RETRO REVIEW: HIGH TENSION

High Tension is a french slash-em-up thriller directed and scripted by Alexandre Aja (Mirrors, The Hills Have Eyes). The film follows the story of two college pals, Marie and Alexa. Alexa is trusting and somewhat niave while Marie is edgier and a possible lesbian as the film points out during a crucial masturbation scene that at first viewing appears tasteless but is actually an important turning point in the film. The 2 girls are vacationing at Alexa's family home when a killer strikes and murders most of the family and kidnaps alexa, leaving Marie to give chase after her friend.

High Tension had the potential to be a truly great foreign language thriller but was brought down to the lower level of an enjoyable romp by two things. The first is that the director chose to dub the film over in english but a quarter of the way through decides to drop the dubbing idea only to bring it back again at the end. Now I am of the persuasion that as far as dubbing goes, you either have to go all the way with it or not do it all. By having on-again-off-again dubbing in the film it effectively leaves viewers stranded in the middle of a busy road, they themselves must fill in the dialogue for the characters at some points and navigate their own way through the film without an effective map. It's an interesting strategy that I imagine Aja put into effect in an effort to get viewers thinking and to create an uneasy feeling. The effort pays off as it does exactly that, but I still would like to know exactly what was actually being said. The second thing that hindered the film was the killers painfully obvious lapses in logic. I won't go into further detail except to say that he is apparently not the brightest bulb in the batch as several obvious things escape his "places to look for hiding victim" list.

With those two unsavory details aside, High Tension does produce several inventive kills and plenty of blood to fill several bath-tubs. The film is not subtle at all, preferring to throw several things into your face that you may not have wanted (or needed) to see. Some may complain about how this points to the skills of an inept filmmaker, but honestly it does not take all that much away from the film in the end. Sometimes it's nice to sit down to a suspense/horror film that knows what it's demographic enjoys seeing and thus doesn't spend much time on anything else.

Not only does High Tension provide plenty of blood, but it also creates a truly memorable heroine in the guise of Marie. Here is a girl that knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to get exactly that. It's great fun to watch her go at it, the barbed stick scene alone making the film definently worth a rental at you local redbox or what not. While her ultimate character arc may dissapoint some viewers, I found it somewhat satisfying as it draws some parallels to another famous horror move icon.

Near the end the film attempts to throw in a surprise point to shock audiences and leave them with something to chew on, it doesn't entirely work out very well but the film does gain a few hesitant bonus points for the effort. In the end, while High Tension may not be one of the best horror films of recent years, it's still an enjoyable romp that tries and ALMOST succeeds at thoroughly thrilling viewers. That alone makes it worthy of a reccomendation from me to any true horror buff out there.

3/5 Stars

Upon a second viewing recently, I've come to appreciate the film more, though I'm still not in love with it (I do love what it's trying to say about repressed sexuality, unrequited love and how these two toxic elements mixed together can lead a person to go mad. It's also interesting that the killer is a man...what does that say about Marie and how she views her sexuality). The film may actually work better upon repeat viewings as what was once a rote but thrilling horror film becomes something truly disorienting and confusing as we are left to struggle to figure out what is real and what is fantasy. The film effectively places us inside a psycho's head who is blissfully unaware of her fractured mental state. The truth is: This is a film about a messed-up love story and one person's unhealthy obsession. It's still not quite great, but it comes close at times.  Updated rating: 3.5 STars