 High Tension has been getting a lot of
buzz.
Okay, bad joke. Well, not even a joke really, just a bad
pun perhaps. Hmmm… less than a pun even, now that I
think about it. Oh, forget it. Just forget it. People have
been talking about this movie, okay? It’s been talked
about a lot. (I hope I didn’t ruin anything there…).
Much
like the Coneheads, this latest horror darling comes from
France and it’s something of which we have all seen
before yet can’t quite seem to get enough: Girl Vs.
Ugly Killer-Type Person. Marie (Cecile De France) is invited
to spend holiday with her close college chum/secret crush
Alex (“She of the One Name” Maiwenn) and her family.
It would have been a nice idea for a Merchant/Ivory-ish production
but then a dirty jumpsuit-wearing NUTBALL (Philippe Nahon)
has to come and ruin everything by slaughtering the family
and abducting poor Alex. What an asshole. It’s up to
Marie to hunt down the killer and save her friend before he
does something particularly nasty.
This is a bloody movie. If you like blood, this is your
film. If you like to see the axe when it hits someone’s
stomach, you’re in luck. If you prefer to see the neck
getting slit followed by a fountain of arterial spray, you’ve
struck gold. If you ever wanted to see a guy get a blowjob
by severed head, this is your Shangri-La. It’s brutal.
For the most part, the pacing is brisk and the plot is suitably
very lean, which adds a sense of urgency to Marie’s
own personal mission and helps to make the tension…
erm… haute. That tension…boy, is it haute. Cecile
De France is nothing short of captivating as the strong-willed,
yet scared out of her wits, Marie. You need a special sort
of actress to fill a role such as this, and Cecile fits the
bill. Maiwenn gets a little whiny at times, but I suppose
she’s just pining for a last name. Cecile, however,
is pretty amazing folks. That said, if this remained the straightforward,
sexually-fueled survival picture that it spent as 90% of the
movie, I would have been generally pleased at the simplicity
of it all. Sure, there are MASSIVE plot inconsistencies and
gross errors in logic, but sometimes that’s part of
the fun of this genre.
But then the controversy kicks in.
 The
problem with an ending that you are not supposed to expect,
is that once you are told ahead of time that you aren’t
supposed to expect it, your brain works on the equation for
the duration of the movie to try to figure it out. So naturally,
I’m screwed if I tell you that the twist ending ain’t
much of a twist. So I won’t. I won’t tell you
that you have seen this ending before in at least one high-profile
movie from the past 5-6 years. That would be bad. I won’t
tell you that I rolled my eyes and sighed when it was revealed,
for that might diminish the impact you might feel from the
ending. No. No I won’t. But perhaps if one was informed
of a lackluster twist ahead of time, the sting would hurt
less once it is revealed and it would be easier to accept.
Oh well. I guess I’ll never know since I’m not
even going to mention it. So what I will instead say about
the ending was that an error in judgment was made in topping
off the film with an obvious homage to another movie (This
doesn’t ruin anything, so feel free to read on. Hey.
Would I lie to you?). High Tensionhad it’s
own distinct flavor. It might have reminded you of some slasher
films of the past, but it was attempting to… oh boy…
carve out a spot of it’s very own. Then, and you feel
it coming when it starts to happen, there is an almost shot
for shot tip of the hat to the original Texas Chainsaw
Massacre. This decision somewhat cheapens the movie
and almost sends it into the realm of parody. Why go to such
lengths to give the movie it’s own sense of style and
then toss in something that comes off like a Zucker Brothers
moment? Luckily, you don’t have much time to react to
it for it’s followed by an obscene amount of blood.
Sweet Christmas, is there a lot of blood.
How Does It Look,
Smartguy?
As I said, this is a very slick looking movie. The budget
was pretty tiny, around 30 million US, but the money was used
correctly. No catering table full of croissants there, folks,
it’s all up on the screen. The transfer is well above
average, with no artifacting or halos detected. For a very dark
film with many black and browns, I was fairly impressed with
the detail. The blacks were black and there was no color bleeding.
The only gripe I have, since you saw it on the screen, were
the subtitles. Now, I don’t speak French. I barely know
any French words, but if one day I was caught in a freak transporter
accident and I was given some sort of “mega-brain”
I would like to have the option to watch a French film without
the English subtitles. This DVD does not give you that option.
Why produce an anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1 disc with burned
in subtitles? I dunno.
How's It Sound, Ya Bum?
No DTS, but this disc does boast a very aggressive Dolby
Digital 5.1 track as well as a 2.0 track for you to choose from.
Both tracks are indeed in French so it’s just a matter
of which track meets your system’s needs. The louder sounds
are just a pinch too loud for my tastes, but it’s not
a disc-killer.
You Think I Just
Wanted The Movie, Pal?
You get a COMMENTARY TRACK with
the director, Alexandre Aja, star Cecile De France and critic Jamie Grahame. The critic gets a wee bit sycophantic
at times, perhaps he was just elated to be asked, but both Aja
and De France are very well behaved. It’s interesting
if you want to know a little more of what was going on inside
their heads.
A making-of DOCUMENTARY is up
next, and it runs about 25 minutes. It includes one informative
and only slightly self-loving interviews are as well as behind
the scenes material. DO NOT WATCH THIS BEFORE WATCHING THE
MOVIE. You have been warned.
There are three INTERVIEWS with De France, Maiwenn
and Nahon, who evidentially enjoyed playing a dickhead. Good
for him. The two run around 7 minutes and De France’s
runs about 20. A FEATURETTE that focuses on Gianetto
de Rossi’s gross out effects is more “roll up
your sleeves and learn” than filler. All of these features
are in French… duh… with English subtitles. Oddly,
unlike the film itself, these are not burned in but they are
forced. The logic escapes me.
We also get some TRAILERS for other Optimum releases.
Bring Us On Home,
Brother
Everyone is always quick to jump up with words such as “cult
classic” when a movie like this comes along, and I am
always quick to point out there is no way anyone could possibly
predict that. The movie for the most part is a visceral excursion
that pulls no punches, so it does have the ear markings, but
SHUT UP already, people. When taken as a whole this is a pretty
slick little picture, just don’t let the ending get
you too bent out of shape. Not that I mentioned anything about
it, mind you.
|
