So the story is this: A student and her friend go to a her parents house to do some studying. In the night a creepy French guy in a boiler suit arrives (it's set in France by the way) and calmly and methodically begins to carve up the family. From the begining the film really lives up to its French title (Haute Tension) and is a solid homage to 70s slasher films. Whilst the killer is generic, from the Michael Myers/Leatherface lumbering and implacable school, the whole is stylishly shot, effective and uncomfortable viewing. Complementing this visual flair are some great perfomances espescially Cécile De France who owns just about every scene, not your typical horror Final Girl.
Unfortunately the film mis-fires in the final reel with a twist that's incredibly clumsy and shoots gaping holes in the plot. When you watch a film the whole thing is filtered though your memory of the last scenes, you can start poorly but no one's going to care if you finish on a high. If you mess up the finale there's no chance to redeem yourself and ultimately Switchblade romace dissapoints for this reason, leaving you going 'wha...?' instead of 'woah!'.
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2 comments:
When I first saw this, I thought it was (and for my money, still is) the best horror film of recent times. As you say, it picks up momentum very quickly and sustains it in a surprisingly shocking (at this to this jaded horror fan) manner.
As far as the ending goes, I initially had the same feeling as you - that it spoils all the good work which has gone before. But on rewatching the film soon after, it all kind of held together, although I can't really explain how this worked for me without spoiling it for those who haven't seen it.
In any case, I thought that the spectacular and brutal deaths - together with the continuing tension - compensated for the twist.
It's a shame that the director's take on 'The Hills Have Eyes' was so disappointing, because 'Haute Tension' showed a great deal of promise.
You'll have to explain to me in the pub then. My main question is who was driving the van/car?
You might like to check out the Belgian film The Ordeal which has a similar tone but with a bit of League of Gentlemen style country weirdness thrown in thrown in for good measure.
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