Guest Author - Andy Boxall

AKA High Tension (USA), Switchblade Romance (UK).

Director – Alexandre Aja
Starring – Cecile De France, Maiween Le Besco and Philippe Nahon
Region 1, Unrated
Out Now

Marie and Alex travel to Alex’s parent’s farmhouse with every intention of studying for some upcoming exams. Nearby, an old battered van drives around the small roads and fields; its occupant is an overall clad maniac looking for his nest victims. Deep into the girl’s first night in the farmhouse, the maniac arrives at the door. He forces his way in and systematically murders Alex’s parents and her little brother. Alex herself is tied up and kidnapped, while Marie evades his detection. She decides to try and rescue her friend for the maniac’s clutches.

This is one film that really lives up to its title (no, not the stupid UK one). From the moment the maniac breaks into the farmhouse to the finale when the now famous twist is revealed, Haute Tension doesn’t let go. Director Aja had only made two movies previously to this, but his skill with stretching out every last second of anxiety belies this relative inexperience. It is also refreshing to see a great horror movie come out of France too, a country not famed for its genre contributions as Aja freely admits.

Haute Tension is a great horror movie too. It’s not only the relentless tension, isolated locations and exciting set pieces that make it so; Aja has two very distinct aces in the movie. The first are the superb make up and gore effects, their content upped in this unrated version. They are handled by one Gianetto De Rossi, the master craftsman behind such movies as Zombie Flesh Eaters, Cannibal Apocalypse and Breakfast at the Manchester Morgue.

The second ace is his choice of actor for the killer. Philippe Nahon is an actor with a massive back catalogue of TV and movie appearances and although he has next to no dialogue here, his physical presence and terrifying coldness really adds to the movie frightening atmosphere. His eyes are avoided by the camera and his cap shrouds his face emphasizing his inhuman cruelness. His performance is a master class in understated movement; he is calm, he never panics; he just waits until his victims make an error, which he capitalizes on with deadly consequences. You will really feel that he has done these terrible deeds many, many times before.

The killer’s initial rampage and the very real isolation of the farmhouse invoke memories of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as does the use of a very, very large power tool during the final reel. Although I will not give away the twist at this point, it did strip the finale of the tension that had soaked the rest of the movie, but at this point Aja wisely increases the spilt blood to compensate. I understand why the twist has to be used, but I fear that some viewers may feel a little cheated by it.

The Disc

Several versions of this movie exist, both in rated and unrated form. The main differences are with the audio and language options. If you don’t have a problem with reading subtitles and listening to a foreign language then the French 5.1 track is the one to go for. Aside from sounding great, your perception of the actor’s ability will be increased too. Listening to the English only track will limit you to Dolby 2.0 in this version, while the theatrical combined English/French track is passable, it’s still no replacement to the original.

The unrated Lions Gate release has several impressive extras too. The movie commentary is passable, but not as good as the scene specific commentary with director Aja and star Cecile De France. A 23-minute documentary on the making of is included but again this is surpassed by an all too brief FX featurette with Gianetto De Rossi. There is also a very short introduction message and a collection of trailers for forthcoming Lions Gate movies.

Conclusion

Providing you don’t take too much notice of the twist ending, Haute Tension will not disappoint and thanks to the accurate title, you really know what to expect. Purchase of the unrated version is essential of course, as is a ‘stress ball’ of some description for when it all gets too much. This is one of the best post 2000 horrors out there and bodes well for Alexandre Aja’s remake of Wes Craven’s classic The Hills have Eyes.

NOTE: The UK Region 2 DVD is uncut and is the same movie as the US Unrated version. It also features various exclusive special features and no English only audio track.