Horror films are meant to be scary and keep us from falling asleep at night. When the French film Inside was released nearly a decade ago, the movie was a shock to audiences for its extreme violence and excessive gore yet remained golden with horror critics. It helped spawned a new wave of extreme French horror films such as High Tension and Martyrs. It was only a matter of time before an American remake was on the way, and despite some decent production values and lack of gory violence, Inside isn’t a horror flick that will stay with you.
After Sarah (Rachel Nichols) is injured in a horrific car accident that leaves her husband dead, all she has to look forward to is preparing for her daughter to be born. She’s in the final stages of her third trimester and it’s Christmas Eve in Chicago. It’s odd that it’s raining, but I forgot it’s a horror film. It always rains! A stranger (Laura Harring) arrives at Sarah’s home and soon enough causes a great deal of havoc. She’s after the one thing that Sarah holds dear, the life of her unborn child inside of her. It’s not only a fight for her survival but for the life of her child.
This stranger has got to be the strongest woman I’ve seen in a horror film as she murders characters with ease. Plus, the supporting characters appear long enough to be introduced and killed off. The fight choreography is odd and doesn’t feel like people are fighting, plus the script by Jaume Balaguero (Rec) brings back that favorite horror cliché where the heroine attacks the killer but doesn’t finish her off. Why does this always happen!? Oh, so we can get more scenes where the killer attacks again and again!
Verdict 1 out of 5
Despite some cool camera shots and decent production values, Inside fails at three things: the movie isn’t scary, there’s no tension or suspense and the villain played by Laura Harring isn’t convincing enough to keep us enthralled. I do applaud the lower amount of gore than the original film plus the ending is changed, but that isn’t enough for Inside to keep me interested. If extreme violence is your thing than watch the French version, other than that Inside is lackluster and tedious for a horror flick.
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