Haute Tension (High Tension)

Title: Haute Tension (High Tension)
Rating: 2.5/5
Genre: Horror
Starring: Cécile de France, Maïwenn Le Besco
Language: French

And so I return with another horror film, "High Tension" by director and co-writer "Alexandre Aja". The plot is basically like a casual slasher film, "Marie" (France) spends a weekend at the house of her college friend "Alex" (Le Besco), and then a homicidal maniac who roams around the neighborhood attacks the family at night and starts carnage. I enjoyed the representation of the plot rather than the plot itself. "Aja" is a good director, he did alright with this horror flick, but as a writer, many physicists would like to have a word with him. The reason for that can be known by watching the film, and paying attention to what is happening.

"Aja" as a director I enjoyed his film. At more than one point he did a representation, along with the actress, of the character's emotion of fear, rather than just a mindless bloodshed film. For instance, at one seen we see a focus shot on Marie's face as she hides in her room, hearing all the screams of the other family members, leading us to imagine what kinds of horrors done to the other family members. Though I admit there were some scenes that really had no use in the film, like watching "Marie" masturbate. The killings were well directed, I didn't see them as the ultimate showcase of human brutality, nor were they mellow. Any fan of slasher films will enjoy them. I liked how the soundtrack was used, especially the song "New Born" by "Muse" to create an atmosphere of serenity and tension.

After we discover the main revelation and plot twist, we discover the film has defied the laws of physics! It's not a sci-fi film or a fantasy film, but it was a horror, what was done still bewilders me. If the writers paid attention to these, the whole film would have been much greater. The writers tried to make something that will "end" all slasher films, but what they made severely lowered its ranking. Let me say an example from outside the film that will let you understand, without spoiling it. I am at the mall and I met some friends and hung around with, at exactly the same time I am at home having a video chat with a friend over the internet. I have no twin and the people I talked to are sane, it's physically impossible for this to happen! But many things similar to this did happen. I honestly don't know what was going in the minds of the makers.

To those who prefer to watch an entertaining film with a bung of friends, without thinking about even if for a bit, they will surly enjoy "High Tension". The film was nasty and bloody, fans of slashers will surly enjoy this. I did enjoy it in general. It's a good French horror films, but I won't compare to "Martyrs" or "Inside". With this, I end my modern horror run.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Female Prisoner: Scorpion

Image
Title: Female Prisoner: Scorpion Rating: 4/5 Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime Starring: Meiko Kaji, Rie Yokoyama, Isao Natsuyagi Director: Shunya Ito Language: Japanese It was the 70s that saw the rise in Japanese grindhouse cinema (also known as ‘Pinky Violence); tired of the very ‘traditional’ style of many local films, and with the rise in success of Hollywood titles such as ‘Dirty Harry’ and ‘The Great Escape,’ a new wave of daring and experimental directors came to light. Armed with a low budget and all the influences of the early Western grindhouse cheap gore flicks, they combined it with traditional Japanese film-making sensibilities to create a style that somehow succeeded in being both artistic in style whilst retaining those cheap traditions such as gratuitous nudity and violence to result in something rather unique. And it was with this, the first instalment in the ‘Female Prisoner’ series, that would influence a wave known as ‘Women in Prison’ films; with a strong the...
Read more

Slasher Hunter

Image
Title: Slasher Hunter (2011) Rating: 3/5 Genre: Horror, Comedy Starring: Chad Phillips, Derek Rothermund, Ryan Sullivan Director: Steve Rudzinski Duration: 35 mins Four pals are planning to have a great weekend of sex and brews in an old cabin in the woods. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “this is the exact set up to every slasher movie from ‘79 to ‘99; this can’t end well.” Well our group of campers have thought of that, that’s why they brought sci-fi nerd Lee along for the ride who carries within him the so-called “survivor gene.” This special gene helps prevent him from being the unfortunate victim of any slasher maniacs that may be lurking about. Unfortunately this gene is also highly coveted by a group of the most dastardly slashers around: Frank, Larry, Jay, Charles, Pleatherface, and Puzzle (I didn’t say their names were very dastardly, did I?). It’s up to a renegade, federally-employed Slasher Hunter to thwart the slashers’ plan and save Lee and his friends before it’...
Read more

Chinese Erotic Ghost Story

Image
Title: Chinese Erotic Ghost Story Original Title: Yuk lui liu chai Genre: Comedy, Exploitation Rating: 2.5/5 Starring: Ben Ko Chu, Chun Chung, Siu Wan Hung Director: Kin-Nam Cho Language: Chinese It's always a little tricky to think how these sort of films should be rated; from the title it's apparent that they aren't perhaps the most creative when it comes to titles, though if nothing else it certainly is an accurate one, with perhaps some mention of how batshit insane the bizarre events of the actual film are being the only thing missing. It all kicks off rather normally; Chu is introduced as the debt collector working for an asshole of a King with a beautiful mistress, two beautiful daughters and an even prettier wife, whilst he's stuck with a woman who sleeps 20 hours a day and spends the remaining four awake eating. Caught in the embrace of one of the King's daughters he's punished with the task of entering Satan's Temple and stealing the statu...
Read more