High Tension Review
By Joe Lozito
"Tension" Headache
One of the characters in "High Tension", director Alexandre Aja's throwback to the early 80s horror genre, utters a line that, according to the subtitles, translates something like "B-b-but w-w-why?" That's about the sentiment the audience will be left with leaving the theater. Why did I go see this movie? Why were so many critics praising it? Why didn't anyone notice how dull it is and how little sense it makes?!
It's not that "High Tension" is all bad. In fact, it starts as a pretty okay horror movie. There's plenty of blood and guts to go around, and from a strict filmmaking standpoint, it's well directed.
That the film has virtually no plot is not a big problem. We don't ask for plot from our horror movies. When college pals Marie and Alex spend the night at Marie's family's secluded country house, a psycho breaks in, kills the whole family (even the dog! That monster!) and takes Marie hostage in his beat-up truck. Only the wily Alex is left alive thanks to a series of standard "will he find her?" scenes, and after the police prove typically unhelpful, it's up to Alex to save Marie.
That's not a bad setup for a horror flick and certainly Mr. Aja provides plenty of kills in the first twenty minutes. After that, though, the film relies on one too many hide-and-seek moments. The capable Cécile De France plays Alex, channeling more than a little Ripley from "Alien", but for a film called "High Tension", there's actually very little of the title feeling. It doesn't help that the killer himself is woefully uninteresting; he's just some maniac with a straight razor and a little flare for the dramatic. He's one of those remorseless killing machines that you find in movies exactly like this one.
But still, this isn't Shakespeare, it's a horror movie, so what am I complaining about? Well, the film's real problem arises in the last 15 minutes, when Mr. Aja, who also co-wrote the script, feels the need to insert a twist ending where none belongs. Like a mindless serial killer turning his knife, Mr. Aja concocts an ending with little originality and even less sense. It's not a twist as much as it's a cheat. A good twist ending (and, of course, "The Sixth Sense" comes to mind) should force you to re-examine everything you've seen previously in the film in a different light. A cheat just makes the film disintegrate before your eyes. The more you think about it, the more insulting it becomes. Yes, it makes the audience sit up and take notice. "B-b-but w-w-why?"
