Haute tension

also known as Switchblade romance or High tension
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338095/
Marie (Cécile De France)






and her friend Alexia (Maïwenn Le Besco) is heading home to Alexias parental home to study. At home, Marie and Alexia is welcomed by the father (Andrei Finti) and Alexias little brother Tom ( Marco Claudiu Pascu ), the mother ( Oana Pellea ) has allready gone to bed.
Marie asks Alexia to follow her outside for a smoke later that night and while walking outside a surge noice is approicing while Marie watches Alexia, naked, taking a shower…













Later while Marie gets in bed, fully clothed I should mention, an old van drives up to the house.. The driver of the van is turned on by Alexia in a sexual creepy way…

Alexandre Aja (also directed) and Grégory Levasseur has written an impressive horror script that involves kidnapping, a chained up girl - while being gagged by a big plastic tool,






























suffocation with plastic,
















a blow job from a severed head (?!!) and as the cover reveals; a big wood stick covered in barb wire.
Now, as much as you can use your imagination by these premises, you also get a female masturbation scene (while a song ”Just another girl” is played).

The violence and excitement (I could have used the word tension here) are much more real and unreal then in many other recent horror movies. Yes there is blood, a lot of it to be honest but the blood is somehow justified as well as the violence in haute tension.
Haute tension was the start of the new wave of french horror that has swept over the world for the last 7-8 years (alltough it is shot in Rumania - due to expensive costs, as did ils a.k.a. Them).
It is hard not to mention the other french horror films when you should just talk about one of them.
For personal reference if nothing else, Haute tension was the first, was followed by Ils, À l'intérieur, Frontiére(s) and Martyrs. The last three of them will without any doubts go down in history, for various reasons, as classics - True classics.
Haute tension is up there with them for sure.
It mixes the slasher mentality, psychological horror/thriller with lot of gore and great performance by Cécile and Maïwenn.

Aja (the director) later on did two american horror movies, both are reviewed here ; P2 and The hills have eyes 2, so you know you gonna get some real horror and no PG13. Aja is also shooting Pirahna 3D.

So, without giving to much away of what happens lets talk about our leading actress, Cécile De France an belgian actress who most notable apperence had been short films, comedies or drama. She did most of her stunts and trained with a Thai boxer to get in perfect condition for her role as Marie, an remarcable transformation and accievement.
Also Maïwenn, as she is credited in this movie, has a interresting background. The director Alexandre Aja discovered her as she was performing an stand up comedy rutine.
They are both phenomenal in their roles.

Haute tension is a horror movie for the true fans, made a fan and either you are into women being kidnapped or not (in movies) this is the one to get. Highly recomended.

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I won´t let anyone come between us anymore.



















Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrp0WVNdk74

Official site
http://www.hightensionmovie.com/