we got a bleeder!

High Tension

* * * 1/2

What can a movie reviewer say? In my last review, I said that The Descent was one of the best horror movies to come along in really long time. I still hold true to that statement. In fact, that movie is still so firmly embedded inside of me, that I wouldn't be too hard pressed to say that I might be able to name it as one of my ten favourite movies of all time. Then I stumbled across a little French tickler called High Tension in the discount bin at my local video store. After shelling out the hefty price of $4.99, plus applicables, this gem was home with me, and much like The Descent, one of the best horror movies in a long while.

Marie and Alex go home for a weekend from college to study for an exam. Alex introduces Marie to her family, and after a night of normal family activities, everyone hits the sack. But there's a mysterious knock at the door late at night, and that's when the mayhem begins.

A mysterious stranger randomly attacks the house, killing Alex's family and takes her hostage. What the stranger doesn't know is that Marie is there too. And Marie is one tough mofo.

This movie is incredibly gory in places. Its not that the whole thing is blood and guts, like the Saw franchise, but what there is for killing is incredibly detailed. I also watched the Unrated version of Hihg Tension which is supposed to be a lot more violent than the R-rated version. For the gore, its not for the squeamish. But for story and plot twists, the ones in this movie are like nothing you've seen in a horror film before.

Director Alexandre Aja manages to hold you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire movie with the tension in the movie. It builds and climaxes at least five or six times over the course of ninety nine minutes. A great job by Aja, who directed one of my other favourite horror movies in the last couple years, the remake of The Hills Have Eyes.

I highly recommend this one to any true horror fan out there. You want blood, guts, thrills, chills, twists, turns, axes, circular saws and a great horror flick, check out High Tension. I do have to specify the Unrated version though. It just wouldn't be the same without the circular saw scene at the end.