New Extremity Collection (Volume One) (Umbrella) A 4-disc Blu-ray box set of some cinematic highlights from the genre of films christened “New French Extremity,” reveling in brutality, sex and violence. There is a sensational book: “Films of the New French Extremity” by Alexandra West. She really gives great insight into these fabulously disturbing films, which West says “grew out of the instability that French citizens felt every day…the gravitation towards horror made perfect sense as France was living in horrific times.”
High Tension (2003). Young French director Alexandre Aja tells the nightmarishly suspenseful story about two college girls- Marie (Cecile de France) and Alexia (Maiwenn)- out in a deserted French countryside house for the weekend and a rusty old truck that drives up in the middle of the night with a creepy stranger inside (Philippe Nahon, the butcher from I Stand Alone) armed with a straight razor. What happens next is so relentless and unbearably frightening you can’t even begin to imagine. Reader of Dean Koontz’ Intensity will find certain similarities with the plot, but the brilliant sound design and visuals and the overall effect is just harrowing and original. Horror fans have been grumbling about certain twists during the latter part of the film but I thought it gave the movie a perverse kick, but who cares- it will scare the living hell out of you.
Anatomy of Hell (2004). Another shocker from Catherine Breillat (Romance)- about a woman (Amira Casar) who hires a gay man (Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi) to spend four nights in a secluded house watching her at her most intimate moments- sleeping, masturbating, etc. Menstrual blood is played with, even a garden hoe is erotically employed during these evenings in Breillat’s heady exploration of the mysteries of feminine psyche. Risible as some of the elements seem, it gets pretty tedious. Provocative yes, but without the brilliant transcendence of Fat Girl.
Frontier(s) (2007) “My name is Yasmine. I am 3 months pregnant. One day, somebody said all people are born free and equal. The world I live in is the exact opposite. Who’d want to be born into chaos and hatred? I decided to spare my baby the worst.” This begins Xavier Gens’ electrifying horror film which sprang from his reaction to the 2002 French election of an extreme rightwing candidate. The film opens in the middle of a riot with the police. Yasmine (Karina Testa) is on the run with her ex Alex (Aurelien Wiik) and buddies Tom (David Saracino) and Farid (Chems Dahmani). Heading out of Paris and deep into the boondocks they stop at a remote motel and unfortunately right into the arms of a ferocious family of Nazi cannibals. Karina Testa gives an astonishing “final girl” performance as she is put through an excruciating ordeal- chained, her hair shorn, her pregnancy an excuse to further the family “master race.” A true cry of cinematic rage.
Martyrs. (2008) A harrowing French horror film by Pascal Laugier about a young woman vengefully seeking out the people responsible for her imprisonment and abuse as a child. A home invasion on a house she is convinced is where she was held against her will is inhabited by a seemingly nice family. It makes the viewer wonder if she is dangerously delusional. But then the movie pulls the rug out from under you. The entire last half hour is at times almost unbearably savage but also incredibly profound. There was a stupid American remake of this to avoid at all cost.
As Alexandra West so eloquently puts it, “Horror films illustrate and explore what society is scared of. The new French Extremity movement has shown what the French are afraid of…themselves.”
