High Tension was a french horror flick that was released in 2003 to France (pronounced as Haute Tension in France), 2004 in the United Kingdom (known as Switchblade Romance in the UK), and 2005 to USA and Canada. And personally, it is one of the best horror flicks (and movies) I have watched in my life. Those who have watched the film probably heavily disagree with me, mainly because of the film's "unnecessary plot twist", which I will get into further into the review. There are spoilers in this review, so just keep that in mind. Now, into the film itself.
The film begins with a woman in a hospital robe repeating "I won't let anyone come between us anymore" over and over again. The camera then pans. Then, you see and hear a recording light flash on. A couple seconds later, the woman says "Are they recording?". The setting then changes to a wounded woman running for what seems to be her life. You then see a vehicle which seems to be casually driving down the road. The woman then runs out in front of the car for help. The driver of the vehicle slams the breaks, then looks around to see what ran in front of the car. The woman then presses against the car window, requesting help.
We then find that this woman, named Marie (portrayed by Cecile de France) , was dreaming. Marie and best friend Alex (portrayed by Maiwenn) are going to stay at Alex's parents' secluded farm house to study in the peace and quiet. When they arrive to the home, they're then greeted by Alex's parents, who are unnamed in the film (A little fun fact: the only person in Alex's family whose name is mentioned is Alex's little brother, Tom). After taking a tour of the house, Alex and Marie say their good nights to each other, than go to bed. In the dead of night, a strange man (portrayed by Phillip Nahon) stopped by, and repeatedly rung the door bell. Marie hears Hendricks (the family dog) barking, and is startled, while the father (I'm not sure who portrays him) wakes up to go answer the door. As he answers the door, he is then attacked by the man (who will now be referred to as "the killer"). The killer then kills the family dog, Hendricks. Marie, hearing the father's moans and screams in pain is now frightened. After while, the killer brutally murdered the mother, the father, the family dog, and even the son (the son's corpse is not shown in the rated R version of the film, though it is shown in the Unrated DVD), and has kidnapped Alex.
In an attempt to save Alex, Marie looked through drawers to find something she could defend herself with. The killer hears the sounds and rattles, and enters the house once again. Marie finds a kitchen knife, and keys, then sneaks outside to the truck. Marie is now in the truck with Alex, though for some odd reason, Alex doesn't look very pleased to see Marie. Marie sits near the exit of the truck, knife in hand, prepared to defend herself against the killer...though, the killer shuts the door, unknowingly that Marie is in the back of the truck with Alex. The killer then leaves the house, with the two women in the back of the truck.
Whilst in the back of the truck, Marie is attempting to break a lock on the back door of the truck to escape, though she can't seem to get it. In need of gas, the killer stops at a gas station. Marie is then successful at breaking the lock, and sneaks out of the truck, into the gas station. Requesting the store clerk's assistance, she notices the killer nearing the entrance of the store, so she runs to hide. The killer then enters the gas station, and begins to converse with the store clerk. After a bit of conversing, the store clerk notices blood on the killers hands, while the killer notices the store clerk looking at Marie (though the killer doesn't actually know Marie's there). He then asks the store clerk to get him some liqueur. The store clerk does what he's asked, but is then brutally murdered with an axe to the chest. After murdering the store clerk, Marie runs and takes shelter in a Male restroom. The killer then surveys the area, asking himself "What were you looking at, Jimmy(store clerk)?". Unable to find what the store clerk was looking at, he then goes to the restroom area. He then surveys the female restroom, though doesn't find any sign of what Jimmy was looking at. Assuming nobody was there, the killer then went into the male restroom, though he doesn't survey it, rather he actually uses the bathroom. After the killer leaves, Marie exits the bathroom stall she was in cautiously, unaware if the killer left or not. Noticing that the killer isn't present, she then feels a sign of relief. Noticing that the killer had actually completely left the gas station, the then rushes to the telephone, and calls the police. The police unable to assist her, she then steals the store clerk's vehicle, and weapon. She then chases after the killer.
Tailing the killer, the killer then takes a turn into a road surrounded by forest and trees, while she drives by, hoping the killer doesn't think she's suspicious. She then turns her headlights off (though the light inside the actual car was turned on, which is nonsensical if you're going to chase down a killer), and follows the killer down the path. Losing track of the killer, the killer then appears behind her, running into the back of the sports car she was driving. Marie reaches for the gun she grabbed from the gas station, but notices that the killer removed the bullets from the gun. After being chased, Marie then ends up flipping her vehicle and crashing. The killer then comes to a stop, to check and see if she lived or not.
Marie then exits the car, noticing that she's badly wounded. In search of a place to hide, she finds what seems like an abandoned camp near by. Noticing the killers flash light, she then hides immediately, hoping the killer doesn't notice her. Going towards the light, she then notices that the flash light was hanging from a rope to make her think that there was someone actually looking. She is then attacked from behind with plastic placed over her face, the killer attempting to suffocate her. Marie falling to the grown, the killer then removes the plastic from her face, Marie desperately gasping for air. The killer then begins to sexually harass Marie by placing his fingers in her mouth. Marie manages to find an object near by, and bash the killer's head with it. The killer now stunned, Marie picks up the Barbed Wire bat she created, then begins to repeatedly hit the killer in the face with it. Marie checks to see if the killer is dead, though the killer quickly puts his hands around Marie's neck attempting to choke her. Marie manages to finish the killer off, suffocating the killer with plastic sheeting.
Police then arrive to the gas station Marie called them about, though, they found no sign of Marie. Upon entering the gas station, the policemen find the dead store clerk lying on the floor. They then check the surveillance footage, which reveal Marie as the murderer.
Happy to see Alex, Marie then unchains Alex from the chains the killer placed her in. Alex then threatens Marie with the knife she had given her at the gas station. Unaware of what's going on, Marie then tells Alex that she killed the man who murdered her family. Calling Marie 'crazy', Alex then states that Marie murdered her family. We then go back to Alex's parents' house, to see that Marie in fact did kill all of them. Marie, still unaware of what she had done, continues to try to comfort Alex. Both women exiting the vehicle, Alex then slashes Marie in the face, followed by stabbing her in the stomach. Marie than transitions back to the killer persona she made, grabs a circular saw out of the killers truck, and chases after Alex. Alex would then spot a car driving down the road, just like in Marie's dream. The car then stops. Alex approaches the car and asks for help. The man in the car asks what is going on, though Alex, scared for her life, asks the man to drive. Unable to start the car, Marie disguised as her killer persona then murders the man. Alex steals a crowbar from the mans car, and exits out of the front window of the vehicle. Noticing that Alex is no longer in the car, Marie then follows Alex. Alex, attempting to escape, then pulls a thick piece of glass out of her foot. Marie catches up with Alex, circular saw in hand, and asks if Alex loves her. No response, Marie then says "You don't love me, do you?" twice, though out of fear, Alex says she does love Marie. Marie then puts down the circular saw, and begins to kiss Alex. In the middle of kissing, Alex then shoves the crowbar she stole from the car into Marie's chest. Marie says something along the lines of "I will never let anything come between us. Never again", then repeatedly saying "I won't let anyone come between us anymore". We are now back at the mental ward we saw at the beginning of the film. Alex looking through the one-way mirror, asks if Marie can see her. Assuming she can't, Marie then looks towards the mirror, with a sinister grin. Extending her arms out in a loving gesture, noticing that Alex is behind it.
The Review: In all honesty, I believe this is a very underrated movie. I personally believe people dislike the movie because they don't really understand what's happening. This is one of those movies where you have to watch multiple times to understand, I know I didn't understand it my first sitting of watching it. Near the ending, my reaction was something along the lines of "What did I just watch?" "What just happened?" "Did that really just happen?", but years later its "Wow, that was a brilliant film". The only actual flaw that is noticeable in the movie is that the film director, Alexandre Aja, overestimates the audience's expertness on Psychology.
Blood, guts, and gore are always a plus in a horror film. I mean, it's called horror film for a reason, right? What made this film good for me was the psychological twist behind it. A closet-sexual woman, being Marie, in love with her friend Alex, blinded by lust and sexual frustration then creates an evil persona, so she can have something to blame for her actions. People might think Marie did this on purpose, though, I don't. Yes, I'm sure she was jealous of Alex having a straight sexuality, but I don't think she would go out of her way to kill her best friend. I believe the killer persona was created, so she could rescue Alex, ultimately giving Alex a reason to "love" her.
Another thing a lot of people miss is that this is from Marie's POV. Notice how she asks in the mental ward "Are they recording?" when the red light comes on. It may seem like it doesn't make sense, but that is what Marie thought happened. The disorder Marie seems to have is a DID, Dissociative identity disorder, previously known as a multiple identity disorder, though these are debated if they even exist or not.
Another great part about this film is the musical score, one of the best musical score I have ever heard. Though I'm not sure off the top of my head who did it, it was a brilliant score, kudos to who ever did it.
In the end, I thought High Tension was a brilliant, must-own horror flick that was underrated because it was hard to understand for a casual horror fan, though, when you look into things, and actually try to understand them, you eventually do. I would love a sequel to this brilliant movie, I'm sure Mr. Aja could come up with something!
In the end, this review has my solid 9.5/10 rating.
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