High Tension (2003)

Want to see it?

Seen it?

0
1
2
3
4
5
Rate this movie.

Buy it now on DVD

Starting at $10.32

Want to buy it?

Write a review

Discuss it

Add to lists

Recommend it

Get recommendations

Watch trailer

Directed by Alexandre Aja.

Starring Maïwenn Le Besco, Philippe Nahon, Cécile De France, Franck Khalfoun, Andrei Finti.

Watch trailer

French filmmaker Alexandre Aja writes and directs the slasher film Haute Tension, given the English title Switchblade Romance. Best friends Marie (Cécile De France) and Alex (Maïwenn Le Besco) go out to the countryside to visit Alex's parents. However, a homicidal delivery man (played by Philippe Nahon from Gaspar Noé's brutal movies) ends up at their house and starts killing everyone. Alex and Marie fight for their lives with help from several means of weaponry. Switchblade Romance was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival as part of the Midnight program. The film was aquired by US distributor Lions Gate Films in 2004 and quickly put into turnaround as an NC-17 release, though plans for that were scrapped due to a lack of theater support of the controversial rating. Retitled High Tension, the R-rated version is missing one minute of grisly gore and features a redubbed audio track by star Cécile De France. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

[more]

Reviews and discussions

Re:Screaming in Spanish: Foreig ...
by leeroy711 in Friends of Foreign Flicks

liked it.

"[quote user="indieabby88"] So, I watched "The Orphanage" last night with a friend, and between curling up in a terrified ball and screaming at the screen more than I had at any other horror film in recent memory, I wondered what the foreign film folks here at Spout thought of this movie, and (upon further, calmer reflection) of foreign horror films in general. Any favorites? I'm not particularly knowledgable in horror movies outside of the states, so any insight would be awesome. [/quote] I though The Orphanage was pretty good. I can't say it was incredible but I enjoyed it. I'm going to watch Calvaire tonight, it's a French horror film with a pig in it. Don't really know much more about it. High Tension is a good French Gorror/Horror flick and there's this Spanish movie from the '76 called Who Can Kill A Child that I thought was pretty damn creepy. " [More]

Re: Always a hot topic - what's ...
by Macabre_FilmNut in Gorrible

loved it.

"[quote user="digitalconquest"] Argento is one of my favorite directors and he definitely has his moments of gore, but usually when I think of his movies, gore isn't one of the first things that jump out. I usually think style, atmosphere and substance. Mark [quote user="Macabre_FilmNut"] Wow, no one has listed any of Argento works. Maybe there not that gory but they do have there points, such as Tenebre (1982) I know I keep mentioning this, but there is a new director on the scene and his latest film is like a tribute to all the exploitation films and gore we all saw the in the past. Just got done watching the commentary. Trust me its worth checking out if you can get "Balls-out uncut edition" Gutterballs (2008) I half to agree with the "The fly", saw it as a kid sitting underneath my grandmothers table, since it was a favorite of hers. The blender scene! [/quote] [/quote] \ I hate say it, but that is what makes him such an influuential director because he can do everything. ... " [More]

Shrooms - Review
by mercurial in a filmblog

is neutral about it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"When the allure of experimenting with new drugs takes you halfway around the world to the backwoods of abandoned hospitals, you might want to ask yourself one thing, "What the #*$% is wrong with me?" Shrooms ham-handedly reiterates what most people already know about groups of attractive twenty-somethings and the horrible things that happen to them when they gather in remote locales to indulge in sinful activities. Vocabularies are abandoned for the slang du jour, sex and drugs are had, and psychotic inbred hillbillies come out and play. Disjointed and haphazard in its construction, Shrooms is the inbred Irish cousin to High Tension. " [More]

New wave french horror??
by Macabre_FilmNut in HORROR MOVIES 101

loved it.

"I remember that opening scene in the vehicle and the killer is proceeding to do something with a skull. Now for alll you that have seen Haute Tension, you know what I am talking about? From that point on after he is done and discards the head out the window, the movie proceeds to get better with plot and gore! After seeing that and not being disapointed. I have proceeded to watch most films from France. Since Malefique (2003) there has been a huge sucess in Movies over there. Problem with France is that only movies tthat are allowed on tv , are the only ones really allowed to be filmed over there. So movies like haute tension(High Tension (2003)), Sheitan (2006), Ils(Them (2006)), Calvaire (2004) and my favorite for this year À l'intérieur (2007). If it wasn't for StudioCanal releasing these, we may have never seen them this quick! Also Movies like Gasper Noe's Irreversible (2002) and I Stand Alone (1998) were really well done and not for the faint of heart. ... " [More]

Re:Ask the Doctor...
by Macabre_FilmNut in HORROR MOVIES 101

loved it.

"[quote user="Dr_Gor"] OH! And I wish to apologize... my 'link a movie thingy' still isn't working... [/quote] That had to be a tripp, sitting in county jail watching 3-D! I can't imagine it. I remember I was out in Eugene Oregon and I saw House of 1000 Corpses (2002) and I was wasted, pretty much 3-D vision. I never realized how the actual visuals were or how the movie plays out until I ended up here and bought it, sat and watched it sober. It didnt make hell alot of sense, but I still enjoyed the flick. I remember Jaws 3 (1983), but I was real young! But back in those days movies stayed in the theaters alot longer! I can remember movies not even showing up in the rentals for like a year or so later. Then VCRS back in those days you had to put a 60 or 70 dollar deposit down to rent one. Also I remember Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) in 3-D, which I liked alot. Jumping off the subject for the moment, the French right now for horror, is where it is at. Hollywood ... " [More]

what if a french horror film go ...
by clownman70360 in clownman70360 Blog

loved it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"High Tension was the best horror film ever,i got that on dvd,i gonna put this on the spoof,the new upcoming horror-comedy flick i gonna write called:Another Slasher Movie,is a horror,gruesome,raunchy,grosse d-out comedy movie about a gang of zany,wannabe serial slashers terrorized a group of slacker teenagers on halloween.It's look like Scary Movie,but only better. " [More]

High Tension
by analogzombie in analogzombie Blog

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"A young French women, Alex, retreats, with her firend in tow, to her family's country house. In the middle of the night a homicidal maniac who enjoys skull-fucking corpses appears to reign death upon the entire household. Fortunately, he doesn't discover Alex's friend, Marie, who has been hiding out. As he loads Alex into his truck for future fun, Marie must decide whether to save her own skin or attempt a kind of rescue.So let me get this right. High Tension is a French slasher film that forgoes the genre's cliche endings, and features a cute tomboyish French chick chasing a homicidal maniac with everything from a chainsaw to barbedwire wrapped around a wooden post? Sounds awesome to me. It is, for the most part. High Tension is the best horror film I've seen since Gore Verbinski's Ring remake. Don't let the past French attempts at a Hollywood style slickfest (Brotherhood of the Wolf) deter you from giving this film a chance.Sometimes the best American ... " [More]

High Tension
by animerion in Movie Musings

liked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"In the last few years, the horror film has completely gone down hill. this is attributed to many thing, the waning box off and tying to get as many "kids" in the theater with the PG-13 rating and possibly general conservatism in Hollywood. Whatever the reason, 90% of modern horror films suck. In 2003, the film Haute Tension was release in France and garnered the attention of genre fans. From is stark brutality at times to its quiet suspense, it makes you part of the characters' world until the end of the 91 minute runtime.The film opens up with Marie visiting her friend Alex's family. That night a stranger knocks at the door, and Alex's family is brutalized and Alex is kidnapped. This film is about Marie's experiences in trying to rescue her friend. Yes, this is a basic slasher film premise. A silent killer stalking its prey. At the same time however, Marie is also stalking him, not only for her own survival, but also the Alex's as well.Ther ... " [More]

Almost perfect
by glowbugg in glowbugg ramblings

liked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"I watched this film with the understanding that it was "Grrrreat!" I have to admit the movie was tense, and gorey, and sick (love the opening scene with "a little head"), but the ending left so many gaping holes that I almost hated this film! The ending was not obvious, as other films are quite predictable these days, but the twist left me with more questions than could be answered. Like, who was the convienience store clerk talking to when she was hiding behind a rack of Twinkies?! I guess the masturbation scene just wasn't enough to make me forgive the whack-job of an ending. " [More]

at the helm of gore
by blinktom_182 in blinktom_182 Blog

liked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"well there has been this horror genre that has branched and went every which way which any horror fan would know . at the front there is rob zombie's first film , there is the 96 SE7EN, and others alike that bring a creep or even a gory visualization to the film world. i loved this movie for 78 minutes i was honestly scared to answer my door for weeks. the guy who said i should check it out told me " DO NOT WATCH THE LAST TEN MINUTES OF THE MOVIE, YOU WILL HATE IT" and he was right i avoided the ending after the man that had captured the herioines friend was "killed" . and the next day i watched the ending by itself and was fairly surprised and for an ending i loved it . On its own. its a very dramatic and suspenseful story of seeing the family killed, i was bothered at times to my stomach and that made it for me. i have a thing about rushed endings where it seems that the money for the movie came to a hault and the production team is thinkin "how the h ... " [More]

[More reviews]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

is neutral about it.

A relentless, stalk-and-slash fright-fest with a heart-pounding pace as brutal as its husky, truck-driving killer, French director Alexandre Aja's gory sophomore feature will no doubt please fear junkies in search of a truly visceral horror experience. Aja keeps thinks viciously organic by eschewing the current CG-obsession by employing the brutally realistic effects of makeup-effects artist Giannetto De Rossi (a favorite of late gore meister Lucio Fulci) -- an asset that makes the violence all the more disturbing and realistic. Of course, with a film that moves as fast as Haute Tension, there's little time for such distractions as character development or dialogue, but -- as is rarely the case in many similar films -- viewers will never doubt the actions taken by the killer's tough-as-nails prey. Much has been said regarding Haute Tension's love-it-or-hate-it "surprise" twist, and while it seems as if Aja and co-screenwriter Gregory Levasseur at least attempt to remain faithful to the revelation, even dropping an occasional hint for the savvy viewer, the awkward revelation may ultimately derail the entire endeavor for less forgiving viewers. There may be little new here for those who follow the genre, but by keeping the pacing tight and the squirm factor high, Aja has crafted a lean, mean, and unrelentingly tense film that quickly grabs the viewer by the throat and doesn't loosen its grip until the credits scroll. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Tags: psychopath , romance , slasher , switchblade , decapitation
View all