|
|
 |
High Tension
R0 - Australia - Accent Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Tom Williams (21st July 2006). |
|
The Film
 Alexandre Aja's visceral horror film High Tension is a gripping entry into the slasher genre- but its strengths are matched against weaknesses that leave a slightly sour taste. The film's strongest point is its titular tension, as we follow young student Marie (Cecile De France) in her attempts to escape the horrific attention of a stranger (Philippe Nahon) who invades the farmhouse home of the family of Marie’s study pal, Alexia (Maiwenn Le Besco). Much of the film is shot from Marie’s point of view- especially the moments of total dread, where our focus is drawn not to the gory action itself, but to the reactions of someone who is barely avoiding the same fate. This is just as well, as the effects in the film are barely on this side of adequate, sometimes touching a B-movie grade. By taking our focus away from the sometimes inadequate effects we are more drawn in to the story, and more invested in the fate of Marie. An opening conversation between the girls touches briefly on Marie’s feelings of being an outcast, in between typical squabbles over the night before. Marie and Alexia have gone to Alexia’s family home to prepare for their final exams, and their arrival confirms this feeling as well, as Marie seems a little uncomfortable to be in this strange domestic environment. Ultimately, however, it is her outcast status that saves her life, as the family suffers horrific fates at the hand of the strange visitor. The dread we feel at the desecration of a family home is written across Marie’s face as she begins a terrifying fight for survival. High Tension seems to be designed to provoke the most extreme feelings of discomfort and revulsion from its audience, and it certainly challenging to watch at times- but the balance between showing too much, as in a slasher/horror flick, and showing too little, as in a psychological thriller, makes for a compelling and successful film. That said the film is nearly undone by the attempt to give the film a twist at the end. The fashion for giving films twists was for some time confined to B-grade slasher flicks- more often than not, something simple like the spooky killer being not really dead, or somebody else all along. The Sixth Sense (1999) revived the idea and made it more fashionable- much to the detriment of films like this one, which attempts to follow in the footsteps of films like The Machinist (2004) or Saw (2004) by giving the story a shock that detracts from the feelings evoked in the film itself. All these films bring out their strongest feelings by pure sympathy- as we connect with the characters and empathise with their fears, our thoughts are on the feelings we share in this strange and terrifying situation, rather than an intellectual exercise in figuring out what exactly is going on. Giving a big reveal that not only draws our attention to the fact that the events we have witnessed have backgrounds of their own-motive, planning, luck and history each playing their roles in the playing out of each scene- but also removes one layer of believability by asking us to take one further step in our suspension of disbelief. High Tension had some clues leading to its conclusion, but given that it attempted to have us not guess the ending, these clues are really only obvious on repeated viewings. The major strengths of this film are in those scenes where we most acutely feel connected to Marie and her suffering; the twist takes this away from us.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio, this 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is excellent, the image is sharp and fine detail is clear. The print has not flaws that I could detect, colours are well balanced, the dark scenes are deep and bold, shadow detail is consistent throughout these scenes, of which there are many. This is a fine clean print that presents the film beautifully.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included on this release, two French Dolby Digital 5.1 plus an English Dolby Digital 5.1, strangely enough both the French tracks appear identical. I guess it was a mistake to include two identical tracks, none-the-less this track is very good. Dialogue is clear and distortion free, the film's mood is set with the use of active surrounds that provide the film a depth that horror films actively require. This track is well balanced and suits the film perfectly. I only wish Accent would have released this with a DTS ES track. Optional subtitles are also included in English, they were easy to read and didn't not disappear off screen too quickly, I could not spot any spelling or grammatical errors, which is always nice.
Extras
The Making Of documentary entitled "Haute Tension: Making Of d'un Survival" runs for 36 minutes 18 seconds and is ok, but tends to lean towards the same sort of general marketing information that accompanies many Hollywood films. Rather than provide interesting insight into the film to someone who has already seen it, it's the sort of thing that might screen on late-night television in order to entice people to watch the film. There are occasional gems of information to be gleaned, but there's also a director flat-out lying by telling you there is only a minute- two minutes tops- of gore in this, one of the most blood-soaked films ever created. 4 interviews follow, they are: - Cecile De France, which runs for 21 minutes 51 seconds. - Maiwenn Le Besco, which runs for 5 minutes 28 seconds. - Philippe Nahon, which runs for 5 minutes 12 seconds. - Make-up artist Giannetto De Rossi, which runs for 7 minutes 18 seconds. The interviews are a little more interesting, though by and large the information we are given is quite generic- de France, for example, letting us know she read the script in one go, then accepted the part without talking to her agent. It's this sort of personal information all the way through. The photo gallery and production notes are about as boring as they sound. The photos are mostly from the scenes we've already seen in the film- although now we can see the crew doing their work too; there are 5 images of posters and 28 images taken on the set. The production notes are 10 pages of text and do have some value, but are written in such a self-congratulatory tone that really, they're only worth the one read. The disc also includes 2 theatrical trailers. One in English that runs for 1 minute 38 seconds as well as one in French that also runs for 1 minute 38 seconds. Rounding out the extras are the bonus trailers for: - 9 Songs: which runs for 1 minute 33 seconds. - Irreversible: which runs for 1 minute 39 seconds. - Lost Things: which runs for 1 minute 40 seconds. - I Stand Alone: which runs for 1 minute 23 seconds. With very little in the way of commentary on the film, by and large, the special features on this DVD release are hugely disappointing- much more so than the film itself.
Overall
|
|||||
|