High Tension

Since I'm returning to this film to write about it again six months after watching it, you can bet that it made an impression on me. I noticed that on June 3, 2005, Alexandre Aja's 2003 film Haute Tension will be released in the US. I think it will be dubbed, and it will be released under the literal title High Tension, and not its previous international English title Switchblade Romance. This morning on the way to school, I kept pondering two questions: 1) Did this film "earn its ending"? and 2) What if a friend, someone I know and care about asked me "Should I see this film?" What should I say?

I'm a little uncertain about exactly what "earning its ending" means in the circle of writers and critics thereof, and so, I'll use it my own way. This film clearly has earned an ending. The first two-thirds of it are truly filled with tension. It's expertly crafted genre filmmaking, with the crazy madman having killed a few family members and kidnapped the young female college student home for the weekend. Her friend, who has a crush on her, must try to rescue her. Oh, her friend is also female. There are genuine feelings of peril. But the ending totally mystifies me. It is in no way earned. Somewhere there is a film spralling on the sidewalk having been beaten and its ending stolen. I have never been so angry at a filmmaker for cheating. There must be something deeper here that I am missing. Anyone who can craft the first two-thirds of this film has to be smart enough to realize the de-nooy-ment is so mindblowingly awful. Aja has clearly given his film an intentionally crappy ending for social commentary purposes that are lost on me.

So should you see it? I have no idea.