I once got into an argument with a guy who complained that horror movies had too much female nudity (yeah, go figure). I asked why it bothered him, and he said it was unnecessary, and as a woman, he didn't understand why it didn't bother me that horror movies exploited women in this way.

Ignoring the bait, I explained to him that for me, when horror movies show women running away from a killer half naked or fully naked, they are playing on vulnerability and weakness; besides enjoying a little T&A, viewers are receiving a jolt of titillation mixed with fear. He went on about how he loved horror movies, and that there are better ways to show vulnerability than nudity, but he never gave me any examples of better ways to show vulnerability. Well, after watching this movie, I now have one that I never thought of before. Pregnancy.

There are few things more vulnerable than a very pregnant woman. She can barely walk, let alone run, and she has to be very careful what she does with her body (including what she eats) for fear of harming the fetus growing inside her. Pregnant women are put on a pedestal in our society for this very reason. They are sacrificing their bodies to bring life into this world and they're connected to the circle of life and nature in a powerful way. The things most people aren't willing to discuss are how pregnant women are...well, kind of creepy. They're hormonal and emotional and they can fly into a rage about nothing because of the hormones flowing through their bodies unchecked, and they're fragile and delicate and any injury they incur can be passed onto the baby. What kind of sick twisted movie would show a pregnant women being attacked by a killer?

This movie would! I give props to "Inside," because right from the get-go, the pregnant woman isn't portrayed as some kind of delicate flower or a saint. She's depressed and though there's good reason for her sadness, it makes her prickly and snappy and bitchy to those around her. She does the very worst thing for herself right from the very beginning, she alienates everyone around her and ensures that she will be alone in her house for the coming attack. Furthermore, not only is she pregnant, set to deliver the next morning, but it's Christmas eve, so right away the movie is breaking two strong societal taboos, the aforementioned sanctity of pregnancy, and the sanctity of Christmas. Christmas, a holy day of peace and light and joy (and commercialism and depression and other fun things that we won't get into here) is a very important day to many people, especially Christians, and the few Christmas themed horror movies have always been more controversial because of this. People don't like you fucking with their holy day. Of course, our prickly main character isn't excited about the upcoming holiday.

Someone is outside her house and wants to get in. Someone who at first makes no threats, simply standing in the shadows outside the door and window, cold and calm, delivering pieces of information about Sarah's life that no stranger should know. Sarah calls the police but we know how unhelpful that will be, since this is a horror movie and the police don't exactly have a stellar record of keeping the peace in horror movies. The police loom about for a bit before leaving, and Sarah decides to go to bed. Thus begins the creepiest set of images that I've ever seen in a horror movie. In the shadows behind Sarah, we see that the killer is in the house (what the fuck? How did she get in?) and Sarah doesn't know she's there. These scenes are truly disturbing, even though the woman is just standing there and she hasn't actually DONE anything yet, because we know that she's inside the house and that something bad is about to happen.

Something bad indeed. This is one of the most violent and disgusting movies I've ever seen. Yes, I said it, it's disgusting. I said as much to the screen more than once during my viewing, and I'm not a horror lightweight. Ask anyone who's seen this movie; it's so grisly that at times it's difficult to watch. People are stabbed, slashed, shot, and mangled. Early on the killer stabs someone in the face and I was left to ponder how rare this is, even in violent movies. To stab someone in the face is to permanently disfigure that person, and movies rarely go there, stabbing someone in the face but leaving the person alive. Of course, movies rarely feature a psycho is a pregnant woman's house who wants to cut the baby out of her stomach either, so I suppose what's "normal" doesn't really apply here. The movie takes place over this one night of terror, with Sarah trapped in her house, weak and vulnerable, and everyone who tries to come to her aid ends up getting dispatched horribly and violently. Late in the film, there are a few leaps in logic, where the world's stupidest cop makes some movies that sorely test my suspension of disbelief, but that's a small caveat in what is otherwise a bleak, disturbing, and nasty little film.

This movie has the balls to go where few films will go, it displays some nasty violence, it doesn't sugarcoat anything, and it's so dark and disturbing that when it's over you want to slit your wrists. This is a good thing. It means the movie is effective in ways 'i never thought possible in today's climate of over-the-top violence for violence's sake. See this movie and remember what makes horror so horrifying when it's done right.