Two college friends, Marie and Alex, head out to Alex’s family farmhouse to get some studying done. While everyone is asleep a killer shows up and Marie is able to hide since she was busy masturbating instead of sleeping. After slaughtering the family the killer takes Alex with him and it’s up to Marie to follow them to try and rescue her.

This is one of the goriest “realistic” (no supernatural elements) movies I’ve ever seen. The make up was incredible. A lot of movies show a bit of gore then cut away in case we notice it doesn’t look real. Not so here. Here they grab you by the throat and force you to watch every gory detail until the blood has stopped spraying, then make you watch just a bit more for good measure.

The acting is excellent and the intelligence of the killer is top notch, no small detail escapes his notice. All the settings are beautiful and/or striking as well.

You’ll either love the “twist” ending or hate it. Personally I loved it once I played back the movie in my head and everything clicked together.

My DVD is the uncut Thai version, dubbed in English, and rated NC-17. Lions Gate has cut it down to an R for theatrical release this summer. You can get this movie uncut at redsundvd.com or eBay for under $15. I recommend you do this instead of paying for it in the theater. The gore makes all the difference. This movie is very raw, gritty, and realistic. The English dubbing is actually very good. Only one voice rubbed me the wrong way. There isn’t too much dialog and what is there isn’t close up. You’re going to need to watch it more than once anyway so you might as well buy it.

Many people have challenged the director as to his source material for the first half of the movie since it’s excruciatingly similar to the Dean Koontz book “Intensity”. I’ve read the book and watched the made for TV movie and now that I’ve seen this movie I have to agree with everyone in that it’s almost a complete rip off. Damned if I didn’t care though, I was enjoying the movie too much. Sorry Mr. Koontz, I swear before I watched this movie I was full of righteous indignation.

If you’re feening for a 70’s style slasher movie look no further. The director has even stated this film pays homage to 70’s horror and boy did he get it right. All you TCM fans will be pleased.

A truly brutal good time was had by all.

9 out of 10 guys receiving fellatio from a severed head.

This might be the best slasher ever made, if you call it a slasher. It's hard to say for sure, apparently the French didn't understand that slashers are supposed to be a little cheesy and very unrealistic. Someone left out the unrealistic in Haute Tension, but replaced it with hardcore brutality and enough stress to nearly give me an ulcer. The title is truly perfect.

Excellent movie-making from start to finish, I've never seen so much prolonged, uh, tension. Also the gore and violence is both beautiful and so unpleasant. Literally every chop, smash or slice is felt by the viewer in all it's crimson-splashing glory.

As I said, this could really happen, it's not in the realm of Jason or Freddy, but it's clearly an expansion of that genre. A serious, mature expansion that really makes you realize why so many people are talking about High Tension.

10 out of 10 kills Jason would be too nice to commit

After watching this movie for - say - 40 minutes, I thought that someone has finally made a slasher flick that people will take seriously. It's like... so we can hire real actors instead of teenage mongoloids? Show real suffering instead of a guy choking on a spoonful of ketchup? Build tension not only by crescending music and the occasional BOO? Make the killer a true monster that doesn't need a scary mask other than his own ugly mug because it's what he does that's truly terryfying? HALLELUJA!

But then came the twist and it made the entire film something else. Something more.

I don't even want to call it a twist as the movie is such a well-pieced puzzle, it couldn't have ended another way. If anyone here was disappointed by the ending, do yourself a favor and watch the entire movie one more time. It really clicks. I know that some people would want this to be a pure slasher but, hell, why settle for less?

Technically, the flick is superb. The acting, the directing, the gore - all top knotch.

This has to be one of the best things I stumbled upon this year. A truly superb movie that uses the basic structure of a slasher film to tell a truly deep story. Do yourself a favor and watch the best mindfuck that's ever come from the country that invented the bidet.

PROS: Superbly realised, bloody, deep and I'll be damned if that's not a rare combination.
CONS: Nothing really worth mentioning...

RATING 10 out of 10 ribs fractured in contact with a huge, rusty buzzsaw.

Okay, I'm about to give a physical description of myself.. please be patient. It comes to bear in a bit.

I'm 6'6, weigh, 275 lbs and can bench press 265lbs (I'm eventually going for my body wieght).

"So," you ask, "Splatterscribe..what the FUCK does this have to do with "High Tension?"

And I answer: I just purchased the unrated LGF DVD and, after watching it, needed to go to the store up the road for some smokes. It was 2:30am when I did this (that's South Florida time, folks). There are approximately thirty yards between my front door and the parking space where the front grille of my beloved Ford Ranger stares back at me. At night, due to a technical mishap during Hurricane Wilma last year which my landlords never rectified, there is NO exterior illumination on the quad outside of my apartment.

I had to walk through thirty yards of darkness after watching High Tension, and despite my size and strength, I was scared shitless. I was jumping at every single sound, well aware of the gloom, and I even checked the back seat of my truck as I climbed inside.

This is THE single most terrifying foray into the slasher genre I've seen since Halloween.I have yet to watch the unrated directors cut the dvd provides, but the US unrated editon made my skin crawl. The twist at the end was something I began to suspect early on, but nevertheless enjoyed.

The gore was top notch (what happens to the mother is particularly heartbreaking) and the film is so legitimately suspenseful that I almost couldn't bear it. I found myself shouting advice at the characters on my television screen throughout most of the running time.

What High Tension is NOT is a feel good, "Rah rah rah,look -at -the- idiots -getting- hacked -up - in- the- cuisinart" slasher flick. This is an unflinching exploration of psychosis and brutal violence, an exscursion into terror that had me staring slack jawed and numb as the final credits rolled.

High Tension is a must see, and a classic. If you don't like being truly scared out of your wits, give it a pass. If you're looking for that film which will have you sleeping with the lights on, rush out and add it to your collection immediately.

Ten out of Ten Barbed Wire Swinging Beauties