Let me start off by saying that I have simply no idea what this film is all about. All I see is a tough looking, alpha female holding a barbwire stick and looking mean enough to hack anyone who's crossed her path. I watched this film through an app on my iPhone and the blurb simply stated that this is a French film about two young women whose intention is to visit a countryside for vacation but an unexpected visitor has ruined their wonderful vacation. Sounds thrilling to me, I had initially thought, but once I was into the film there was no turning back for me, no matter how horrific and/or bloody it seems.
The film begins with a scene of a woman in a hospital gown; her back is filled with stitches and she is whispering to herself. She has vague memories of a woman running from something (or someone) in a forest and her stomach is wounded.
Back to a new scene, we see two happy young women in a car heading to somewhere else. Their names are Marie and Alex, and their destination is to Alex's parents' house at a countryside. They have decided to stay there for their college break and a quiet countryside sounds appealing; plus it is Alex's family.
That night, before Marie settles into bed, she thought she hears something in the house. The film moves on to show Alex's father answering to a doorbell and someone bulky wearing a cap slashed at his face. Filled with blood and in pain, Alex's father crawls back into the house but is stopped by the killer when he presses Alex's father's head between two rails of the staircase and then shoves the bookcase towards him. Needless to say, Alex's father is gone with his head decapitated. At this point, I knew where this film is going and that it would be filled with more gore and violence but yet I couldn't stop myself from watching it. I wanted to find out what happened to the family and whether or not if Marie and/or Alex would be hurt or worse, killed by this sadistic killer.
True enough, there was more gore and violence as Alex's mother is the next victim as her throat was brutally slashed. Seeing both Alex's parents dead, Marie goes off to find Alex but she is too late - for Alex is chained in her bedroom but she promises her that she would call for help. Unfortunately, the line was cut and Alex's younger brother is the next to go, as the killer shot him after he realized he has gone into the cornfield.
Feeling satisfied that he didn't find anyone except Alex in the house, the killer proceeds to haul her into his old van and make his escape but Marie manages to creep into the van before he drove off. They travelled down a deserted road and just when Marie thought they would be dead, the killer stops at a gas station and Marie decides that this would be the best time to call for help and stop the killer, but she is dead wrong.
Filled with intensity as the title of this film suggest, this story is about a sadistic psychopath who would not stop at anything just to get his 'prize'. Aside from the gore and violence (be warned - there are lots of them), I felt that this is a classic slasher movie and that it has delved into the character as well as the complexities of the killer. Sometimes, what you see is not what you expect and High Tension had stumped me in many ways, not only the gore, violence, the ending but also the psychology as well. Though this is an old film (released in 2003, AKA Switchblade Romance), this is one of those films that would stay in your mind for a long while; which I find is a good thing to me for I don't have the intention to watch it, again. It was too horrific to me.
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