Logically
enough, a group of Spanish filmmakers has remade a New French Extremity horror film
for an English-speaking audience. Julien Maury & Alexandre Bustillo’s L’Interieur is considered a prime
example of the sub-genre, but the new film files down some of the extreme
edges. It also removes the Frenchness and it cannot be particularly new, since
the original released in 2007. Regardless, a pregnant widow will still be
stalked by a mystery woman in Miguel Ángel Vivas’s Inside (trailer
here), which opens this Friday in select
theaters.
Sarah
Clark and her unborn baby survived the crash, but her husband did not. This already puts her in a vulnerable state.
When you factor in her malfunctioning hearing aid, she ought to be a sitting
duck for the would-be fetal abductor. However, Clark comes to from the
chloroform just in time to barricade herself in the bathroom. Of course, she
cannot hole up in there indefinitely. Plus, she would like to stop the mystery
woman from killing the various people who come to check up on her, including some
of the dumbest cops ever.
Fans
of the original will be distressed to know Clark is no longer a photographer and
she only uses a camera as a blunt object. One of the nastier twists remains
intact, but this time around, it is more of a face-palm moment. In contrast, other
aspects are strategically less dark. Yet, perhaps most problematic is the sheer
uselessness of the Chicago PD, who you would expect to come in SWAT-style, guns
blazing. The idea that a woman who could pass for Clark’s mother could rack up such
a body count is hard to buy.
Nevertheless,
it is still hard to avoid getting caught up in such an insidiously manipulative
woman-in-jeopardy premise. As Clark, Rachel Nichols is convincingly pregnant and
freaked out. Laura Harring is no Béatrice Dalle, but she is still quite fierce
playing the super-driven villainess. For what its worth, Ben Temple has some
surprisingly poignant moments as Isaac, one of Clark’s kindly gay neighbors,
who makes the most of a rather thankless supporting function.
Cinematographer
Josu Inchaustegui gives Inside the
ominous look of high-end Spanish horror, but it is hard to believe a betwixt-and-between
remake like this was co-written by [Rec]-franchise
genre auteur Jaume Balagueró. Even
though the Blumhouse remake got away with softening the most soul-deadening
aspects of Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs (a
contention not everyone agrees with), it generally seems like a New French
Extremity redo needs to either double-down on the extreme elements or totally
reconceive them without the shock and gore. In the case of Inside, it is hard to see the point. Recommended for hardcore fans
of Spanish horror (even when produced in English), Inside releases in theaters and on iTunes this Friday (1/12).
