Bust It Out, Baby

Disclaimer: I'm not going to use the word "recommend” in this post. Because, if I do so, those who decide to rent this movie and either vomit or feel their brains blow while watching will have a reason to hail me as some sort of degenerate.

Nope. I will, however, "strongly suggest” that you watch A l'intérieur (Inside), a brilliant, visceral, uncompromising, traumatic, pitch-black piece of horror perfection from the deranged minds of rookie French filmmakers Julian Maury and Alexandre Bustillo. I'm a lifelong, outspoken horror lover/obsessive watcher, and when I first saw Inside at the Lincoln Center's theater a couple months back, I hardly blinked. As it progressed from "holy shit, I can't believe it just went there” to "why am I watching this” into "okay, even I can't look at that,” I realized that I was viewing a horror classic. Sure, people toss the C-word around recklessly nowadays (especially rap heads—sorry, but there hasn't been a hip-hop classic released in the last two years from an artist not named Lupe Fiasco). But, Inside literally rips the heart out of any genre flick in recent memory. "Gutsy,” aside from working as pun here, doesn't even cut it.

Basically, the plot is as bare-bones as can get. After surviving a nasty car accident that killed her boyfriend/sperm donor, a pregnant and now depressed cutie (played by Alysson Paradis, the sister-in-law of Johnny Depp) spends Christmas Eve night at home alone (bad move), in preparation of induced labor the next morning. Unfortunately, the most gangsta bitch ever (sorry Remy) breaks into her house in hopes of stealing the cutie's unborn. Yeah, "stealing” something still in the birth canal. Yikes.

Before you can say "C-section,” it accelerates into a non-stop assault of the most unsettling, nauseating gore/carnage this horror nerd has seen in God-knows-how-long. Tack on subtitles, super-dope electronica music, superb acting, picture-perfect camerawork, and the most "oh no they didn't” ending in years (aside from Spain's also-brilliant [Rec], which I'll discuss shortly), and you have the sure-to-be-classic Inside.

Just be sure to get the "unrated” version, though. Seeing this gem censored would be like revisiting an edited N.W.A. record.

Check out the trailer: