Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: High Tension/Haute Tension/Switchblade Romance (2003)

1/13/2023

High Tension/Haute Tension/Switchblade Romance (2003) - Aja arrives with suspenseful gore horror

♥♥♥♥

A young woman sits in a shadowy, creepy space without much clothes on holding a nasty pair of shears on this grimy poster for Alexandre Aja's High Tension

A young lesbian couple venture out into the countryside to visit the one woman's parents for the first time. But a killer in a boiler suit ruins the visit...

High Tension is written by Grégory Levasseur (Mirrors (2008)) and co-writer/director Alexandre Aja (Furia (1999)). 'High tension' is a literal translation of the film's original French title.

It feels like a young filmmaker's first film, (it is Aja's second), and he asserts himself here as a visually talented horror connoisseur. The actors are game, and the film is highly suspenseful in several of its nightmarish scenes, (the title isn't false advertisement in this case.) The highly unpleasant style thank goodness doesn't reach the heights of Aja's fellow Frenchman Pascal Laugier's Martyrs (2008), which just makes High Tension a more tolerable watch.

The climax has a twist that has some audiences outright reject the film, but I didn't take affront with its nonsense dimension. Rather I relish the visual surplus energy and declaration of love for especially The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) that is clearly visible in High Tension.

Alexandre Aja: Piranha 3D (2010) - Aja's gory sexploitation remake is a hoot

Mirrors (2008) or, The Haunted Department Store

The Hills Have Eyes (2006) or, My Big Fat Mutant Cannibal Family Trip

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2.5 mil. $

Box office: 6.2 mil. $

= Minor flop (returned 2.48 times its cost)

[High Tension was released 18 June (France) and runs 95 minutes. Shooting took place in Bucharest, Romania. Lions Gate cut 2 minutes from the film to secure an R rating for their wide release in North America, which they spent 14 mil. $ rolling out (English dub, prints and advertising): The film opened #10 to an 1.8 mil. $ first weekend in 1,323 theaters, its peak, grossing 3.6 mil. $ (58.1 % of the total gross. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 874k $ (14.1 %) and France with 700k $ (11.3 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1/4 star review, translating to 4 marks under this one. Aja returned with The Hills Have Eyes (2006). Cécile de France (Loup! (2002, short)) returned in Petits Mythes Urbains (2003, TV-series) and theatrically in Around the World in 80 Days (2004); Maïwenn (Télé Gaucho (2012)) in I'm an Actrice (2004, short) and theatrically in Le Genre Humain: 1ère Partie: Les Parisiens (2004). High Tension is rotten at 40 % with a 5.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of High Tension?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)

1/13/2023

High Tension/Haute Tension/Switchblade Romance (2003) - Aja arrives with suspenseful gore horror

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