Ok.... must.... not.... lose..... temper......

must..... remain..... calm......

Ah, fuck it.

HOW DARE YOU RUIN A PERFECTLY FINE HORROR FILM BY FUCKING IT UP SO BADLY WITH THAT ATROCIOUS, PLOT HOLE INDUCING, RETARDED, DISRESPECTFUL ENDING THAT COMPLETELY DESTROYS THE ENTIRE FILM????

High tension indeed.....

My apologies for shouting so much.

The aptly titled High Tension surely provides that and more. On my short trip through the world of modern french horror films, this one is a fine specimen.

I suppose because everyone had made such a big deal about how terrible the ending was, my expectations were really low. Probably as a result, I ending up actually liking the ending, at least much more than I expected to.

90 minutes well spent.

The first 70 minutes are just this fantastically tight suspense chase that manages to have you on the edge of your seat.
The remaining 20 minutes constitute one of the worst twist endings in movie history that not only sucks, but also manages to destroy everything the movie had been building up so far.

Horror/Home Invasion. French Film Subtitled in English

Is it just me or do foreign films speak a lot less than films in the USA? I'm not a fan of subtitled films, this is only my second one, Timecrimes was my first. I'm not a fan because I watch movies to watch movies not read them. Obviously I make some exceptions.

High Tension is appropriately named. It's about a home invasion that goes on the run. Two women go to a house that a ordinary guy comes and terrorizes. It seems like your normal slasher home invasion flick but there is a plot twist. Now don't watch it just waiting for the twist, I knew there was a twist but forgot which made for a good ending. I think you either love or hate the ending, personally I like the ending. There is a lot of blood and screaming.

Early birthday celebration with one of my favourite films of all time. It makes no sense, but it's so marvellous. It may rip off Dean Kurtz but still: the romance, the gore, the visuals (contrasts and bursts of color like a Michael Bay movie, great Blu-ray!), the understated score, the use of sound and songs, the double meanings and hints. I even love the color of the blood! This movie is personal horror perfected. To think he ended up with Piranha 3D, WTF?! Haute Tension, Je t'aime!

Most horrors work by building and releasing tension in cycles, this one attempts to sustain it throughout through a series of heightening cat and mouse games between killer and victim. Its a good idea, and for the most part its pretty effective, that is up until a completely nonsensical twist ending that felt added on without any consideration of all that came before it.

Now a purveyor of slick Hollywood remakes (The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha), Alexandre Aja arrived on the horror scene with this brutal and unrelenting film (called Switchblade Romance here in the UK). Aja expertly cranks up the tension (as the title suggests), building an uncomfortable atmosphere of expectation. He doesn't skimp on the blood and guts though either; this film is certainly not for the squeamish. High Tension has a decidedly old-school feel to it; Aja clearly inspired by the exploitation films of the Video Nasty era. The twist ending will divide the audience, but regardless the journey to that point is well worth embarking upon. If you like this, try also Pascal Laugier's Martyrs, one of the best horror films of recent years.

Una de las pocas peliculas que caasi merecen entrar en el selecto club del 9 en mis notas de FF (si pudiera dar un 8,9 se lo daría).

4 estrellas tras 3 visionados y no me canso de verla. Una pelicula del género en toda su esencia. Thriller, horror, gore, slash a ratos,... Bebe muchisimo de los clásicos como LA MATANZA DE TEXAS.

This movie is complete trash, in every sense of the word, and I can't fathom how anybody could give it a rating higher than one star. Really, somebody explain it to me. From the first minute, the film is a nasty, cruel piece of work that exists only to put a pit in the stomachs of audiences. It achieves that, but to what end? Really, what is it trying to do? Is it saying something about the randomness, the bluntness of violence? Is it trying to speak to the depths of human depravity? Or did Aja just think somebody giving themselves a blowjob with a severed head would be funny? It's junk, and the twist ending makes no Goddamn sense, whatsoever.

And this is coming from a guy who thinks Piranha 3D is hilarious.

If you put three or four genre tropes in your movie, it's derivative. If you put EVERY genre trope in your movie, you are saying something about the genre. And in this case, all the familiarity is there to make the brutal violence the foucs of the film.
This picture is about how far the filmmakers can push the violence and gore.

This movie was crazy, probably one of the finest slasher movies ever made. a must see for slasher fans

8.0/10

Haute tension is a rare horror film that combines lots of gore with genuine scares and plenty of suspense. This French film is quite possibly the goriest movie I have ever seen and though it was quite disturbing in some parts, I was completely into the story and this is why I found it so engrossing. Its implausible twist ending was shocking, unbelievable and tricky, but for some reason I liked it very much.