Haute Tension (2003)

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye

Martyrs was great, although it did lose some of it's charm for me on repeat viewing. Inside was okay, but I didn't think much of Frontiers at all.

I've never re-watched "Martyrs" as I feel repeat viewing would do as you say BE. I thought "Inside" was the worse of the bunch of recent French films, it looked great, had fantastic gore but was as solid as steam for me. Also I didn't really understand why the makers shoehorned the racist sub-plot regarding North Africans into it. For me, the whole film smacked of film school graduates making a calling card to the industry.A cynical and exploitative film but not in a good way.

[nekromantik]

I agree, I love new wave of French Horror!
Martyrs was good but not seen it a 2nd time, Haute Tension is a classic, Frontiers was good.

Inside however was just hyped up, had gore gore but for me thats the only thing it had going for it. Story was not interesting and it dragged along for me. I am interested to see his next movie and see if he has improved in story telling.

[wayfarer]

Haute Tension does what it says on the box; provides some butt clenching tension at times. I found the ending sequences a little too contrived but Giannetto de Rossi's make up effects more than made up for the sloppy final act.

i liked both Frontiers and Inside. Martys, I watched on FFW during the beating scenes, then wished I hadn't by the final denouement.

[Vampix]

I enjoyed Haute Tension and Inside, but I thought Martyrs was way overrated.I've got Frontiers but haven't watched it yet.

[Splatterdragon73]

I've not long pre-ordered the U.S. HT BR and i'm hoping this version will improve upon Optimum's no-frills U.K. HD edition. I like to think so knowing the general superiority of Stateside DVD and BR releases.

[Argentofan]

Very good film, loved it.
Although, there's something disturbing about someone getting "relief" from a decapitated head.

[evilzombie20]

I just recently picked this up on Blu Ray - it's being sold as a Best Buy exclusive a month early - and I hadn't seen the film since I watched the DVD WAY back when...2005?

So with that said, it was basically like seeing the film for the first time - despite me knowing what was going to happen, I didn't remember much - and I have to say I got it a lot more than I did the first time around.

I remember being thoroughly confused by the end of the film, asking a lot of questions that were going unanswered, but somehow watching it for the second time in 5 years - it finally clicked.

**SPOILER ALERT**

I apologize if there is a spoiler button we can click to remove these from threads unless someone hovers over them, but I cannot find it and well, I wanted to get this point across.

Of course I'm sure others have figured this out even with the first viewing, but I, as I said, did not.

The entire turn of events was in her head, her driving the car, hiding in the gas station, the car overturning, etc. The whole thing was her psyche telling her she was trying to help, her innocent side doing what she would do in the situation, whereas the entire time she was driving that rusty old truck, being the killer in real life - but in her head, being the innocent victim. When the girl flips on her, and hurts her, the good part of her dies again, and the killer comes back...until the other girl tells her, she loves her. Then the innocent part of her re-kindles, and the two universes mesh.

**END SPOILER**

Maybe I'm the last horse to finally make it to the finish line, but that's how I interpreted the ending whereas the first time I watched it, I was left scratching my head.

[dis]

does this film deserve a sequel?
personally i think not,but it may be a shame to leave such a good film as a one off?

[Peter Neal]

So far the French haven't really come up with a lot of "modern horror" sequels- the only one that springs to mind is "Lady Blood", a late follow up to early 90's "Baby Blood".
Apart from the US remake of "Martyrs", wasn't there some talk about a genuine sequel?
Personally, I hope the French continue to put originals over franchises- though I would have loved the "Inside"-directing duo's take on "Halloween II"...well, wasn't meant to be.

[shawnduhast]

I have and love all of these listed especially HT but I would also add Mutants and La Horde.

SplatterDragon 73: Please post your impressions of the US BD as thats why I too never got the Optimum BD - just laziness not putting on "already on the shelf" extra's.


ps Evilzombie I was born near Taunton! the one in Somerset, England though

******************SPOILER ALERT**********




Back to HT, one of the first scenes after the running through the forest titles is her sitting in a hospital gown with her back to us showing the scars and recounting her story to a video camera with it's red REC light on and then as you say the rest of the film is entirely from her perspective and not reality which is why I've never had a problem with the ending.
Quite a lot of people obviously missed that bit though!