The French "Extreme Wave"

[Os Cangaceiros]

Since 2000, France has been coming out with what have consistently been some of the best Horror films of the decade, in my opinion (and in the case of Inside, ANY decade). The films that have been coming out have been very impressive, and in all honesty make American Horror films look very tame by comparison; most of the topics focus on visceral, raw brutality that is both compelling and disturbing, sometimes combined with political subtext (both Frontiers and Inside are set against the backdrop of massive rioting in Paris, and in Frontiers the antagonists are Neo-Nazis) and competent filmmaking that, in my opinion, puts the films in another league when compared to fairly recent American productions like the Saw series.

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Them, Sheitan and Malifique are also French Horrors worth checking out, although not the bestial blood orgies that gorehounds like myself appreciate. :)

[KurtFF8]

I don't see how this explosion of "torture porn" is a good thing.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I don't see how this explosion of "torture porn" is a good thing.

Haha, I should unleash my horror nerd rage on you for using the phrase "torture porn".

But seriously, I and other people feel that it's kind of a dismissive and derogatory term. The term implies that these films provide some sort of stimulation for the viewer through the act of viewing violence, which isn't the case...I blame critics who originally fielded the term around.

These films aren't really what is classically considered "torture porn" (films like Hostel, Guinea Pig et al), anyway, with the possible exception of Martyrs.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I've heard good things about "Frontiers" and it sounds interesting, but Irreversible was terrible. "High Tension" was overrated. I feel old and stodgy for saying it, but there's no comparison to the new wave with these movies - the New Wave was about the best thing to happen in popular cinema after WWII.

The misogynistic and misanthropic "torture" horror fad in the US was probably the worst thing to happen in popular cinema since Arnold Schwarzenegger was given lines to read. This had been a great decade for horror until crap like "Saw" came out and hollywood realized they found a repeatable horror formula just as they did with the first wave of slasher movies.

I did think "Wolf Creek" was one of the best slashers/serial-killer movies of the decade - than again maybe I wasn't expecting much.

The best thing about horror and action this decade was the trend towards stylized neo-realism-ish film making: 28 days later/Children of Men. Hell even Spielberg went faux-neo-realist with "War of the Worlds".

[berlitz23]

i pit the french cinema because it has no money and the american cinema because it has no ideas

[Os Cangaceiros]

I've heard good things about "Frontiers" and it sounds interesting, but Irreversible was terrible. "High Tension" was overrated. I feel old and stodgy for saying it, but there's no comparison to the new wave with these movies - the New Wave was about the best thing to happen in popular cinema after WWII.

The misogynistic and misanthropic "torture" horror fad in the US was probably the worst thing to happen in popular cinema since Arnold Schwarzenegger was given lines to read. This had been a great decade for horror until crap like "Saw" came out and hollywood realized they found a repeatable horror formula just as they did with the first wave of slasher movies.

I did think "Wolf Creek" was one of the best slashers/serial-killer movies of the decade - than again maybe I wasn't expecting much.

The best thing about horror and action this decade was the trend towards stylized neo-realism-ish film making: 28 days later/Children of Men. Hell even Spielberg went faux-neo-realist with "War of the Worlds".

Frontiers is OK. It's not anything great, but it is good for what it is: a very derivative "survival horror" film with some good action and suspense. Plus, I love the villains: a deranged clan of incestuous neo-nazi cannibals, one of whom meets a very memorable end involving a table saw.

Irreversible was great, in my opinion, and I agree that Haute Tension was overrated, if for nothing else than the stupid, contrived ending. (I love Philippe Nahon, though...he's a great French Horror/Exploitation actor, especially in the Belgian survival horror/suspense film Calvaire. He's also going to be in the upcoming French Horror The Pack, which I'm definitely looking foward to).

I also agree that the whole Saw/Hostel/Captivity etc. fad has run it's course. After the horror wave of the 90's with Scream, Urban Legend and I Know What You Did Last Summer and all of their various knockoffs, the grittiness was almost welcome.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I also agree that the whole Saw/Hostel/Captivity etc. fad has run it's course. After the horror wave of the 90's with Scream, Urban Legend and I Know What You Did Last Summer and all of their various knockoffs, the grittiness was almost welcome.

I agree. Even though I didn't like the Saw movies and Hostel, I loved the grittiness of "28 days later" and "The Blair Witch Project" and a lot of the horror of this decade. I also like the weirdness of the Japanese ghost movies after a decade (the 90s) of formulaic horror. It's not scary if you know the formula and that the knife wielding killer will jump up after the teenagers think they've killed him. It's reeeally scary when you watch Ringu for the first time and you have no idea what the "ghost's rules" are or what's going to happen next.

I love the horror genre in general - but I hate how it gets chewed up in Hollywood. It seems like there is a trend with Hollywood horror: Producers deem horror is a unprofitable genre and so no mainstream horror is made; horror is relegated to low-budget b-movies and there is a lot of exploitation but then there is also experimentation by some in order to stand out from the pack of crap movies; there is a period of creativity like low budget horror in the late 60s and early 70s and things begin to break through; something becomes a suprise hit and hollywood deems horror as a viable genre again; they find the most repeatable horror formula until people get bored and stop watching; at this point horror is once again "dead" according to hollywood.