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[Butcher Block] The Slaughterhouse Nihilism of ‘Frontier(s)’

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Butcher Block is a weekly series celebrating horror’s most extreme films and the minds behind them. Dedicated to graphic gore and splatter, each week will explore the dark, the disturbed, and the depraved in horror, and the blood and guts involved. For the films that use special effects of gore as an art form, and the fans that revel in the carnage, this series is for you.

The world of French Extremity horror is filled with bold debuts by filmmakers staking a claim on horror with torrential blood flow and visceral brutality. Like Alexandre Aja’s explosive entrance in horror with High Tension, Xavier Gens brought Frontier(s), a film originally meant to be a part of the lineup for the independent horror movie festival, After Dark Horrorfest, in 2007 but was released separately once the MPAA gave the film an NC-17 rating. Drawing from the intense riots in France after a far-right candidate circled closer to election, Gens penned a brutal script that featured a gang of thieves fleeing to Amsterdam amidst politically charged rioting only to find themselves prey to a family of neo-Nazis on the border. Angry, violent, and unrelenting, Frontier(s) brings the familiarity of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and dials it up to extreme levels.

Final girl Yasmine, played with admirable ferocity by Karina Testa, begins the film in an emotional place. Her brother is shot during their robbery stunt, using the riots as cover, and mourns his passing as the police are closing in. She’s also three months into an unwanted pregnancy, her brother’s dying breath begs her to keep the baby. It gives Yasmine moral ambiguity that most final girls lack, but more importantly it gives her the mental fortitude to survive the neo-Nazi family picking off her friends one by one. And of course, this family happens to be cannibals.

Between the cannibalism, the pig pen, and meat processing facilities, this means a ton of gruesome slaughterhouse style deaths. Meat hooks through flesh, table saws through skulls, cringeworthy severing of Achilles tendons, exploding heads, and even one character whose burned alive in a boiler, it’s easy to see why the film earned its NC-17 badge of honor. Even still, Gens held back on the gore; his original script featured two scenes not included in the final film, one of which was considered too grotesque. The scene was to delve into the family preparing a human body for the big family dinner scene, and would have included a shot of the body being skewered from anus to mouth. The other was a scene featuring one of the robbers fighting off the underground children with an axe, ultimately cut to keep the mystery around them.

Gens had a difficult time getting the film made initially, thanks to the extreme violence. It wasn’t until Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita) signed on as producer that gave Gens the freedom to go wild, sans human dinner preparation scene. Between Gens and cinematographer Laurent Barès, Frontier(s) is visually arresting horror movie. But of course, the makeup team deserves a ton of credit for the visceral trauma the characters endure (or don’t endure). Sabine Fevre, Nicolas Herlin, and Laetitia Hillion were all nabbed at the early stages of their makeup effects careers and fresh off beloved French horror film Inside before bringing their talents to Frontier(s).

Frontier(s) is the first in French horror to really draw comparisons to the wave of horror branded “torture porn,” with its level of violence and gore resembling films closer to Hostel and Saw. The very core premise also leans heavily into The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as well, though way more bleak and nihilistic than its counterpart. Even still, Frontier(s) is an unrelenting bleak ride that never lets up. It’s an onslaught of visceral violence enhanced by very talented people both on screen and behind it.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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