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French femmes seek revenge.
Review: I knew going into this film that Haute tension, better
known as High Tension in the US, had a controversial twist of
an ending. And I was all set to learn the secret.
High Tension starts off innocently enough as two gal pals
drive to a farm house in the French countryside. Cécile De France
stars as the independent Marie and Maïwenn Le Besco as the
quiet Alexia. Along their drive to Marie's family home, we
catch the first glimpse of the horror that is to come as a
psychopath sitting in his parked truck gets himself off in a
disturbing manner.
When the girls arrive at the farm house, we meet Alexia's family.
Once night falls, the bloodshed begins as the psychopath takes out
the family one-by-one. The death scenes are beautifully graphic and
brilliantly shot. I watched the unrated DVD, but it's clear director
Alexandre Aja was not afraid to show acts of extreme violence in
well-lit environs.
The twist of an ending is a doozy. The film didn't
necessarily need the twist because it could have sustained itself as
a murder-revenge story quite well. But I didn't feel the twist
detracted from the overall story and I could forgive any problems I
had with the twist because the film was so well-made.
Highly recommended for its unapologetic, stylish gore and
throwback nature to 70's era horror flicks.
Learn more: IMDb
DVD version viewed: High Tension (Unrated Widescreen) (Lions Gate Home Entertainment,
UPC 031398183532)
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