Switchblade Romance (2003)

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Original title: Haute tension

Directed by
Alexandre Aja

Written by
Alexandre Aja, Grégory Levasseur

Cast
Cécile De France, Maïwenn Le Besco, Philippe Nahon, Franck Khalfoun, Andrei Finti [more]

Switchblade Romance Reviews

The people behind this film were on the brink of something groundbreaking: taking the slasher film, a concept that outwore its welcome long ago (let's face it folks...), and turning it into something new, fresh, and exciting. Putting an unique spin on a tired sub-genre is the kind of thing we need more of these days and, dammit, these people almost had it. [read review] --Mike Skinner (Diabolical-Dominion.com) See High Tension if you like a movie with no real expectations. You’ll be let down by the blockbusters I guarantee but this one is one you can just go for a good movie, a touch of old, new, and a bit too much, but never as much as those. A simple, good movie you’ll be happy you saw. [read review] A- --Alexis Tuminello (TheCinemaSource) Haute Tension is a decent genre film with a cop-out twist or if it’s a sublime horror movie that manages to fool even its own audience...However, there’s no denying this film is intense, brutal, and lovingly filmed. That is also inspires debate and conversation is the proverbial icing on the cake. [read review]  There are, of course, lovers of cheesy, poorly crafted horror flicks, and they are the audience for this slender example. I wish them whatever fun they can wring from the tensions provided. Thinking back, the highest tensions that I felt came from the crackling lights behind the main titles. [read review]  High Tension is a very polarizing film: people either absolutely love it, or completely dismiss it as pure garbage. In the showing I went to, there were a grand total of four people. Two left midway through the film. I’m not sure if it was because they hated the film or couldn’t take the realistic gore effects but one thing remains clear… High Tension will likely (and deservingly) achieve cult status in no time at all. [read review]  The end result is a flick that's hardly a classic (and it's far from the most unique story ever told), but one that should absolutely have the Gorehounds squealing contentedly with delight. And there's that "one" moment...the one that will cause huge debates and internet discussion for months to come...but I can't say any more about that...not until everyone else has the movie, anyway. [read review]  --Scott Weinberg (eFilmCritic.com) won’t speak in any detail about the final twist, but it stings like a slap in the face. Take a step back, and it’s puzzling. Take another step back, and it’s just stupid. Take another, and it’s actually quite offensive, If M. Night Shyamalan’s movies piss you off, you haven’t seen anything – and his twists actually make sense. [read review]  --Brian Buzz Juergens (Bloody-Disgusting.com) ...Switchblade Romance is a perfectly enjoyable and well-executed (sorry) example of foreign cinema. So successful is it at delivering in its genre, that I couldn't be more excited to see Aja and Levasseur's retake on The Hills Have Eyes, a project they're currently scripting. If this film is any indicator, this is a pair that knows their horror. [read review] 73/100 Up until the big reveal, one could argue that Haute Tension is a well-done slasher movie that plays the material straight without ever once winking at the camera. And while the movie believes gore is more important than actual scares, it gets serious cool points for being truly suspenseful. It's just too bad that the twist so severely undermined everything that came before it. [read review] --Christian A. Dumais (Creature-Corner.com) Haute Tension is a complex & intelligent horror, deceptively hiding behind the front of a brutally intense slasher flick. Beautiful, genuinely scary & utterly remorseless in its psychopathic intensity, Haute Tension is one of the most satisfying exercises in pure horror for far too long. Horror movie of the year? Horror movie of the decade, more like it. Unmissable. [read review]  --Suspiriorium (horrorview.com) The philosopher Thomas Hobbes tells us life can be "poor, nasty, brutish and short." So is this movie. Alexandre Aja's "High Tension" is a slasher film about a madman prowling a rural area of France, chopping, slicing and crunching his way through, let'ssee, a body count of five or six people, including a small child that the film does not neglect to show crumpled and dead in a cornfield. [read review]  --Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times) The film revels in blood and gore, but this is not just a run-of-the-mill splatter film. There's a lot of intelligence in both the script and in Alexandre Aja's direction. The cinematography and music score are edgy...For those who enjoy horror films anddon't mind copious quantities of red-dyed fluids, this one is not to be missed. It's a triumph of the Grand Guignol. [read review]  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews) HIGH TENSION has been trimmed from its original European release, in order to garner an R rating rather than the kiss of death that was the original NC-17. All in all, it hardly seems to have been worth the effort. [read review]  --Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews) A gory surprise. Lots of blood, gore, and excellent tension between the heroine and killer in the flick. I would have given it an 8-rating, but the ending had to ruin it for me. Recommended none-the-less. [read review] 7/10 --FrighT MasteR (UHM) High Tension is a serious and somewhat successful attempt to make a fresh and original horror film. It builds on horror film history — not stealing from it, but standing on its own two feet. [read review]  Alexandre Aja has given us the most visceral, primal and brutal piece of cinema in ages. It will keep you on the edge of your seat from its start right up to its shocking revelation. [read review]  --Mike Pereira (Bloody-Disgusting.com) Haute Tension more then delivers on its title by, more often than not, focusing on the suspense of the situation, although most may only remember its bloodletting. [read review]  --Erik Childress (eFilmCritic.com) Haute Tension is a horror film of the highest calibre, a terrifying bloodbath and one hell of an entertaining popcorn flick. [read review]  -- (TheVideoGraveYard.com) 'High Tension' is a horrifying, bloody mess... [read review]  --Wesley Morris (Boston Globe)

• review by Jon Ridge