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[Butcher Block] Extreme Horror ‘Inside’ Brings Out Primal Side of Christmas

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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.

Very few filmmaker debuts evoke quite as visceral of a response as co-writer/directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s Inside. A brutal take on the home invasion sub-genre that masters the art of building suspense, Inside revolves around a fateful night on Christmas Eve, where a very pregnant Sarah (Alysson Paradis) is stalked and tormented in her own home by a woman dead set on stealing her unborn baby. The simple concept is anything but as Maury and Bustillo infuse the story with tragedy, deep grief, surprising revelations, and a shocking amount of bloodshed.

Long-time genre fans, Maury and Bustillo posed a simple question when penning the screenplay; what if the killer was a woman? In horror, it’s typically maniacal men chasing the women. With the major gender reversal of the antagonist, the writer/director duo then wondered what would motivate a woman to stalk and hunt another woman. That woman didn’t have a name; she was simply credited as “La Femme,” or the woman. And La Femme is one of modern horror’s most terrifying villains, in no small part due to having been played by the intense Béatrice Dalle. The actress had already demonstrated a knack for portraying unhinged yet fierce characters, like the ferocious cannibal Coré in Trouble Every Day. Dalle would reteam with Maury and Bustillo again in their films Livid and Among the Living.

La Femme doesn’t just torture Sarah, ruthless and unrelenting in getting what she wants, but she has zero qualms about slaughtering anyone else that might get in her way. This means that Inside gets extremely bloody. It flows, spurts, and gushes from the wounds inflicted. It really never stops flowing, only increasing to near geyser-like levels in the climax. Because the gore and blood effects were practical, Inside had to be shot in order. Cleaning up the sheer volume of fake blood would’ve proved far too tricky to film out of order.

The special makeup effects team had a lot of work cut out for them. The budget roughly around 2 million dollars, most of it went to the special effects. Knitting needles to the jugular, sewing shears to the groin, head explosions, a self-tracheotomy, and so much more. The team had to mold prosthetics and endless gallons and tubes of fake blood to be pumped through the open flesh wounds. The makeup effects supervisor was Jacques-Olivier Molon, who previously worked on genre films Horsehead and Orphan, and more recently on Mandy. Other notable names from the team include Nicolas Herlin (As Above, So Below, Livid, Leatherface), Sabine Fevre (Among the Living, Silent Hill: Revelation), Pierre-Olivier Thevenin (Jurassic Park, Blade II), and many more.

Christmas Eve doesn’t factor prominently in the plot; it’s another indicator of Sarah’s loneliness and profound grief after the startling opening scene. But there’s an emotional resonance there that connects with the holiday, and the blood red color consistently filling the screen also feels holiday appropriate in a very warped way. Maury and Bustillo unleashed primal rage on screen, and with it a torrent of violent bloodshed. Yet it’s balanced with emotional devastation that pulls it back from exploitation. For those that prefer their holiday viewings without cheer and merriment, Inside is among the very best in extreme French cinema.

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.

LEPRECHAUN

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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