Frontiere(s)

FRONTIERE(S) (2007) - Sept. 9, 2007
Blech. Another disappointment. You'd think, given the premise (a group of French criminals are terrorized by a family of Neo-Nazis), that you wouldn't be able to go wrong. Nope. The film is exceptionally derivative, and everything it steals has been done better elsewhere. But the film's lack of originality is actually the least of its concerns. Its main problem is Xavier Gens' mediocre direction, who has no idea how to properly direct action (whenever there's any action, the old shaky-cam/quick-cut trope rears its ugly head), and gives the rest of the film the same ugly greenish-gray visual look featured in too many recent mediocre horror films (such as the Texas Chainsaw remake). The main characters are all either underdeveloped or downright unlikable, making it pretty hard to care when they start getting killed off (and they make some pretty stupid choices, even for idiotic horror movie characters -- such as heading into a dark cave when they should be trying to run away). As for the bad guys, they're all generic and bland. There were a few good scenes here (a scene involving a table-saw is probably one of the best horror movie kills I've ever seen), and the film improves somewhat near the end (right around the aforementioned table-saw scene), but the film is otherwise unpleasant and barely entertaining (though again, I had a chance to think about how good Boy A was). *1/2