High Tension (french horror) spoilers

[lester1/2jr]

   This is the silliest thing I've ever seen.  The first 70 minutes are the most implausible horror movie you've ever seen.  this middle aged guy is attacking a family and you're like "run, fight back, do something, he's like 50 and slow!!!"  then it does the Fight Club twist thing.  How did this movie get made?  It's a real oddity.   My gues is many people won't even finish it because it seems so stupid.  

    I remember in college in art history we looked at this guy who did paintings that were purposely bad to make some sort of point.  My teacher said he talked to the guy at a party and the guy was like "that wasn't a very good idea in retrospect those "bad" paintings".  Seriously, I think I'd rather just see a good horror movie

[2xSlick]

I thought Haute Tension was pretty good, considering the crappy horror movies that hollywood has been putting out. On the rotten tomatoes forum for The Fog, one poster summed up hollywood with the phrase "This is the scariest horror movie coming out this week."
I think it did get too much hype though, like Saw. Heck, at least Tension's ending was plausable compared to Saw.

[lester1/2jr]

so you thought that guy in the jumpsuit was a genuinly formidable villain?  the "twist" was pure hollywood.  There's a reason french and horror aren't seen together in the same sentence too much

[2xSlick]

Villians don't have to be formidable to be scary. Tension uses its villain similar to Psycho and Sleepaway Camp. You don't need a teleporting zombie to have a good villain.

[lester1/2jr]

anyone in that house could easily have beaten the hell out of him.   the guy who answered the door should have said "hey this guy just stabbed me!!!"  they were all home!  it's like if the lady in "wait until dark "wasn't  blind.  there's no movie!

[Mr_Vindictive]

I personally thought that Haute Tension was one hell of a kick ass flick.

The killer never says a word, and is as cruel, evil and sick a bastard as has ever graced the screen.  As soon as I saw the scene with the guy and the decapitated head, I knew I was in for something absolutely great.  

I thought the twist worked, especially after multiple viewings.  It starts to make sense after a while, especially if you realize that the chick never stayed with her friend at the farm.  She was the killer.  She was the person who stabbed the father through the door, chopped off the mother's hands, shot the kid, etc.

I say bravo to the director.  It was a film that threw me back to the 70s when gore and suspense ruled.  THe movie was worth it just to see a killer actually use a K-12 saw in a horror film.

Btw, I own this film uncut on DVD, and it is an import.  I have yet to see any American cuts of the film, which is what you might have seen.  I'm sure much of the violence is cut.



Post Edited (10-16-05 15:56)

[BeyondTheGrave]

I own on dvd(import) and saw it when it had a limited release which I think some of it was cut and enjoyed it. The ending did get me at first like well that was stupid but I saw a couple of times and finally got it. It nice to see a horror fllim thats not a remake or PG-13.

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Most of all I hate dancing then work, exercise, people,stupid people

[Dunners]

I was actually quite interested in seeing this film, heard good stuff about it despite the cliche 'twist' ending.

But then I found out that this film ripped off a novel called "Intensity" and that the film takes entire scenes from this book in the film, I think it uses a good 75% of the book, but it doesn't offer any acknowledgement to the book in any way.

Which made me lose interest at that very point because the film is basically stealing/plagurizing, ripping off from someone elses work and trying to claim the project as somehting else entirely.

Guess there are pieces of hollywood s**t among French Directors as well.

[dean]

2xSlick wrote
>You don't need a teleporting zombie to have a good villain.


They might not make a good villain, and they ooze blood and bile instead of smooth charm and wit, but by God would it be great to see a teleporting zombie film...

As for High Tension, I haven't seen it nor do I have any plans to [I don't think it's even released yet here]  So I really don't have anything to say on that topic.

[lester1/2jr]

you guys are totally high.  the whole POINT is that you are SUPPPOSED to think it's ridiculous that this little guy is killing all these people and they aren't doing anything about it.  particularly the muscular lesbian, who could out run or fight the guy easily.   the movie is completely and totally built around the twist, which is totally cliched.  so it's a failure on many levels

[Three Oranges]

Three things:

a) That guy seemed to be fairly tough looking.
b) They were all French, and therefore weak.
c) The ending explains why they would've been confused and not run.

Besides which, no one much had a chance to run or fight, given that the attacks were relatively quick, and the house was isolated.  But you are Mr. Toughguy, and I'm sure you would've laid the smack down on his candy ass.

That said, the ending was dumb.

[lester1/2jr]

three oranges


okay  
"c) The ending explains why they would've been confused and not run.

"

so for the first hour or so what are you supposed to do?  wait for the ending that you don't know about?  you are watching a sucky movie, which given a lame twist is essentially a dumb implausible ed wood level horror movie with a trendy ending stuck on the end.

[Dunners]

Hey Three Oranges, quick acting like a goddamn Noobtard. We dont need that here.

And I honestly think Lester brought out excellent points here about slasher movie sin General. Most people who get attacked give up on sight and run from a guy with a knife, or a chainsaw, or a whatever.

In some cases i can understand this if the guy is a hulking monster of a man, But its a muscley dyke  witha power tool then what the f**k is wrong with them? Pick up a chair and chuck it at her, or a table. Don't sit there and let her chop you up because you're in a bad movie.

This sounds liek the creeping terror all over again.

[Neville]

lester1/2jr wrote: "So for the first hour or so what are you supposed to do?"

Nothing. Feel as weak and helpless as the victims feel. I understand your issues with the ending, really, but not the rest of your complains. I really felt it was a extremely slick film, as it manages to rebuild a Tobe Hooper horror-style slasher from scratch (something we've seen a million times) and yet be damn, damn scary.

Actually, it is far more scary than most of its american counterparts, if you ask me. I think the reason is the one I mentioned above, you get to feel the helplessness of the victims as they are slashed in really extreme ways. I also think Three oranges hit the nail in the head when he mentioned that the victims did not run or defend themselves as they knew the murderer. Nor that a skinny woman in her 20s looks THAT threatening.

Anyway, things like that should be kept at the back of your mind when you see an slarher film, as it is a common mistake they make, such as the teleporting murderer.

[Three Oranges]

Ha ha, Dunners, you called me a "noobtard." zomg lol wtf ghey!

a/s/l?

And lester's points weren't particularly good.  They were bad enough, in fact, that they caused me to defend a movie I don't particularly like.   Armchair quarterbacking the defensive capabilities of isolated, rural French folk is not particularly insightful.

But the answer to lester's question about what you do for the first hour is that you be frustrated by and sorry for the people who were unable to save themselves, and then you have this subverted into an ecstatic, confused death orgy at the end.

Or you do what lester did, and posture as the tough guy.  "That Freddy guy's a total wuss...if he came at me with his knife hand I'd be all like 'You can't step ta dis" and I'd kick him in the balls!  BOOYAH!"