In Fact My whole Beef with this film,I can't tell ya' without revealing a Major Spoiler If Ya' plan on seeing this one Don't...If it's too late Well all I could Recomend is poping on an old Classic it seems to Counteract the Effects of this one (somewhat) lol Anyhoo, Btw this "Review" was what I'd written to a friend of mine which explains some of my Sentences (I hope lol) Anyway This Film stars that Cute young French Actress that I first saw As "Tinkerbell" in that recent Peter Pan Film (2003?) (I really don't care for Short hair on a Lady But occasionally it works like in this case! lol) I also saw this Actress in another French Film called "Swimming Pool" iirc that Also sucked! lol

DO NOT F with a film called "High Tension" It's about two gals that go one's Parents farmhouse in France for a Holiday (it's a French Film with some English and Subtitles) So these two Gals are kinda hot Anyhoo Then this old Nasty lookin' French guy shows up and in various GRAPHIC ways Kills Everybody EXCEPT for the Hot Daughter and her Hot Buddy.There's a great Scene with a guy who has his head placed in between some Stairrails then the Psycho Shoves an old Solid Dresser towards him Loppin' off his head! (Think of that Foot Scene In Misery! Oucch lol) BUT this guy chains one up to take home to "use" later and the Girl Guest is running around unnoticed like Bruce Willis in Die Hard. She spends most of the Film Following this Old Psycho around till she can Rescue her Friend, BUT there then is a Twist at the End Which I won't tell ya' unless you allow me to BUT surfice it to say The Filmmakers Try to Create a Hichcock ending Similar to "Psycho" but the thing is (although Liza doesn't Completely agree) You Can't make a Film and lead your viewers One direction,Then Try to tell them that "Oh that wasn't really happening This Ending is the Real Story" Well I know that that Babble made no sense but Trust me It was Frustrating Just Imagine If They ACTUALLY Had Shown You Norman Bate's Mother Walking and Talking,Interacting With people Throughout the Movie BUT THEN at the very end said it was all in Poor Normans Head! Well actually Hichcock DID do that! But if there Really wasn't a Grimey French Psycho Killing everyone Then WHO Ran this Girl Off The Road?Okay The Deal is The Girl Guest Turns out to be the Psycho Old Guy! YET She Fought this guy In Front of other People no less! If ya' follow me? so it couldn't have all been in her mind see?When she actually Kills the Psycho old French guy and go's to the Truck and tries to free her buddy The Buddy starts screamin' and says "You killed my Family leave Me Alone Aaaaaaahhh" lol Anyhoo So Ya' see That In My Opinion made this Movie a real Stink Bomb!lol Sure I know what a "Red Herring" is But ya' can't try to tell us that The SHOWN KILLER NEVER EXSISTED! jeeze Okay So Enough of my Rant on French Horror Films lol Listen I suppose this entire post won't make much sense to you unless you have seen this for yourself,and although the FX are good and there is a LOT of Tension built till the Middle,But by the End it is as insane as the Killer in the Film to expect the Audience believe that although we saw this girl Run off the Road in her Car (and rolling Several times!) by the Murderer in his Truck, We are expected to believe that this never happened! come on! lol I hope one of us here saw this just so you could explain this mess to me Please! lol

John/Lonfan

The IMDb Entry For "High Tension" (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0338095/) It's got a fairly respectable 6.7 for a Foreign Film, tho I've not seen it nor do I know anyone who's seen it.

It' just Frustratin's all I mean I feel like I invested a couple of Hours of my time for Nuthin! lol I just realized the easiest way to explain this film is they tried to Copy the "Twist Ending " of "Fight Club" but in that one this Gimick wasn't Full of Holes. If you think back to Fight Club,there is no Plot holes that keep you from being able to accept that Ed Norton wasn't the Actually The Fighter. You NEVER saw him at the same time as the Fights so when it was revealed you thought to yourself.."Ahhh Okay,I get it,Cool) But this one Shows the two individuals Stabbing at each other and Finally the Girl Clubs the Dirty Old French Guy to death then Finishes him off with a Plastic Over the Head Asphixation (just to be sure lol) and you see all this happening Yet According to the big "Reveal" This Broad IS the Old Psycho! Huh? Wha? lol Hey I'll shut up now but It just Irks me. Somebody PLEASE Rent this so you can Explain it to me! lol
John/Lonfan
oh and BTW the French Langue didn't make it any harder to understand in fact most of the Leads spoke English as well as the Guy in that "Leon" Movie! lol I like that guy but I forget his name,He does a good Elvis lol

I have to disagree with ya, Lonfan.

I will readily admit that the so-called "twist" ending short-circuited everything they had done so well up to that point.

There's where we disagree. I felt that the film was extremely well done. To a grizzled suspense/horror veteran, I was amazed at how long the film was able to maintain the level of dread and, yes, high tension. I was sucked in and completely involved. While some of the killings went overboard in their "creativity," I admired the quality of the production. No cheap, slapdash stalker film here.

It is probably the most gruesome and disturbing film I've ever seen. You can say that House of 1,000 Corpses and Devil's Rejects were both disturbing - and they were. But, there was a cartoonish quality to both of those titles. Also, the familiarity with the performers always kept you grounded and secure in the fact that you were watching a movie.

High Tension succeeds on a number of levels. Not the least being an almost documentary style feel to the initial murders. It felt as if I had stumbled upon a hidden camera that the killer had set up to capture the carnage.

Anyway, as I've said on this board a number of times, that's the beauty of the movies. We can all disagree on what entertains us and what doesn't. There's no true right or wrong when discussing film....well, except my opinions which are always right.

Have I mentioned how much I hated The Village?

Python- I COMPLETLEY Agree with ya' It really was "High Tension" all the way through Till as you put it Perfectly " the so-called "twist" ending short-circuited everything they had done so well up to that point" Now I haven't seen the Rob Zombie Film yet Is it worth watching? and btw I didn't care for the Village either, See I watched M.Knight's "I See Dead People" movie and Frankly I guessed the Twist within 15 Minutes and although I'm no smarter than the next guy I just couldn't believe nor understand why Folks were treating M. Knight Shama Lama like the Second Coming Of Orson Wells!Then we watched the Village and Likewise I figued that one out even sooner! Frankly the Wife and I agree the Last Film we saw that actually fooled us right up till the VERY end was 1994's "Primal Fear" with Richard Gere and Ed Norton,We NEVER saw that one comming!
John/Lonfan

I just caught this movie last night and thought it was pretty good. I can see where there are question marks after the "surprise twist". You may want to add the scene toward the beginning with the old psycho sitting in the truck playing "Head Games". Was that a figbar of her imagination too? She was still miles away.

Up until the twist, I would have swore this movie was based on Dean Koontz' "Intensity" because the storyline was almost exactly the same. The only difference being the main star's school friend was already dead when the sicko took her away.