Review: Haute Tension

(Originally reviewed in 2012)

Martyrs, Inside and this. The French really know how to make a good horror film and definitely know how to use liberal amounts of blood. Not that I’m complaining.

Switchblade Romance – the title of which I know this film best – is pretty fucked up, within six minutes you see a guy getting a blowjob from a decapitated head, within 24 you see a different guy get his head smashed the fuck off with a bookcase and it just gets worse and worse from there on in. The red stuff was on the sprinkles in this film, throats are cut, heads are crushed, kids are shot and there’s a particularly nasty bit involving a buzz-saw.

That’s not to say this film is all blood and no substance, the film lives up to the tension in its name with a lot of hold your breath moments – that part in the gas station where the petrol stopped and Marie had to run was a major highlight – and some uncomfortable scenes, I deny anyone who says they can watch any part where the switchblade is running across someone’s skin and not feel goose-bumps, that part gave me shivers more than any other.

The acting is also fantastic, Marie is a woman that just wants to get to safety, that is until her friend Alex is taken and she needs to save her – the scene with Muse’s New Born is simply amazing to watch as you can feel your blood pumping with excitement. You learn even more about Marie when the twist comes in but I’ll keep that quiet for now. The Killer is also great, using more slow, creepy actions than words to enhance his creepiness, running his dirty fingers over photographs and the aforementioned switchblade on skin but he shows he’s not afraid to kill when needed, sometimes out of nowhere in the case of the gas station and he has smarts as shown with his trick with the torch – a moment I was seriously impressed by. Alex is alright, she spends most of the film gagged and crying but once the gag is off you can finally sense the true despair and terror she’s feeling.

If there’s one thing that holds this film back it’s the twist, it’s a good twist but it’s not handled well, there’s a lot of moments that seem improbably and some that are flat out impossible. If there weren’t so many continuity problems and you didn’t end up thinking things over as much it might have been better but at least the film stays with you that way.

Overall, a great horror film with good acting, incredibly tense and spine-chilling moments and a fantastic amount of blood and gore that’s only hampered by the mishandling of a twist.

8/10