Haute tension; een Franse splattermovie (pics!)

Heb hem net afgekeken en OMFG!! Wat een heftige film, er is redelijk goed acteerwerk (wat zeldzaam is bij dit soort flicks) een zooitje gore, spanning en sensatie!!

Ook bekend als SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE

dir Alexandre Aja scr Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseur
with Cecile De France, Maiwenn, Philippe Nahon, Franck Khalfoun, Andrei Finti, Oana Pellea, Marco Claudiu Pascu, Jean-Claude de Goros, Bogdan Uritescu, Gabriel Spahiu
release France 18.Jun.03; UK 23.Apr.04 03/France 1h25

It's like Aja and Levasseur were out drinking absinthe (or whatever French filmmakers drink) when they decided to make "the scariest movie ever!" And you've got to hand it to them: They may have done it. This unsettling, relentless horror film is so gruesome that it keeps you squirming from start to finish. And it even has a strong twist at the end. But it's also disturbingly misogynistic.
Friends Marie and Alex (De France and Maiwenn) drive into the remote countryside to visit Alex's mother, father and little brother (Pellea, Finti and Pascu). But shortly after arriving, a vicious madman (Nahon) attacks the isolated farmhouse, violently murdering everyone he find except Alex, who's bundled into the van so he can deal with her later. Meanwhile, Marie has managed to hide, and it's up to her to rescue Alex. But this ruthless killer is always a step ahead of her.
Aja and Levasseur (who also designed the film) make expert use of just about every horror movie element imaginable--creepy cornfield, shower and shower curtain, toilet cubicles, barking dog, squeaky hinges, slatted closet doors, glimpses in mirrors, ghost story references, a sinister truck, foreboding dreams, scantily clad girls in jeopardy, slow-witted cops, straight razor (but not a switchblade) and even a chainsaw! Not to mention several red herrings and "He's not dead!" moments. All of this adds up to a thoroughly effective thriller full of nearly unbearable suspense--some scenes are very hard to watch, since extreme violence from the beginning tells us to expect absolutely anything. In this way, the film is like a pure, stripped-down experimental horror film without any other point. And as such it works brilliantly. The problem is that as the story progresses, another theme develops: You begin to feel that the filmmakers really hate women! They're probably just trying to be true to the genre, but this overriding nastiness (much more than simple victimisation) goes way over the line...

Het sterke van de film is waarschijnlijk dat er zo weinig in geouwehoerd word dus er is meer plaats voor spanning

Haute Tension
Directed by Alexandre Aja
FRANCE/87 MINUTES/MIDNIGHT MADNESS
Haute Tension is a slasher flick done right...almost. Aside from a last-minute twist ending that doesn't really make sense when you think about it, the film does a remarkable job of keeping the level of tension high throughout. The movie kicks off with a college girl, accompanied by a friend, heading into the country for a visit with her parents. That night, an ominous serial killer (played by Phillipe Nahon) breaks into the house and kills the entire family - except for the girls (one of which he doesn't see, and the other he kidnaps). What follows - their attempts to escape, mostly - is surprisingly effective and suspenseful, especially when you consider the film becomes virtually dialogue-free after that initial attack. Though the set-up is almost identical to that of Dean Koontz's Intensity, director Alexandre Aja does a superb job of establishing the mood and tone of the story; the entire film takes place at night and there are barely any brightly-lit sequences. Aja makes terrific use of the widescreen format, making Haute Tension an ideal companion piece to John Carpenter's Halloween. The only thing that prevents the film from become an all-out classic slasher is the misguided conclusion. But up until that point, Haute Tension is bloody enough and creepy enough to please horror fans - and I Stand Alone's Nahon makes for a delightfully sinister villain.

*** out of ****

Wie heeft deze film al gezien en wat vond je ervan?

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Op zaterdag 31 januari 2004 13:04 schreef Disorder het volgende:
Ziet er goed uit. Ik ben benieuwd naar de sfeer.

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_{sfeer vind ik mischien wel het belangrijkste in een film}

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Op zaterdag 31 januari 2004 13:41 schreef Stallion75 het volgende:
Is de film al ergens te koop?

Heb vershillende site bekeken maar heb tot nu toe geen site kunnen vinden waar ik hem kan kopen.

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maar het zal niet lang duren denk ik

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Op maandag 2 februari 2004 23:37 schreef ranja het volgende:
Ziet er wel gaaf uit... behalve dat zinnetje van dat alles met nacht is opgenomen. Als er iets in in thrillers/horrors wat ik niet spannend/eng vind is het wel een zwart beeld waar je wat geluid hoort en maar moet raden wat er gebeurt.
Iets wat veel te veel gebeurt in films trouwens, maar goed dat is mijn persoonlijke frustratie... wordt het net spannend gaat het beeld op zwart

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