AKA: À l'intérieur
DVD review (region 1)
Directed by Alexander Bustillo & Julien Maury
Starring Beatrice Dalle, Alysson Paradis, Nathalie Roussel
Released 15 April 2008

A pregnant widow, hours from giving birth, is trapped and stalked in her house by a psychotic middle aged woman. Meanwhile anyone who drops by is summarily slaughtered…

This French splatter-fest has attracted some acclaim but after a seriously suspenseful opening half hour it largely drops the ball and simply documents a catalogue of brainless gore and mutilation.

On the plus side Betty Blue star Dalle is fantastic as the helpless victim who has to witness her mother, and various other visitors, being sliced to pieces – and it is difficult not to get behind her plight. However, directors Bustillo and Maury (currently helming the Last House on the Left remake, God help us!) quickly show their true colours.

In short, this is just controversy for controversy’s sake – with the filmmakers staging such dire attempts at shock value as a messy childbirth sequence and a rather tasteless moment where the unborn baby is bashed about in his mother’s womb. Sadly, it all becomes rather tiresome – especially since the entire “plot” is just a constant variation on innovative ways in which to destroy the human body.

This region 1 DVD features a ‘making of’ documentary and is subtitled in English. Calum Waddell

VERDICT: 5/10
Despite style galore, there is nothing clever “inside” this empty-headed slasher opus.