So there are dark spots hidden in the hilly wastelands between France and the Netherlands, places of secrets and violence, without rules and hope? Ok, I can take this as a premise for a horror film, even though it seems a bit of a stretch for what I know as a rather dull and not very big stretch of land. It also allows for credible placement of German (or Germanic) villains, ruthless as ever and strangely confused about their family language (they speak French mostly, but father with thick accent, and his French accent in German is even thicker… wouldn’t it be easier if they all spoke German in the first place, mission to remap the concept of Arian race and all…??). Anyway: “Frontiers” goes to some lengths to bring a sufficient number of young French troublemakers and this slightly unconventional family together, with the aim of having a maximum of one survive in the end (that’s not a spoiler, that’s genre convention). The way this is done is actually quite effective at times, despite the more than convoluted twists and turns. That is mostly thanks to the well-chosen “family” actors: father and a bunch of kids, with my personal favourite Hans The Butcher, a hulk of a man who certainly can only ever play butchers in his career. Karl the Heir to the Throne, and the nice girls who are happy to get involved with anyone who enters their inn are fun to watch.
There are no surprises in this film, but some nice segments involving pigs and barbecue grills. Also, the person who turns out to be the hero has been going through an impressive marathon of make-up or at least standing under a bucket of blood.
thomas4cinema 