High Tension

Rarely has a horror film been so aptly named: this shocking French flick is almost too tense, almost too viscerally relentless to be endured--which is, of course, exactly what you want from a horror movie. Two university pals, Marie (Cécile De France) and Alex (Maïwenn), on a visit to the latter's remote family farm, suffer a horrifying home-invasion attack and subsequent kidnapping by a brutal killer (Philippe Nahon) fixated on Alex...but Marie, who has managed to hide her presence from the attacker, is bent on saving Alex. Unlike any horror heroine since perhaps Alien's Ripley, Marie is an independent woman well able to take care of herself, but there's also an aggressively sexual element to Marie's intensity that some men, surely, will find a greater source of fascinating horror than the nonstop gore. Granted, the film demands some work on the audience's part to connect moments of apparent illogic, but the genuine jolt it delivers is worth the effort as director Alexandre Aja connects the primal experiences of sex and death, pleasure and pain, in a way that raises this well above a routine splatter flick. Recommended. [Note: Available in either widescreen unrated or full screen R-rated versions, DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director Alexandre Aja and co-writer Gregory Levasseur, select scene commentary by Aja and costar Cecile De France, a 24-minute “making-of” featurette, a “Building Tension” production featurette (9 min.), the eight-minute featurette “Giametto De Rossi: The Truth, the Madness and the Magic” on the special makeup effects artist, an introduction by Aja and Levasseur, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a challenging horror flick.] (M. Johanson)[Blu-ray Review—Oct. 12, 2010—Lionsgate, 111 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, $19.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2003's High Tension boasts a nice transfer with DTS-HD sound. Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by writer-director Alexandre Aja and co-writer Gregory Levasseur, select scene commentary by Aja and costar Cecile De France, a “making-of” featurette (24 min.), a “Building Tension” production featurette (9 min.), the featurette “Giametto De Rossi: The Truth, the Madness and the Magic” on the special makeup effects artist (8 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine Blu-ray debut for a disturbing but powerful foreign horror flick.]