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loved the blood. loved the gore. loved the suspense. but that ending... wtf? if aja wanted to pull off an ending like that he should have actually had it make sense throughout the movie like hinted at it. It feels like it was the night before they released the movie and everyone randomly decided to just hook on a random few scenes. it does not make sense... but i still thoroughly enjoyed it.
How is this by the same director who made Mirrors and The Hills Have Eyes? I simply don’t understand that. High Tension (aka Switchblade Romance) is by far superior to anything else Alex Aja has ever directed/written and probably will ever direct/write. It’s sad to see him have come down as low as Mirrors, which I named unintentional comedy of the year.
The core technical aspects and style of High Tension are visually impressive. From the opening scene alone I noticed this looked a lot better than most high-budget American horror, for whatever reason. The casting is absolutely flawless, and I because of that actually felt some tension as Marie got herself in some of the more tense situations that I’ve seen in a while. I think that aspect makes this more of a dark thriller alone the same lines of Saw II than a horror movie or slasher film, though it has aspects of both.
Though I can’t call it a disappointment, there was nowhere near as much gore in this film that people have led me to believe. I’m tired of people going on about how every other movie with a little bit of blood is “the goriest movie in years” and/or “the goriest movie ever made”. High Tension doesn’t come close to being over-the-top with violence, and though there is more bloodspill than I expected, it was far from copious. For the kind of movie it was, the gore was rather typical.
Now, I won’t spoil the ending plot twist for you, but I will talk about what it means for the movie. All through High Tension I couldn’t stop thinking that it was a waste of a great—if not borderline perfect—thriller buildup because it lacked anything original or different from the norm. Then, out of nowhere, the plot twist sets in and the movie went from “Good, but typical” to “Truly cliché-defying, superior thriller” in a matter of 10 minutes. What happens will, and has, angered a lot of “true” horror fans because it sets itself apart from the norm and turns either completely ridicules or completely disturbing, depending on how traditional you are. I think this movie really divides the traditionalists from those who really want to see thrillers become something original.
Also, the ending of the movie brings us back to the days when mean-spirited and truly disturbing films were being made for their respective generation. I’m referring to movies like Night of the Living Dead, which now seem PG to us, but at the time were the height of sickening nightmares put on film. This generation rarely sees a movie that disturbs us, mainly because cinema across the world, not just America, does not take the risks necessary to do so. They use the excuse the audience can’t handle it, when we really can handle much more than their film multiplied by twenty. High Tension may not dish out the gore to the level of truly disturbing, but the ending of the movie does take the plot in a direction that is more ballsy than most any film I’ve seen in a while, minus a few. It will upset some, but I’m just glad that it does something that flies in the face of the clichéd thriller/horror genre efforts we’ve seen since we were little kids.
Overall, High Tension is a genre piece that is non-politically correct in every way I can think of. It is one of the best thrillers I’ve seen in years, and it’s cliché-defying. If you haven’t watched this movie, do so. If you want to see thrillers make any sort of progression as a genre, this film is a good start. Hopefully more director/writers have the guts Alex Aja does to do something this different.
please see the link for a real review of this film. The review that is listed here is complete garbage and this prick shouldn't review anything at all ever!
I fully disagree with this review. This is one of the scariest movies I've seen -- and very few movies have actually got me freaked out, with the only other exceptions being Frontier(s) and The Descent. This movie is definitely one of my favorites, and Alex Aja is an incredibly talented director and writer.
We went and watched this movie in the theatre and we were the only ones there on a friday night. This movie had us yelling at the screen in the movie. We loved it and i highly recommended this movie for a long time but it did not take off well. then after video and the unrated version came out. It picked up but i thought the "R" was scarier and more tension. The blood stole from my imagination and the movies while still good has stole from the tension.
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