High Tension Movie Review:


Alexandre Aja’s High Tension is a disturbing ultra-violent thriller that will make your stomach turn and at times keep you at the edge of your seat. That is until; a final twist in the last five minutes of the film degrades it into the land of absurdity and stupidity.

Release over two years ago in the United Kingdom, Lions Gate Films has trimmed about two minutes of the film’s graphic violence to get an R rating and plans to release it on June 3rd in the United States. The film has weakly “dubbed” English for its French origin, which does not hurt the film, since after the first twenty minutes, not much dialogue is unveiled.

Marie (Cecile De France) and Alex (Maiwenn Le Besco) are two college student friends that set out on a trip to Alex’s countryside home for some rest and relaxation. It is made clear that Marie wants to be a little more than friends with Alex, but it is not made totally clear at first. As the two friends arrive at Alex’s family home, Marie is introduced to her loving family, which includes her father, mother, very young brother, and family dog. It is reflective in Marie’s eyes that she does not and has never had a real family, so even though she feels welcome, she is also a bit unsettled.

Horror ensues as a sadistic killer (Philippe Nahon) arrives at the home and grotesquely murders the Alex’s entire family and takes her as his capture. Marie is in hiding during this time, but witnesses all of the murders. The killer ties up Alex and throws in the back of his beat up mobile truck, which sort of looks like the Creeper’s truck in Jeepers Creepers. Sensing that someone is still in the house, the killer retreats into the house, which gives Marie the chance to sneak into the back of the truck where Alex is held captive. With the killer not knowing of her existence, Marie must carefully attempt to save her and her friend from this vicious monster.

The story is one that we have all heard before, but writer/director Alexandre Aja and co-writer Gregory Lavasseur’s atmospheric and tense choices almost make it original. The film moves quickly at only 85 minutes and hardly lets up for the audience to breathe. The murders are so gruesome that when the killer decapitates a victim, it reminds you of the way blood spewed in Kill Bill, Vol. 1. It is truly amazing that this film is getting an R rating, the gore and blood is over the top and nasty.

Though Aja and Lavasseur generate numerous clichés and a few typical pop-out moments, there are some very eerie moments that rely heavily on the director’s visual intentions and the traumatized acting of Cecile De France. There is a terrific sequence where France’s Marie has to sneak away from the killer’s truck at a gas station without being heard, as well as numerous crafty ways she slips away from the killer time and time again. France appeared in last summer’s Around the World in 80 Days, in which she seemed lost, but in High Tension she is relentless and contrite.

High Tension seems like a rip-off of a brilliant novel called Intensity by popular horror writer Dean Koontz. There was a movie version of Intensity made for television that was mild compared to the novel. However, Dean Koontz is way too smart of a writer to dreadfully pull the rug out from under the audience as Aja does with High Tension.

Ever since The Sixth Sense, it seems that the majority of thrillers made or release have to corrode themselves with a big twist in the final minutes. High Tension has an atrocious twist that takes away all merit to what has precluded in the entire film. Numerous moviegoers may argue various points of support or opposition on Aja’s grand finale, but it is a real cop-out that leaves holes and sense of desperation from the filmmaker to throw in a twist that is unnecessary. The twist in High Tension is worse than the recent final twist disaster in Hide and Seek.

High Tension has a creepy setting and some stellar thrills, but is diminished by missed opportunities and more than anything an awful final twist. Aja also does not shy away from expressing his glorification of violence and gore, as well as the degrading of women in reflection of Alex and Marie’s roles. It is difficult not to reveal all of these disgusting problems with out letting out the film’s secret, which is not even worth telling.

Bailey Henderson

Haute Tension, or High Tension as it has been translated for U.S. release, is a French horror film which created quite a buzz for a while when it was given the NC-17 rating. It was trimmed down slightly so that it could receive an R rating, and a wider audience, but upon viewing it, you would never know that anything had been cut. It seems as violent as any movie could possibly be. High Tension brings us back to a time in which there doesn’t need to be any deep meaning behind a psychotic killer taking joy out of violently slicing innocent people to death. In the vain of slasher classics such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original, which didn’t feel it was necessary to add a near marriage proposal in with the carnage) Halloween, and a number of other film which realized the power of a visual image rather than lengthy dialogue. It would be almost poetic if it weren’t so grotesquely and obscenely bloody.

When two friends, Marie and Alex, go out into the country to get away and study, the first night there turns into a nightmare. A strange man in a beat up van pulls up to the house and immediately begins killing everyone. He makes his way through the house, sparing only Alex with plans of taking her with him to rape. Luckily her friend Marie, played by Cécile De France, hides from the killer and sets out on a journey to free Alex. The rest of the film becomes a cat and mouse game of wits. Marie must follow the killer, trying to free her friend, while still going unnoticed.

What makes High Tension so suspenseful is the fact that the killer is not a monster, or a mindless murderer. He is a calculating, intelligent, and human, whom we see little of. There is something extremely frightening about his calm and confident presence. Beginning his slaughter with the use of a switchblade, the killer eventually moves on to an assortment of other weapons, including an axe, chainsaw, and barb-wire. As the suspense increases, so does the massacre.

There is no question that this film is one of the most shocking and horrific horror films to come out in years, only rivaled slightly by SAW, with even less chance to catch your breath. The film is nearly void of any humor, a saving grace to horror films, which makes every scene seem that much more disturbing. You are likely to hear about a twist ending with High Tension, which there most definitely is, although I’m not certain how much sense it actually makes. The twist is not as successful as the filmmakers may have hoped, and yet the do the film justice by not ending with it. Instead they move on, and with a bit more carnage, the film nearly recovers.

Although High Tension is not perfect, especially considering its choice to dub half of the film, when the subtitles which are used for the other half are far more effective, there is no doubting the efficiency in which this film is able to build a tense situation. Every shot in each sequence is so well thought out that it doesn’t seem strange to compare it to the likes of Hitchcock. And although the end gets a bit ridiculous, Cécile De France never falters, giving the horror performance of the year.

Ryan Izay

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