HIGH TENSION A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 2005 David N. Butterworth
*1/2 (out of ****)
Some 30 years after it was first released, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" continues to inspire a countless number of substandard slasher films featuring psychopaths with power tools.
The latest entrant in the genre is the French film "High Tension" (aka "Haute Tension"--shouldn't that be "Tension Haute"?), a cinematically sound but sub-par horror flick that has been readied for the American mass market by the addition of English credits and some atrocious dubbing in the early going (not to mention a few trims to earn its R-rating over the original NC-17). Its distributor Lions Gate Films, recognizing the junk they were dealing with no doubt, finally ditch the voice work and rely on the original English subtitles for the latter half of the film, figuring anyone dumb enough to still be watching by that point probably wouldn't even notice.
The plot is minimal at best: a burly, prowling killer in mechanics duds and a rusty jalopy shows up at a family farmstead late one night and proceeds to slaughter its occupants with malice aforethought. The blood-soaked "heroine" of this piece is Marie (Cécile De France), here visiting her college roommate Alex (Maïwenn Le Besco, economically credited as Maïwenn), who quickly assumes the Sally Hardesty role populated by Marilyn Burns in the original "'Massacre," i.e., that of the tormented female being pursued by a saw-wielding maniac.
While some may relate to Marie's desire to stay put and save her friend rather than fleeing to any one of a myriad of places the killer isn't, few will understand why she insists on making so much noise while doing so. Moving furniture around certainly doesn't seem the wisest of choices under the circumstances as that might easily attract the attention of le tuer. And of course it does.
Death by cutthroat razor, death by circular saw, death by shotgun, death by fire ax, and death by furniture (?) all follow, with director Alexandre Aja clearly influenced by Tobe Hooper's claustrophobic classic and other, more recent variants-on-a-theme ("Jeepers Creepers," for example, with its cornfield, creepy camion, and cranked-up sound effects). And while the filmmaking on show here is competent enough the script, by Aja and Grégory Levasseur, is not. Marie has multiple opportunities to get help but for some inexplicable reason she ignores them all, even going as far as to hang up on a 911 operator who stupidly wants to know where she's calling from.
Horror maven Wes Craven (the "'Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Scream" series, as well as the upcoming "Red-Eye") must have liked what he saw however since he's contracted Aja to direct the remake of his own "The Hills Have Eyes" to be released next year.
There's certainly some tension in "High Tension," as you brace yourself awaiting the next spurious blood spill and/or decapitation, but there's not very much intelligence on display here, either on-screen or behind the lens.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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