sequel. Now that you know what is in the caves, the entire cast can be seen as little more than a buffet being marched into the darkness, rather than characters to connect and feel for.

But with the loss of character investment comes the acquisition of far more gruesome kills and attacks than the first one. There seems to be a never-ending horde of crawlers in the sequel, and for every one that is killed via spikes, drills, bare hands and hair pins with copious amounts of blood pouring everywhere, two more appear from the cave's recesses to take their place. The crawler's attacks have also increased in voracity, whether it is tearing out great chunk's of their victim's necks or clawing through them, with equal amounts of spewing blood.

With several visits to set pieces and the leftover carnage of the original, repeating motifs and shots laid out in the original, and return visits from the original's cast in one form or another, this movie definitely earns its "PART 2" in spades. However, there is still just enough originality sprinkled into this competently made sequel to make this venture worth taking.

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Exclusive Interview with REC 2 Co-Writer/Director Paco Plaza

Movies at Midnight was recently given an opportunity to interview Paco Plaza, co-director and writer on REC and REC 2. This is that interview.

Movies at Midnight: REC 2 picks up right after the events in the original REC. Did you have this sequel in mind when you first began working on REC?

Paco Plaza: It was only after the release and success of the first one that we began to think that it was worth developing the cosmology we had created. When we thought about it, we came back to the original to rescue some ideas already planted there, like the demonic possession, that left a lot to explore.

How difficult was it to recreate the exterior shots and the interior of the building to match up to everything that had transpired in REC? Did any of the original cast return to play possessed versions of their characters?

We shot almost everything in the same location, except the penthouse, that we had to rebuild on set because we needed it for FX and so. And yes, all the actors of the original had their zombie cameo, and they had a lot of fun doing it; it was a bizarre reunion of old friends.

The film jumps right into the action, with little character development given to the main protagonists aside from the priest, which is a sharp shift from the development given Angela Vidal’s character and the tenants in the first film. Was this a conscious choice, or a victim of the cutting room floor?

We wanted the film to have the spirit of the Ramones; really fast, strong, a punch… we didn’t want people talking for too long, but something needed to be explained, so we tried to work out the most dynamic way of doing it. That was the biggest challenge. Our model on this was James Cameron’s ALIENS and its turn into action.

REC 2 introduces two groups of people, each with their own camera recording the events unfold. Pablo Rosso returns from the original REC as cinematographer, with Rosso playing a camera-wielding member of the police force entering the building. You also introduce a group of teenagers with a camera. Did Rosso record these scenes as well, or did the teens act as the camera operators for their scenes?

Some of them were shot by the teens; what we did always was ask them to do it in the rehearsals so Pablo could afterward reproduce the way [the teens were] carrying the camera, which was very peculiar and very different from what a pro would do.

THE EXORCIST is arguably one of the greatest American horror films, which of course deals with demonic possession. Did this influence your decision at all to make demonic possession the official root of the outbreak of evil in the film? Did your own religious beliefs affect the direction of the plot?

We both are big fans of THE EXORCIST, I agree it’s one of the best films ever made; we loved the idea of showing our creatures were not zombies, and in the end of REC we had [planted] the idea of a demonic possession happening in Portugal. I’m a practicing Catholic, but Jaume Balaguero is not, and I think the approach to the subject of possession for us was more aesthetic than religious.

REC 2 takes a bold step by exploring the idea of things that truly go bump in the dark. What scares you when the lights go out?

I’m afraid of losing my teeth during my sleep; that I wake up in the morning and have bitten them in dreams and my mouth is full of bone dust from them.

Your REC series has put a spotlight on Spain’s horror film industry. Do you see Spain continuing this trend and possibly becoming the next go-to source for horror cinema, much like Southeast Asia was in the late 1990s through the early 2000s?

That would be great! We have a lot of friends (Juan Antonio Bayona [THE ORPHANAGE], Gonzalo López-Gallego …) shooting great genre films, and I hope this continues for a long time.

Finally, REC 2 leaves the doorway open for another sequel, and according to the IMDB there are not one, but two sequels being worked on: REC Genesis, currently slated for 2011 and REC Apocalypse slated for 2012. Can you give us any hints as to what we might expect?

It’s true. We’re working in 2 more REC films. The first will begin production next November. I will direct Genesis and Jaume will handle Apocalypse; the first is a prequel and the second a sequel, and with them we’ll close the circle.

REC 2 opens with a limited theatrical run in the United States July 9th, and is currently available on Video on Demand.

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First Pictures from HATCHET 2 Feature Danielle Harris and Tony Todd

Here are the first official pictures to be released for Adam Green's upcoming sequel HATCHET 2, which will make its official debut at the London Film4 FrightFest.

HATCHET 2 picks up right where the original left off, with HATCHET survivor Marybeth (Danielle Harris replaces Tamara Feldman from the original) learning more about the curse of Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder) and returning to the New Orleans swamp to kill him. Tony Todd returns as the Reverend Zombie.

HATCHET 2 is scheduled for release in the United States this October.

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PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (2010) Teaser Trailer Released

One of the biggest horror letdowns of 2009, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, is getting a sequel. How there can be a sequel to "documentary" footage released by the families of the deceased couple is unclear at this point, but anyone whose willing to get fooled twice can find out when PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 is released in the United States on October 22nd, 2010.

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FRONTIER(S) (2007) Movie Review

FRONTIER(S) 2007

While Paris riots in the aftermath of a political election, a group of young friends pull off a daring heist and escape from the city in two cars to look for a place to lie low. They are separated during their escape, and the first car with Tom and Farid come across a secluded hostel where they spend the night. The pair find themselves way over their heads though, when they learn the hard way that the keepers of this inn are a family of psychotic cannibals. Though they try to make a getaway, they are overpowered and soon become the first, but not last, victims of the evening.

When Yasmine and Alex finally arrive at the hostel, they are incarcerated by the family and it seems their fates lie with Tom and Farid. But when the family discovers that Yasmine is pregnant, they decide in their twisted logic to make her the newest member of the family, so that they will have an heir to carry on their sadistic rituals and traditions. Yasmine, who in only a few short hours has been driven to the brink of insanity, makes a desperate attempt to fight back, but what chance will her new found survival instincts have against a savage family in the middle of nowhere?

If you’ve ever wondered to yourself after taking in a viewing of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE “that was great, but it would be even better if it were in French” then wonder no more. Director and writer Xavier Gens’ feature-length debut, which has been described as France’s answer to HOSTEL and SAW, owes much more in story and attitude to Tobe Hooper’s survival horror classic then the recent string of “torture porn” horror movies that have plagued this decade. Though to be certain, Gens’ execution of on-screen violence is much more in tune with Eli Roth’s gallons-of-gore approach rather than Hooper’s reliance on imagination to fill in the blanks.

Much like Hooper, Roth, and many others in between, Gens is determined to put his characters through sheer and absolute hell, and wants to make sure you are there for every painful second. Employing plenty of documentary-style and shaky-cam cinematography, as well as some rapid and jangly editing to heighten the fear and disorientation, Gens sticks tightly to his main characters as he follows their descent through insanity and toward their ultimate fate. Gens, much like many of his contemporary horror colleagues, coats everything with a slimy grime to give it that now standard gritty feel. And it all feels so derivative, like a grocery list with all the exact items needed to guarantee a familiar meal, without experimenting with the recipe.

What does make the film stand out is the performance by lead actress Karina Testa as Yasmine. This is Testa’s first horror role, after starring in several French comedies and dramas, and comes out with a home run swing. Her dedication to the craft of screaming and looking good while drenched in fake blood should ensure her return to horror in the very near future, and she makes a welcome addition to the elite stable of the “final girl”.

But what about the relentless violence? Does it do justice to the hype that has been building up since the movie showed at the Toronto Film Festival back in 2007? Gorehounds, rest assured that you will be quite satisfied in what Gens brings to the table, even if most of it feels like it has been seen before. There is plenty of unrestricted bloodletting and vicious effects galore to be had as the film makes its way toward its finale. And almost all of it is classic in-camera physical effects that have been carefully crafted. Of particular note to wait for is a sequence that could have almost been lifted from MEN BEHIND THE SUN, and an incident with a table saw that would make HAUTE TENSION's Marie proud.

While there really is nothing new to be had with FRONTIER(S), it does successfully manipulate the defined variables of the survival horror genre, and keeps France on the radar as a source for some twisted entertainment. And Gens does provide a slice of pleasing entertainment, providing your definition of entertainment is four twenty-somethings being decimated by a family of inbred Nazi cannibals with a flare for giving sermons.

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