High Tension

Haute Tension
File:High tension poster.jpg Original French-language poster
Directed by	Alexandre Aja
Written by	Alexandre Aja Grégory Levasseur
Produced by	Alexandre Arcady Robert Benmussa
Starring	Cécile de France Maïwenn Le Besco
Cinematography	Maxime Alexandre
Edited by	Baxter
Music by	Francois-Eudes Chanfrault
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films
Release dates	June 18, 2003 September 24, 2004 June 10, 2005 August 8, 2006
Running time	91 min.
Country	France
Languages	French English Italian
Budget	€2,200,000
Box office	$6,291,958 (US)

High tension may also refer to high voltage.

Haute Tension (also known as Switchblade Romance in the UK and High Tension in the U.S.) is a French horror film originally released in 2003, and later released in 2004 in the UK and 2005 in the U.S. and Canada. The film, directed by Alexandre Aja, stars Cécile de France, Maïwenn Le Besco and Philippe Nahon.

Haute Tension was picked up by independent distributor Lions Gate Films following a successful screening at the Midnight Madness section of the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. Originally rated NC-17 in the USA, a few minor shots were cut from the final version of the U.S. release to get it down to the R rating. However, the original cut—referred to as an unrated version—is available on DVD.

All of the effects are created by renowned horror make-up artist Giannetto De Rossi, a favorite of late director Lucio Fulci.

Plot

College friends Marie (Cécile de France) and Alex (Maïwenn Le Besco) are on their way to stay at Alex's parents' house for the weekend. When they arrive, Alex gives Marie a tour of the house before they settle down for dinner. After dinner, Marie and Alex then get ready to go to bed.

As Alex sleeps, Marie lies on her bed listening to music and masturbating. The doorbell rings and Alex's father goes to answer it. The man at the door turns out to be a serial killer. He slashes Alex's father and decapitates him. Marie, who hears all this from her bedroom, cleans her room out to make it seem no one was there and hides under her bed. The killer inspects Marie's room but doesn't find her. Marie then creeps downstairs and finds Alex chained up in her bedroom, promises to find help, and sneaks into the parents' room for a phone. She hides in a closet after hearing loud thuds and witnesses the killing of Alex's mother. Alex's younger brother escapes the house but is followed in the fields by the killer and shot. Alex is dragged into the killer's truck, and Marie sneaks into the truck with a butcher knife and hides there with Alex.

When the killer stops at a gas station sometime later, Marie hands Alex the knife and sneaks into the gas station before him. She witnesses the killing of the store clerk. Marie takes the clerk's car keys and chases the killer down a deserted road. Marie is then rammed off the road after the killer notices Marie is following him. The killer chases Marie through the forest, where she eventually manages to mortally wound him with a pole that has barbed wire wrapped around it. As Marie inspects the body, he grabs at her throat, Marie then suffocates him with a plastic sheet. Marie then makes her way back to the truck.

As the police investigate the gas station, they check the CCTV, they then see Marie murdering the store clerk. At the truck, Marie unties Alex, Alex then threatens Marie with the knife and tells her she butchered her family. Alex then slashes Marie's face and stabs her in the stomach. Alex runs through the forest as Marie chases her with a concrete saw, Alex escapes onto a road and flags down a car, she climbs in as Marie appears brandishing the concrete saw. Marie shoves the concrete saw through the windshield and disembowels the driver, a piece of stray glass then slices Alex's achilles tendon. Alex takes a crowbar from the cars toolbox and crawls along the road, Marie then forces Alex to tell her she loves her and Marie then kisses her, Alex then impales Marie on the crowbar. The final scene shows Marie in a mental asylum being watched by Alex through a one way mirror; Marie then lunges at the mirror, somehow knowing Alex is there.

Scenes cut for an R rating

Some scenes were edited from Haute Tension for the U.S. version to achieve an R rating by the MPAA. About two minutes of the film were cut in order to avoid the NC-17 Rating. The R-rated edition was released in U.S. cinemas, and in a less widely circulated DVD. This section notes what was deleted from the unrated, original French film to produce the American version.

• Alex's father is graphically decapitated with a bookcase, his headless neck spraying blood. In the R-rated version, the initial killing is implicit rather than explicit, and later, during a flashback, his killing is gone.
• The scene of the killer applying a concrete saw to the stomach of the man driving the car was shortened.
• When Alex's mother has her throat slashed, the scene is shortened; most of the arterial spurting, as the killer pulls back her head, is gone. The shot of her severed hand also is removed, leaving no indication of what exactly happened to her.
• The scene where Marie strikes the killer's face in with the barbed wire pole is shortened and less explicit; Marie hits the killer fewer times, and there are fewer details of the killer's wounds shown.

One of the many editing scenes is when Alex's young brother is followed into the corn field by the killer. It is implied in the finished film that he is killed, but the scene is shot by showing him killed by shot gun blast. It was one of many cut scenes to acheive the R-rating.

Reception

Haute Tension received more positive reviews in Europe than it did in North America. Many critics derided the implausibility of several plot points related to the film's twist.[1]

The London-based band Switchblade Romance derives its name from the film, and claims that it is one of its biggest influences.

Similarity to Dean Koontz's novel Intensity

Many critics of Haute Tension have cited that, up until the last few minutes, the film's plot bears a striking resemblance to that of Dean Koontz's 1995 novel Intensity, which also deals with a young woman visiting the rural home of her friend's family, witnessing a brutal massacre in which all or most of the family members are killed, and then stowing away in the madman's vehicle (in the novel, a large motor home) in a futile attempt to rescue her friend. The novel also includes a scene where the heroine attempts to get help from the clerks at a gas station, only to witness their brutal murders as well (as in the film, the killer banters with the clerks, toying with them for several minutes before finally killing them), and a scene where the heroine uses a stolen vehicle to try and set a trap for the killer (in fact, it's specifically during the unfolding of this scene that the plot of the film starts to diverge from that of the novel). Intensity was also adapted as a four-hour miniseries on the Fox Network starring John C. McGinley and Molly Parker.

Soundtrack

• Muse ~ New Born
• Ricchi e Poveri ~ Sara 'Perche' Ti Amo
• U-Roy ~ Runaway Girl
• Félix Gray & Didier Barbelivien ~ A toutes les filles
• François Eudes ~ A2
• Scott Nickoley / Jamie Dunlap / Molly Pasutti / Marc Ferrari ~ I Believe
• Arch Bacon ~ Pillow Talk
• Sonic Youth - Superstar
• UB40 ~ Just Another Girl
• Philip Glass ~ Opening (The Truman Show) Score

References in Other Media

• In the 2008 video game Silent Hill: Homecoming, one of the unlockable weapons is a circular saw. When you get the saw players earn an achievement (Xbox 360 version) entitled "High Tension," making the reference obvious.

External links

• Official site
• Haute Tension at IMDb
• Haute Tension at Rotten Tomatoes
• Haute Tension at Metacritic
• Comparison between R-Rated and Unrated