High Tension (2003)
AKA: Haute Tension, Switchblade Romance
Year: 2003
Directed by: Alexandre Aja
Starring: Cecile de France (Marie), Maiwenn (Alex), Philippe Nahon (Killer)
Country: France, European Cinema
Language: French (English Subtitles)
Runtime: 01:30:39
Genres: Gore-Gruesome, Kidnapping, Lesbian, Revenge, Violence against Men, Sexual-Violence against Women
Plot – Spoilers:
A couple of French girls, Marie and Alex, drive to Alex’s parents’ place in the country to study over the weekend for some law-related exam. It’s a friendly countryside home and having reached late in the night, the girls decide to crash.
Marie is a little edgy having suffered a scary dream during the drive and shuffles around for a bit before deciding to masturbate herself to sleep. She is roused from her reverie by noises downstairs and wakes to see Alex’s Dad being brutally killed by a huge man. From here begins long sequences of tension as the Killer slaughters members of the family and kidnaps Alex.
Favourite Scenes:
The tension is quite good, but the Dad’s brutal murder is probably the most inventive bit in the movie. Stuffing a guy’s head through the stair rails and knocking it off his torso with a heavy table is quite a neat thing for a killer to do.
Unfortunately, a couple of ridiculous things take the sheen off Haute Tension, like Marie while driving having bat vision to see the killer tauntingly holding out the bullets. Or, where the goddamn truck came from, unless Marie drove it herself there which itself opens out more questions. Ignore stuff like this and Haute Tension is a good watch.
EXCELLENT movie! 10/10
marie is fucking hot sorry not sorry she can chainsaw me any day
The worst movie french extreme cinema has to offer. Skip this one.
Light 4/10
Garbage. Don’t waste your time
Really fckn good! Love the twist at the end
No idea why this is highly rated. Not campy enough to be entertaining, not realistic enough to be believable, it’s some middle ground alternative universe where cars don’t have brakes, matches stay lit in moving vehicles, tiny french lesbians have super powers, and M Night Shyamalan is the primary inspiration. This film is a predictable fart fest
I fucking love muse song in it
good movie ending kind of sucked
Pretty good movie. While it did have a cliche twist at the end, it wasn’t expected which made up for it. Wouldn’t hate to see a second movie of just the girl doing these things and what actually happened.
If you’re looking for a good gory movie with an actual plot line, High Tension is pretty good.
They borrow the main idea of FIGHT CLUB (1999) and mixed with ideas from many “slasher” movies. I really expected that end by how scared her friend, her friend’s mother and the gas station guy looked when they saw her.
This movie absolutely slaps, the twist just adds another dimension of Fucked Up & honestly I love it. I’ve been watching a lot of New French Extremity movies & I’d have to say this one is definitely my favourite so far! (Though Martyrs and Inside are close behind)
it’s been a long time since a movie death really *hit* me, I’m gonna be thinking about the scene with the mother for a while!
You know, french girls are so ugly; they have horse-like faces and teeth. But I got a Peugeot, and that´s all.
Although this movie did leave me with a few unanswered questions, overall it was very worthwhile to watch. I wasn unsure of whether or not I would enjoy it based on the hype it recieved, but after giving it a go I feel it’s worth a second watch to catch all of what I probably missed the first viewing. Not bad, but nothing groundbreaking or life changing.
I wish I was a Woman.
nota 10 reviravolta incrível
“High Tension” is such a perfect title indeed, amazing film
this pissed me off on a spiritual level bitch!what the fucking shit bitch,how the fuck do you expect me to believe that that brain dead fat fuck figured out that it was that dumbass bitch and that she would come back for that even dumber bitch that only screams.wtf bitch how the f did that stupid truck get behind her on that tiny run down path when there’s literal fucking trees all around and he got behind her that one second she decided she couldn’t see bitch shut yo bitch ass up.this is garbage,some good gore,but plot is dog shit all over the place.fuck no.i do appreciate how in one of the last scenes when the fat fuck was approaching the fairy purple dumb hoe it was aesthetically pleasing cuz he was all green and she was all purple.bible wouldn’t support,hoe!
LOVED this movie, they got the title right, but have to agree the ending wasn’t what it could have been. although definitely a unexpected twist…
There are some holes in the plot but who cares, it delivers the goods in terms of blood and gore, and lets face it, its what we are here for. The french are the leaders in gory films, just check out ”Frontieres” and ”Martyrs” among others, there are plenty on this site. Love those french women too. Cheers!
Wow, great movie! Ending was so unexpected. Never, ever, ever, ever would I have expected that! Great slasher GORE!
I want Mythbusters to do an episode on the whole head / bannister / cabinet beheading thing. Agree that the ‘twist’ was a bit shit though – the film would of been okay to follow the Wolf Creek approach.
the end twist is really unbelievable and ruins the movie for me, I unfortunately have to say. Other than than that, the violence is on point.
All in all, this is a pretty good flick. Gore, not just for the sake of gore, but along with a compelling story line.