Starring: Cécile De France, Maïwenn Le Besco, Philippe Nahon, Franck Khalfoun, Andrei Finti Directed By: Alexandre Aja Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NC-17 Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 11, 2005 Running Time: 91 minutes Studio: Lions Gate Films Home Entertainment Theatrical Release Date: June 10, 2005
Product Description: MARIE & ALEXIA ARE CLASSMATES & BEST FRIENDS. TO PREPARE FORCOLLEGE EXAMS IN PEACE & QUIET, THEY DECIDE TO SPEND A WEEKENDAT ALEXIA'S PARENTS' SECLUDED FARMHOUSE. IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT,A STRANGER KNOCKS ON THE DOOR. WITH THE 1ST SWING OF HIS KNIFE, THE GIRLS' IDYLLIC WEEKEND TURNS INTO AN ENDLESS NIGHT OF HORROR
Amazon.com: For much of its running time, High Tension earns its title as a gory and suspenseful tale of hot pursuit. Originally titled Switchblade Romance in England, and trimmed of its most excessive gore to avoid an NC-17 rating during its brief U.S. theatrical release, this French horror film provokes a memorable case of high anxiety from its alluring female lead (Cecile de France), but it's an otherwise brainless exercise with a ludicrous conclusion that renders the entire film null and void. It's essentially a Texas Chainsaw wanna-be, which isn't such a bad thing if you're a horror buff with an appetite for gruesome death at the hands of a brutal and nameless serial killer. Dressed in greasy coveralls and a baseball cap, and driving a rusty old delivery van, the killer indiscriminately destroys an entire family before chasing after the tomboyish Marie (de France), who is trapped in a nonsensical screenplay that won't let her go. With a high body count and buckets of bloodshed, High Tension has moments of delirious intensity, which is probably why Lion's Gate (bolstered by the success of Saw and other horror hits) deemed the film worthy of U.S. release with some (but not all) of its French dialogue badly dubbed in English. It's horror for die-hards only, and on those terms it's worth a look. --Jeff Shannon
Great for gore- story has holes ^ To start, Cecile De France is gorgeous!- makes the whole movie worthwhile whether you thought it made sense or not. I, personally, had trouble with all of the gaping holes left at the end (and not the ones made into the characters with various blades). There is a specific "situation" that you discover at the end, but if you think back, there are many scenes where this just can not make sense. (I can't reveal what it is and I can't even tell you the non-horror film that used the same "situation", but to a much more believable extent, because that would spoil the ending.)
The over dubbing of English is very distracting in the beginning, and, since they do use sub titles here and there, I couldn't understand why the whole movie wasn't just created with subtitles.
All of that being said, the special effects are very realistic, the gore is sensational, and the movie does indeed create "High Tension". If you are a fan of blood, gore, and sadistic truckers, this will not disappoint!
WORTH WATCHING ^ This movie has all the classic drama of a well-directed slasher flick, showing you a perspective from the killer's view and the victim's view, but never quite letting you see the killer's face. There is an excellent contrast when the killer shows up, between the normal family setting and the sudden intrusion of a violent malevolent nightmare. The movie becomes increasingly disturbing as it progresses, both in the detail of the graphic assaults on the victims and the attempt to escape from the killer as a chase ensues. There is a good attempt at a very twisted ending in this movie. I'm not sure how well it's played though. If you can suspend disbelief, then it's a very effective ending. If not, then you simply won't buy into the premise of the ending. Definitely worth watching. The DVD worked well, the video and audio were excellent. One additional note.., it starts out with English language ( the family are US citizens living in France and speak English ) but part of the movie is in spoken French language. You can set the dvd to include subtitles for the part spoken in French. The subtitles are unobtrusive and almost are unnecessary since there aren't many scenes that employ French language.
- Mike S.
A lazy effort from M. Night Kubrik ^ ****Contains Spoilers****
I first watched this film last year, and I thought that I had written a review giving it 3 stars, despite the horrible ending, but I evidently never posted it, so after just rewatching it I am able to give it a different review. What may have passed for suspense and "tension" in the first viewing, becomes tedious in subsequent viewings because you already know the impossible, lazy twist ending, and that most of what is happening isn't real. What was a tolerable cat and mouse game on first viewing, becomes an infuriating head scratcher as you try and justify the directors stupid plot choices. Everyone seems to be moving underwater, as the "killer" plods along trying to drag this out to feature film length, or maybe he's building high tension. It might as well be a silent film, since what little dialog there is means absolutely nothing, except it reveals that the antagonist/protagonist is a jealous, obsessed lesbian who wants her friend all to herself. The entire effort is a disingenious cheat as the director claims that it isn't gory, yet every murder involves an impossible amount of blood, he throws in a shower scene, lesbians kissing, masturbating, oral sex with a severed head, hiding under a bed, in a closet, phone lines cut, cars that won't start, twist ending, basically every cliche that exists as he panders to everyone who likes their horror an inch deep. He actually uses a subway restroom in place of the typical one stall gas station rest room just so he can give the killer more stall doors to open at a snails pace to build tension. This willingness to sacrifice believability so that he can milk the suspense is a cheap ploy. The killer forgets what he's doing and stops to urinate and doesn't check the stalls in the men's room anyway. Feel the tension build. The car chase was filmed at about 5 mph and just creates another unfillable plot hole rather than tension. To actually name the film "High Tension" tells me that creating tension was the only goal of director, not to tell a plausable story. I enjoyed some of Aja's other films like "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Mirrors", although "Mirrors" moved too slow in spots, had no real chemistry between actors, plot holes but a slightly more palatable twist ending.
Some people consider this a masterpiece, and to each his own, but I actually found it to be one of the ugliest films I have ever seen. Being a low budget film, I'm sure they used whatever locations were available and spent the budget on gore effects, but the film seemed too grainy in spots with too much contrast and color saturation other times. It seems like there was a predominate sickly green cast to alot of scenes. This may have been deliberate on the part of the director as I found it unsettling and it made me more tense (high tension) than what was onscreen, at least I noticed it more the second time around. The score was just available music and was mostly atmospheric.
There is a criticism that people who don't like this film are just lazy and expect everything to be tied up with a bow at the end plot wise. I don't mind loose ends and unanswered questions as long as they are fair and handled deftly. What I resent is watching a film, and just when I think the killer must be either Mrs. Maple with a candlestick or the butler using a fireplace poker, the director trots out the previously unseen Avon lady and pins the murder on her. I feel as though I've just gotten punked, and if the writer/director doesn't care about his story, why should I. It's like working all day and not getting paid. This movie has no payoff. It may be fun till the ending, but that will feel like a donkey kick in the guts. It may be lazier to like this movie, rather than use the powers of critical thinking to see how sloppy the whole effort really was and hold the director accountable. I enjoyed Fight Club, but seeing security footage of Edward Norton dragging himself through a parking garage defied the laws of physics and killed it for me.
If you like blood splatters, power tools, cat and mouse, lesbians or dirty finger nails, this may be worth a rental, but once you know the premise, I can't see enjoying repeated viewings unless you are very forgiving.
Lars von Trier, eat your ironic heart out! ^ In a point that's driven home as "High Tension" comes to a close, if love is blind then -- on the flip side -- love shouldn't have any trouble seeing through walls, especially if it's fueled by an insane intensity. And, if you take away the heaps and piles of blood and guts, this film is ultimately a tale of unrequited love. Don't worry, I'm not spoiling the twist ending. The British title is "Switchblade Romance," after all.
The film begins with two female college friends going to visit one girl's family in a rural French village, which quickly goes awry. By embracing a raw, macho form of violence, "High Tension" is the most Americanized movie by a French director that I've encountered, seeing as rednecks are still primarily in charge of the good ol' U.S. of A. It's no surprise that director Alexandre Aja's next project was a remake of "The Hills Have Eyes," a much more aimless and much more white trash movie.
"High Tension" is a startling, beautifully filmed vision of terror that never panders to its audience as so many other horror movies do, in no small part because of a great cast. Backed by the players, everything else just seems to fall into place: great sound, amazing visual effects and a script storyboarded as tightly as anything by the Coen Brothers. The only argument I have is that at times the film slides over onto "torture porn" turf, splashing gore around just for gore's sake. But the kids love it; who am I to argue?
Everybody let's twist again, just like we did last summer. Everybody let's twist again, just like we did last year ^ Do you remember when, we did the twist last summer? Do you remember when, we did the twist last year?
The twist in this movie, as has been copiously mentioned, stupefies an already stupid audience even further. And if you think such a thing cannot be done, let me assure you, You can ape the ape. I know about that.
Spoilers So the upshot is the girl with the Cesar hairdo who was fudding herself stupid was actually at the same time breaking into the house in the form of a demented orange farmer. She then... ah what's the use.
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