The most despicable horror of the Halloween season might be the way many stores start putting out Christmas items before October 31st has even arrived. With that in mind, tonight’s Creeptober pick is a particularly brutal film that occurs on the night of Christmas Eve. Consider it a nightmare before Christmas. Tonight we watch Inside.
Reacting to Inside
I’ll go ahead and apologize right now if any of you following along with Creeptober didn’t enjoy Inside. It’s not really a movie meant to be enjoyed in the traditional sense of the word. It’s meant to unnerve and disturb, and I think it accomplishes both of those things very well. I do enjoy the gore effects, but I know that’s not for everyone. So, if you skipped watching Inside and are just reading this write-up, I’m sorry, and I thank you.
Just a warning though, if you haven’t watched the movie yet, I’m going to talk about some big spoilers below.
I’m a decently big fan of the New French Extremity movement. Inside is a relatively late part of that loosely defined cycle of films, but I think it’s one of the most rewatchable. It’s brutal and ends on a very bleak note, but in comparison to some of the more heart-shattering French horror films of the era, it’s more accessible than most. I enjoy Inside for reasons similar to why I enjoy slasher movies. Inside isn’t quite a slasher movie, but it’s awfully close. And if someone called it a slasher movie (which I’ve seen critics do), I wouldn’t argue with them.
To me though, Inside is a home invasion movie with a disturbing premise and an intense escalation of violence and bloodshed. The film is carried wonderfully by its two female leads, Alysson Paradis as Sarah and Béatrice Dalle as the Woman (or La Femme in the original French). The movie would still be good if Sarah and the Woman were played by different actors, but I don’t think it would be as good. Both women put everything they have into this movie, and they make everything exceptionally emotional.
As violent as the movie is, the reveal of why the Woman is attacking Sarah is maybe the most brutal moment. Learning that the Woman lost her own baby in the same car wreck Sarah lost her husband in, a car wreck that we never get a clear answer about who caused it. It’s a gut punch. It’s no excuse for the Woman’s actions, obviously, but it is an unsettling motivation. Of course, it had to be something like that considering how much the Woman knew about Sarah. I suppose she could have been someone from the hospital who knew Sarah’s story, but the motivation they gave the Woman is terribly bleak. I like it.
You know, I take back what I just wrote. The most brutal part of the movie isn’t the revelation of the Woman’s motivation. The scene where the baby is cut out of Sarah’s womb is the most brutal. Just when we think Sarah is going to get out of this situation alive, the cop who was shot with the riot gun wakes up and smashes her in the midsection, causing her to go into labor. The brief connection that the two women have in that moment is heartbreaking, and the cold way the Woman saves Sarah’s baby (for herself) is upsetting. I’ve seen interpretations of this scene saying that the Woman “tearfully” acquiesces to Sarah’s pleas to save the baby, but I don’t buy that. The Woman offers a little comfort, but that feels like more of an instinct related to keeping Sarah calm so she can get the baby out of her. The Woman impassively uses the scissors to cut the baby out, leaving Sarah’s body open on the stairs. I’ve seen many New French Extremity films, and that ending ranks up there as one of the most hard to watch.
Since even thinking about Inside is sad, I think I’ll end this with something I found to be funny. While looking up additional information about the movie, I stumbled upon a Reddit post made by someone who truly thought that the final cop at the end of the movie, the one who hits Sarah, was a zombie. I had no idea what they were referring to, so I had to go back into the movie to see what they were talking about. They apparently thought the cop who was shot with the riot gun was killed and came back to life. I love that movies can be interpreted in multiple ways, but this is hilarious to me. The guy was knocked out, had his eyes messed up, and had his brains scrambled. It is a wild scene, but he was not a zombie. But now, every time I watch Inside, I’m going to think of that cop as a zombie. Thanks, internet.
