Every now and then in the horror genre, a new film comes along that's supposed to "Scare the hell out of you" or "Get under your skin and stay there for weeks.". Or maybe it's supposed to be "Terrifying" or "Unsettling". These are all comments that have been made about the new French horror flick Haute tension.The film has been creating quite a stir on horror websites, and has had US audiences itching in anticipation of it's theatrical release.
Haute tension (or High tension or Switchblade Romance, depending on where in the world you see it) is, at it's core, a gory, simple slasher film. Marie and Alex, college students, take a weekend at Alex's family farm to study. They are warmly greeted by her loving parents and younger brother. Then a trucker shows up and proceeds to brutally butcher the family and kidnap Alex, leaving it up to Marie to rescue her friend (and stay alive herself, natch).
The film is well acted, for what it's worth in a movie like this. Emotions range from scared to dying, or from angry to crazy. Marie (De France) is basically the only character in the film from around the 20 minute point, and she makes for a strong lead, apparently having studied at the Jamie Lee Curtis/Sigourney Weaver/Linda Hamilton School for Horror Heroines.
Is it scary? I'm not sure. It is certainly intense, sure to cause many a boyfriend's arm to be squeezed. It's also chock full of stomach-churning violence (although one can assume the US version will be significantly tamer). The gore is off-putting, but very effective, and it serves to heighten the tension rather than distract the audience from it, which is a trick many recent US slasher offerings would do well to learn.
The film is also stylish and well made, never winking, constantly taking itself very seriously, another lesson US horror could take from it. This is no Scream. Rather, Haute tension hearkens back to earlier Craven and Carpenter, strongly reminiscent of The Hills Have Eyes , Last House on the Left and Halloween. The film takes no prisoners and grants no asylum. It is very well shot, with an eye for the perverse, demented beauty in the images of mutilation, death, and torment it depicts.
SPOILERS AHEAD
For those of you who fall into the "never plan to see this movie" category (and if you know me personally, I'm probably going to try to make you watch it, so this is your last chance to turn back!), the film ends with a bizarre twist: after chasing down the evil kidnapper, and beating him in the face with a barbed wire topped club, then suffocating him, Marie rescues the bound and gagged Alex. Alex immediately turns on Marie, and we realize that the killer was MARIE HERSELF ALL ALONG!!! This raises several issues, all of which I've been mulling over for a week now.
First of all, does the movie hold up? Is it The Sixth Sense, where we can watch it again and see it in an entirely new light? Or is it The Usual Suspects, where the ending negates or makes impossible much of the film preceding the revelation? I think it's a little of both.
I figured out the twist early in the film, and viewed it as a battle between opposing sides of a character's psyche. Marie is obviously a closeted homosexual, and due to whatever social factors, has denied herself her impulses. This denial and self hatred has led to the development of an alternate personality, the embodiment of stark masculinity. For the most part, the actions of both characters can be seen as parts of the internal struggle for dominance within this sick girl's mind. Only once does the film truly cheat: we in the audience are shown a security camera's recording of the trucker, a character we'll soon discover is a figment of his quarry's imagination. How does the camera pick up an image that doesn't exist? Otherwise, the dual personalities don't directly interact with each other (until the very end), nor do they simultaneously interact with any other character. When they are seen as two entities, it is purely in her mind.
A second issue I've been considering is exactly what stance is the film taking on human sexuality. Is it suggesting that repressed sexuality in general leads to destructive brutality? Or is it repressed homosexuality that does this? Is it trying to say that inside every lesbian is a fat, ugly, Carhartt wearing trucker? Or is he inside every woman, period?
How about the film's thoughts on what brings out the rampaging trucker within; does he simply wait for the right moment? Is he brought out by masturbation? if so, that's a more chilling threat than a hairy palm or blindness, any day. Or is it rejection? Is it possible to want someone so badly that only by massacring everyone else around can one have that person?
These questions I don't have answers to. I have thoughts on them, but none clear enough or well defined enough to verbalize here. The film's numeric rating is based on the fact that I don't like the answers I think the film leads us toward. I do, however, give the filmmakers credit for putting these issues out there. It's a shame that the vast majority of the film's audience will see only the surface events, and will spend more time thinking about whether it makes sense than trying to answer the important social questions it's asking.
But then maybe I'm reading too much into it. Maybe it's just a slasher flick, and a damn good one. And maybe it goes too far at the end, trying to be clever. In that case, same rating.
http://www.thestickyfloor.com/
Haute tension (or High tension or Switchblade Romance, depending on where in the world you see it) is, at it's core, a gory, simple slasher film. Marie and Alex, college students, take a weekend at Alex's family farm to study. They are warmly greeted by her loving parents and younger brother. Then a trucker shows up and proceeds to brutally butcher the family and kidnap Alex, leaving it up to Marie to rescue her friend (and stay alive herself, natch).
The film is well acted, for what it's worth in a movie like this. Emotions range from scared to dying, or from angry to crazy. Marie (De France) is basically the only character in the film from around the 20 minute point, and she makes for a strong lead, apparently having studied at the Jamie Lee Curtis/Sigourney Weaver/Linda Hamilton School for Horror Heroines.
Is it scary? I'm not sure. It is certainly intense, sure to cause many a boyfriend's arm to be squeezed. It's also chock full of stomach-churning violence (although one can assume the US version will be significantly tamer). The gore is off-putting, but very effective, and it serves to heighten the tension rather than distract the audience from it, which is a trick many recent US slasher offerings would do well to learn.
The film is also stylish and well made, never winking, constantly taking itself very seriously, another lesson US horror could take from it. This is no Scream. Rather, Haute tension hearkens back to earlier Craven and Carpenter, strongly reminiscent of The Hills Have Eyes , Last House on the Left and Halloween. The film takes no prisoners and grants no asylum. It is very well shot, with an eye for the perverse, demented beauty in the images of mutilation, death, and torment it depicts.
SPOILERS AHEAD
For those of you who fall into the "never plan to see this movie" category (and if you know me personally, I'm probably going to try to make you watch it, so this is your last chance to turn back!), the film ends with a bizarre twist: after chasing down the evil kidnapper, and beating him in the face with a barbed wire topped club, then suffocating him, Marie rescues the bound and gagged Alex. Alex immediately turns on Marie, and we realize that the killer was MARIE HERSELF ALL ALONG!!! This raises several issues, all of which I've been mulling over for a week now.
First of all, does the movie hold up? Is it The Sixth Sense, where we can watch it again and see it in an entirely new light? Or is it The Usual Suspects, where the ending negates or makes impossible much of the film preceding the revelation? I think it's a little of both.
I figured out the twist early in the film, and viewed it as a battle between opposing sides of a character's psyche. Marie is obviously a closeted homosexual, and due to whatever social factors, has denied herself her impulses. This denial and self hatred has led to the development of an alternate personality, the embodiment of stark masculinity. For the most part, the actions of both characters can be seen as parts of the internal struggle for dominance within this sick girl's mind. Only once does the film truly cheat: we in the audience are shown a security camera's recording of the trucker, a character we'll soon discover is a figment of his quarry's imagination. How does the camera pick up an image that doesn't exist? Otherwise, the dual personalities don't directly interact with each other (until the very end), nor do they simultaneously interact with any other character. When they are seen as two entities, it is purely in her mind.
A second issue I've been considering is exactly what stance is the film taking on human sexuality. Is it suggesting that repressed sexuality in general leads to destructive brutality? Or is it repressed homosexuality that does this? Is it trying to say that inside every lesbian is a fat, ugly, Carhartt wearing trucker? Or is he inside every woman, period?
How about the film's thoughts on what brings out the rampaging trucker within; does he simply wait for the right moment? Is he brought out by masturbation? if so, that's a more chilling threat than a hairy palm or blindness, any day. Or is it rejection? Is it possible to want someone so badly that only by massacring everyone else around can one have that person?
These questions I don't have answers to. I have thoughts on them, but none clear enough or well defined enough to verbalize here. The film's numeric rating is based on the fact that I don't like the answers I think the film leads us toward. I do, however, give the filmmakers credit for putting these issues out there. It's a shame that the vast majority of the film's audience will see only the surface events, and will spend more time thinking about whether it makes sense than trying to answer the important social questions it's asking.
But then maybe I'm reading too much into it. Maybe it's just a slasher flick, and a damn good one. And maybe it goes too far at the end, trying to be clever. In that case, same rating.
http://www.thestickyfloor.com/