High Tension (2003)
Tagline: Hearts will bleed.
Every time I go to the video store, Im assaulted by a new wave of low-budget Horror flicks. Many have slick packaging and can boast either an award or critical praise, while others look like they were put together in the dark by rabid monkeys. Either way, the outside of the Film often has very little to do with whats on the inside. That neat-looking Movie nestled in between Moulin Rouge and Runaway Bride may be a major disappointment, while the one on the bottom shelf of the back row may be surprisingly good. You rolls the dice and takes your chances.
This was my dilemma when I came across the French Film High Tension. On the surface, it had all the elements that would drive a Horror fanboy wild. Buff chick on the cover? Check. Buff chick holding a weapon capable of mutilation and carnage (in this case an industrial buzzsaw)? Check. High-quality design and clearly marked Unrated? Check.
And if that wasnt enough, just look at some of the critical blurbs printed on the front and back of the case: It will scare the hell out of you! exclaims Dennis Dermody of Paper. The best Horror Movie of the year! cries Shawn Edwards of Fox-TV. A must-see! screams Time Out New York.
Nevermind the fact that Ive never heard of Paper or Time Out New York. What did I really have to lose, besides an hour and a half of my life? With that thought in mind, I picked up High Tension and took it home. Hours later, the Movie was in, and the lights were out.
To begin with, I guess I should give credit to the Filmmakers for keeping things nice and elementary. The plot is so simple that even a child or small animal could follow it. In a nutshell: Marie (Cecile De France) and Alex (Maiwenn) are college classmates and best friends. Hoping to study for exams in peace and quiet, they travel to the isolated country home of Alexs parents. The girls arrive late at night, say their hellos, then go to bed. Soon afterwards, a deranged killer (Philippe Nachon) shows up at the front door and rings the bell. After that, well, I think you get the general idea. And this is all in the first fifteen minutes. The rest of the Movie consists of Marie trying to catch up with the killer, who has abducted Alex and thrown her in the back of his would-only-be-owned-by-a-serial-killer van.
Very little seems to happen in High Tension besides a series of murders and cha se sequences, but somehow theyre able to stretch it out to an hour and a half. Luckily, the Movie is still short enough to keep from seeming repetitive, and the audience is whisked along with precious little time to catch their breath. No doubt, just what director Alexandre Aja was shooting for.
I could complain that the characters are one-dimensional, but what would be the point? This is a Movie which deals with in-your-face terror and graphic Violence. When the axes start swinging, the characters themselves arent even that important. Theyre just there to provide a target for all the sharp cutlery.
Still, the psychological aspect of the Film would have been more successful if the audience were allowed to get to know Alex and Marie a little better. We get a brief amount of banter to start the p icture, but five or ten more minutes would have been nice (especially considering the turn that their relationship takes towards the end of the Film). And the other victims of the killer? Well, theyre so underdeveloped that I felt absolutely nothing when they bought the farm. Of course, developing all these characters would have cut into the time allotted for bloody mayhem, so maybe its for the best in the long run. Besides, underdeveloped victims are a staple of the Horror genre. We watch this sort of Film to see people get dismembered, not quote Shakespeare.
And fans of dismemberment have plenty to cheer about. Theres some really brut al stuff in the unrated version of High Tension. Take, for example, a scene in which the killer buries an axe in the chest of an unlucky victim. First, were treated to the sounds of the victims breastbone cracking and splintering as the killer twists and pulls on the handle. This is where lesser Gore Movies would stop. The killer would pull the axe free, and the victim would drop lifelessly to the floor. But not High Tension. The victim falls face-first onto the floor, the axe still embedded in his chest. Then, the killer places his big work boot on the victims back and presses down, forcing the axe blade to penetrate even deeper into the now-ruined chest cavity. That, Gore fans, is how you shoot a murder scene! Of course, some top-notch special effects help punctuate the killings, adding a further sense of gory realism to the proceedings.
I also want to give credit to the Filmmakers for having the courage to kill a child. True, the actual deed occurs off-screen, but so many Movies wimp out and avoid this kind of thing altogether, as if real-life serial killers have never preyed on children. The innocent child ducking and dodging the otherwise unstoppable killer has become almost as big a Horror cliche as the virginal girl who always makes it until the end. Well, not in this Film!
And lets not forget the much-hyped twist towards the end of the Film. It no doubt helped High Tension garner such attention, but dont even bother tryin g to figure it out during the course of the picture. The revelation comes from left field with nary a clue to speak of (most of those got left on the cutting room floor). Still, the twist is inventive and allows the picture to stand out from among the crowd. Youll probably love it or hate it. Me? I was somewhere in the middle. While I respected the Filmmakers for trying to do something different, I also couldnt help but notice that some earlier events seem to make the twist impossible. But enough on the subject. Watch the Movie and judge for yourself. I dont want to give anything away.
I want to end this review by complimenting Cecile De France on her performance in the Film. She bleeds, sweats, suffocates, and swings a barbed-wire club with the greatest of ease, and through it all she looks absolutely stunning. The role of Marie doesnt require her to speak much, but she does a nice job of conveying emotion through simple gestures and facial expressions. If she keeps this up (and turns in a few dramatic performances to boot), we might just be seeing the rise of a French Sigourney Weaver. And as I sit here thinking back to Sigourney Weaver in her prime, thats something I would like to see very, very much.
http://www.Cinemathreads.com/
Author:: Shane Rivers
Keywords:: French,Horror,Gore,Violence,Tension,Aja,Movie,Cinema,Film,hills have eyes
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