Stuck in her house on Christmas Eve, a pregnant woman (Alysson Paradis) is attacked by a scissors-wielding maniac (Béatrice Dalle) in this French horror movie they should have called Panic Womb.

Extreme even for the New French Extremity movement, 2007’s Inside (À l’intérieur) is an 80-minute blood bath set almost entirely inside the house, which ends up resembling a cranberry sauce Slip ‘n Slide. It quickly becomes clear that ‘La Femme’ is after Sarah’s unborn baby and isn’t planning to wait until after Christmas, presumably in case she misses out on cheap baby clothes in the Boxing Day sales. So she busts out the gift-wrapping shears, and before you can say “Jesus Christ!”, the women are getting down to some serious scissoring (and not the fun kind).

Directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo deliver a home invasion/pregnancy horror hybrid that puts the ‘gory’ in maternal allegory. It takes place against news of Paris riots and immigrant deaths, but these political dimensions are largely overshadowed by the endless violence, not to mention the basic misogyny of the baby-crazy antagonist. The film’s believable or substantial elements are secondary to its exploitation thrills; one moment Sarah is in full maternal-survival mode, the next she is lying in bed while the killer is still in the house. There are also Twilight-style interior-womb shots of a scared-looking foetus, as if it knows what’s going on.

But on a purely visceral level Inside is insane, rivalling Saw for the most excitement you can have with your main character spending most of the movie on the bathroom floor. The violence is knowingly farcical and brilliantly executed, keeping the blood pumping right through to the gaga ending, even if it won’t stay with you far beyond that. It is boldly directed and stylishly shot, with visual references to classic children-in-peril cinema – from the shots-through-walls of Panic Room, to the silhouetted chamber set-piece of Night of the Hunter. While not a film for a family Christmas or most expectant mothers, this is one lean, mean pregsploitation flick.