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High Tension http://www.themoviemark.com/moviereviews/hightension.asp
PLOT
All right, so we start off with a very unoriginal premise. Marie accompanies her friend Alex on vacation to Alex's parent's country house in the woods. Of course. Where else would you expect the house to be located? Anything else would be flirting with originality. And these aren't just any woods, oh no, in an extreme use of cliché, these woods are very isolated! And the house is kind of creepy looking to boot! Well, if you've ever seen a slasher movie then it'll come as no shock that a vicious killer dude will show up in the middle of the night to start some killin'. The guy kills off Alex's parents and brother, kidnaps Alex, but he doesn't realize Marie is staying at the house. So Marie must now figure out a way to save her friend from this dreadful fate. Unfortunately, nothing is really as it seems.
"Ah, then this must be the point where things get really clever and original, right?"
Nope. One of the worst plot twists I've ever seen ensues.
JOHNNY'S TAKE
Sigh. High tension? More like high frustration. Or high aggravation. Or HIGH STUPID TWIST ENDING! Sheesh.
If you were disappointed in the twist endings of Hide and Seek or Secret Window, weeeeell, they look ingenious compared to this. Lame, predictable plot twists typically just induce a rolling of my dark, dreamy eyes and a shaking of my head, but High Tension actually angered me. Thankfully, I didn't pay to see this. But if I had I wouldn't necessarily feel I had wasted my money, it'd be more accurate to say I'd feel like I had been cheated out of it.
The problem is there is just no way to go back from beginning to end and put all the pieces together in a logical fashion. Perhaps the filmmakers have a fetish for "gotcha" moments and just couldn't wait to brag about screwing with our minds regardless of how little they thought the whole thing through? Well, up yours! That's right, to get on their level I went old school with a 6th grade insult, and I'll reiterate... up yours, filmmakers! I'm sick of these M. Night Shymalan wannabes who appear to own dictionaries that lack the term "original."
Things would've been fine if the movie had ended right before the twist, but I'm sorry, that just ruined everything else for me. I'm not giving you a pass on this one, Mr. Director. The plot holes are so big and so ridiculous that I think it's safe to refer to them as black holes. I'm serious. They're so gaping that they've completely consumed any of the good that took place for the first 70 minutes or so.
Think of it this way: what do you do if you're dating a really hot girl for a few months and then as soon as things are about to get serious she drops the bomb that she "used to be" a man? Do you say, "Well, I remember all our good times, and that's what matters!" Not unless you're a freak. This is something that completely redefines the relationship, so A) Kick yourself for not realizing she was a man in the first place, and B) run for the hills. To put it bluntly, High Tension is the girl who had a sex change and left you fuming.
The dubbing is pretty goofy too. I was under the impression that both girls were French, but one girl's lines are dubbed with a French accent, and the other's is in an American accent. Plus, why is a French girl referring to her neighbors as rednecks? Are there really rednecks in France? And what was the deal with the gas station attendant's car having a Confederate flag license plate? Are they trying to fool the American audience into not realizing this is a French film? Whatever, man, the whole thing is just weird. I didn't let it ruin the story for me, but I can't help but wonder why they couldn't have kept things consistent.
In the interest of fairness I feel the need to point out that the majority of the movie is indeed fairly tense, and the kills are very brutal and disturbing. This is not for the squeamish. If all you want is a few buckets of gore then you'll find some satisfaction. But the ending angered me enough to ruin any enjoyment I'd had prior to the revelation; therefore, I'm not in a forgiving mood. The movie was looking at 3.5 marks for a while, but I'm dropping it to 2 marks in an effort to make people understand that if you want to manipulate your audience, then you at least better make the payoff worth it.
High Tension, Haute Tension, Switchblade Romance - call it what you want, but I call it a frustrating lesson in how not to close out a movie. The alternate titles don't give us an alternate ending, and as a result I'm given reason enough to recommend you save your money.
THE GIST
I personally like twist endings, but I like for them to make sense within the context of the rest of the movie. High Tension literally feels like two movies. I would not be at all surprised if the movie had been shot in its entirety and then somebody said, "Hmm, we've been told we need to add a twist," and then poor editing took over without any regard to the events that preceded it. Unless you're a die-hard fan of gore who is badly in need of a fix then I recommend against this one. It's not worth the frustration.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Johnny Betts The Movie Mark http://www.themoviemark.com
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