Horror Channel Frightfest Review: Inside

French filmmakers Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo splattered onto our screens back in 2007 with gory home invasion Inside [À L’Intérieur]. As Maury and Bustillo head to London’s Frightfest 2017 with their latest directorial venture Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel Leatherface, their debut feature has been given an English-language makeover.

The French gore-fest often shows up on ‘scariest films you’ve never seen’ lists despite earning many accolades on the film festival circuit. It is a well-executed home invasion with a clever twist and it takes the blood splatter factor to dizzying heights making it a hidden gem for gore fans.

Rec series writers Jaume Balagueró and Manu Diez, Kidnapped director Miguel Vivas and producers Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls [Buried, Red Lights] have teamed up to refresh Inside – unfortunately, the results have left me asking, why?

Young mother-to-be Sarah [Rachel Nichols] is trying to rebuild her broken life: recently widowed in a horrific car crash that left her partially deaf, she has moved home and started to prepare for the imminent birth of her first child. As night descends, there’s an unexpected arrival at the doorstep: Sarah receives an unexpected and most unwelcome visitor. Alone and carrying her baby, Sarah faces a predatory nameless woman –who is hell-bent on snatching her unborn child.

As with the original film, the premise for Inside is an interesting take on the home invasion genre. The plot raises many interesting questions about maternal instinct and a woman’s desire for a child which is brought to the boil through the extremes of the horror genre. Whilst not directly based on true events, there have been similar attacks carried out that have made front page news, adding a sickening pang of realism to the unfolding events.

Inside 2017 draws strong comparisons to nineties classic, The hand that rocked the cradle not only due to the narrative but stylistically too. The blood spatter has been dialled down heavily in this remake meaning at times it feels less horror and more of a tense psychological thriller, which may leave genre-fans feeling a little bit short changed.

Ultimately the lack of gore is a let-down because it is not used gratuitously in the original film. The attempt to make it simply dark and tense means that the film has lost the aspect that showcases the true brutality of the plot.

Aside from the ease of non-francophone audiences having a sub-title free viewing there’s no real need for this remake. An interesting and terrifying plot has been toned down stylistically leaving behind a lukewarm and predictable thriller that ultimately we’ve seen before.