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VS: Inside

VS is a new series looking at remakes, reboots, reimaginings, etc of horror movies. What's the difference, what's the same and which is better? This week I chose to look at the 2007 Inside vs the 2018 Inside.

Warning: Spoilers

2007's Inside, directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury and starring Alysson Paradis and Beatrice Dalle, is part of the New French Extremity movement. Sarah (Paradis) is a pregnant widow who is spending Christmas Eve alone, the night before her due date. La Femme (Dalle) knocks on her door in the middle of the night and tries to convince Sarah to let her in. After being denied entrance she calls Sarah by name and tells her she knows her husband is dead before running off. Sarah is assured that the woman is gone and a police officer will do check ins throughout the night. She goes to sleep, only to be woken by the woman now in her home attacking her; trying desperately to steal her unborn child. So ensues a horrifying and graphic film full of unrelenting tension and gruesome violence.

2007's Inside was a new, innovative home invasion movie that many have strived to compare to. It leaves you with a sense of dread well after it has ended, and will stay with you for a long time. The violence lends directly to the plot, showing how demented this woman is and how far she is willing to go. It elicits both a visceral and emotional response that I have very seldom felt, I found myself often holding my breath in anticipation and clenching my teeth in fear, anger and even desperation.

2018's Inside, directed by Miguel Angel Vivas and starring Rachel Nichols and Laura Harring, feels like a completely uninspired and censored remake. Certain scenes were remade nearly shot for shot, while taking out everything that makes the original gut wrenching.

Sarah's story is mostly the same; pregnant widow on Christmas Eve alone in her home just before her due date. The key element that they skipped over in Vivas' is Sarah's total lack of interest in the baby. Sarah (07) has lost her husband and has now grown resentful of her unborn child, a constant reminder of her grief. Watching Sarah having to find the willpower to fight for herself and her baby is captivating in and of itself. However, Sarah (18) seems extremely well adjusted for having lost her husband. She's a bit aloof and has a 2-minute sentimental moment with a friend but otherwise, had her husband been out of town on a business trip it would've felt just the same.

Pregnancy is a big part of the films, but in two very different ways. In Bustillo's Sarah being pregnant is a reason why this already horrific violence is even more terrifying. While in Vivas' her pregnancy is used almost as a crutch. There is very little blood and gore in 2018's Inside. I don't mean comparatively, I mean at all. Almost all deaths are done either from far away, in dark lighting or at angles which makes them nearly unintelligible.

2007's Inside has some of the most horrifying scenes that would make even the most seasoned French Extremity viewer shudder. Watching a man with a caved in face brutally beating a pregnant woman's stomach is a phrase that already sounds awful, but the scene itself is one of the hardest things I've ever seen. I wouldn't expect a Spanish-American remake of this film to recreate this scene, or even try to attempt half as much brutality as it's former. But to have little to no blood or gore is an absolute disservice.

Vivas uses key elements from the original as more of easter eggs in this movie. The scissors are seen briefly as well as a single time use of a camera, two things that were heavily featured in the predecessor. Somewhere in the city, in Bustillo's, there is a riot, which is why the police opt to do occasional check ins as opposed to staying all night. There is nothing deterring the police in Vivas' to stay other than bad writing. The casting was a decent choice, Beatrice Dalle was in her mid 40s when playing the role of La Femme while Alysson (Sarah) was in her 20s. The age difference is a crucial part of the motive, which Vivas thankfully took into consideration when casting.

The differences in these films are unending, while remakes like to incorporate new ideas and give it originality in some way, most of Vivas changes were unforgivable. Often times plot points would be taken out and either replaced with fluff or just disregarded completely. It took an amazing film, stripped it down to it's bare bones, and then half-assedly built it back up, leaving holes in the baby pink painted walls. The trend of remaking an already fantastic film just so people can watch a film without subtitles and more family friendly gore is insulting and needs to be laid to rest.

Would I recommend Bustillo and Maury's 2007 Inside? Yes. It's not for the faint of heart, but it is beautiful and painful and truly an amazing film.

Would I recommend Vivas' 2018 Inside? If you have never seen the original and want to watch a bad b&e film then be my guest. If you like good horror or have actually seen the original then no, never.

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