Haute Tension/High Tension (US)

Cecile De France
Maiwenn Le Besco

Plot: Two friends decide to spend the weekend at a family farm to study for their college finals when a serial killer stalking the family strikes. Marie (Cecile De Franco) survives the ordeal and tries to track down the killer to save the life of her friend, Alex (Maiwenn Le Besco).

Review: High Tension is a psychological horror film following in the footsteps of what has turned into an entire sub-genre of films that most recently include but is not limited to The Sixth Sense, The Others, and The Skeleton Key. These films basically live and die on the “twist” ending and whether or not it is believable in context with the rest of the movie. High Tension is no exception, but the writer and director take a completely different approach along the way. This film takes the gore and violence of your typical slasher flick and amps it up enough to make Tobe Hooper blush along with some of the most nail-bitingly tense scenes I have seen in years. This movie does an incredible job of blending multiple horror sub genres into one movie without losing the story or straying too far from the main point of the film.

But, like every other psychological horror film, the ending is the thing. The ending to High Tension and it’s relevance to the rest of the movie left me scratching my head and gave me something to talk about for a while after the credits rolled. But once everything clicked and I finally tied everything together, it completely blew my mind only made the rest of the movie so much better. I can’t recommend this movie more highly if you are looking for a great scare or the opportunity to see a great film.


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