Film Review: High Tension

First of all, let me say that I am a fan of horror films and that when it comes to horror, if you know that you already don't like the genre, then ignore this review.

I had heard and read a lot about High Tension before actually seeing it. In fact, I remember hearing about it when it was still called Switchblade Romance, which I still think is a better title. The story concerns two girls on school vacation to one of their parent's homes. While there, a mysterious man breaks in and starts to kill everyone, including the little boy in the cowboy suit (awesome). When he kidnaps one of the girls, the other decides to follow him secretly. Oh, right, she's a lesbian and has a crush on the other girl. Anyway, from here on out, there is a weird cat and mouse game that plays out.

I remember people comparing this film to Hitchcock, only with more blood. Awesome, I thought. How could this go wrong?Well, there are a few ways. One is to do a terrible job of dubbing (the film is originally in French). It sounds like the filmmakers went to the streets and asked the first , but they even changed the plot by making one of the characters American...why? I'm not sure.

However, these are all minor things. How about the actual film? Well, the first 90 percent of the film is really good. The art direction is amazing, the characters are engaging, and the suspense was great. However, there is a twist at the end of the movie that ruins the entire film. Why? Well, without giving it away, let's just say that once you know it, everything you saw before it doesn't make sense. It's illogical.

It's sad, because if the twist hadn't been included, this movie would have been awesome. But sadly, one director's creative twist ends up being the all 5 nails in the coffin.

5/10