Haute Tension (2005)
Christmas Eve. Crazy Pete’s Saloon, North 8th Street, Philadelphia. Stephanie the bartender shakes her new titties at the freak show on-stage, managing to knock a liter of vermouth with her left breast off a low shelf in front of her. Currently tonight’s stage act had hammered a ten-penny nail up his nose and to assure the realism of the trick, audience members are allowed to come up stage for a mere five bucks and each is allowed to try to sink the nail a little deeper into the geek’s sinus cavity. A few have even opted to rip a hole in their five-spot and hang it off the head of the nail.
However, there are mostly groans from the crowd (including the distinctive grumble of Graveyard Frank Trautman, who is here ducking out from the holidays), and Stephanie is the geek’s only cheerleader. But this, unfortunately out of loyalty to her boyfriend who is part owner of the club; in someway that she doesn’t completely understand, although she does know that his parents are full owners of Wasabi, the sushi bar two blocks away which he (predictably named, Brad) manages and lives above in a spacious warehouse. Brad also has some investment in Tickles, the semi-nude strip club on South Street, where Stephanie danced until about two weeks ago. Decidedly inconsistent yet territorially, Brad had demanded she stop dancing after they hooked up, but he had also been insistent she allow him “invest” in her boob-job as a Christmas present.
This is all neither here nor there. What catches Frank’s attention is not how a bemused Stephanie tries to fold her arms over her chest and re-finds her new appendages. What Frank spots is her uncanny resemblance to French actress Cécile De France (Around the World in 80 Days; Coraci 2004/L'Auberge Espagnole; Klapisch 2002). Her breakout performance in Haute Tension (Aja 2003) is now out on DVD (Lion’s Gate, 10/11/05). The film centers around De France’s and friend, Alexia’s college roadtrip to Alexia’s family’s isolated country farmhouse. No sooner are they snug in their beds when a brutal killer breaks in, slaughters the family (including the pet dog) and kidnaps Alexia. Alexia, BTW, is played by Maïwenn, Luc Besson’s gawky former girlfriend, who we all know as that weird blue opera singer in Besson’s 1997 The Fifth Element. The killer is Philippe Nahon, a veteran of the psycho role (Seul Contre Tous ; Noé 1998).
Some people have claimed Aja’s “High Tension” is a benchmark in French filmmaking–-the French’s mastery of yet another American genre, the teen slasher film.
The people who say that, however, are idiots.
The film does not deliver. If the film has mastered anything, it has somehow mastered the 21st c American horror film’s ability to be both immediately predictable and flawed in continuity at the same time (consider Hide and Seek [Polson 2005] or Saw [Wan 2004] or The Village [Shyamalan 2004], to name a few.).
Bleh. Forgive the spoiler, but the film opens with De France’s flash-forward to the plot twist at the end of the film and a series of very non-subtle hints that she is totally cuckoo and has a gay obsession with Alexia. So knowing that De France is the killer, why then 
is her ulterior personality the killer, Nahon, tooling around in his van and terrorizing the countryside? Why then is Nahon/De France slaughtering anybody? And how is she/he getting two vehicles around?
Now, granted, Aja is adept at creating dramtic tension as De France is alternately pursued by/ and purses Nahon/ herself. The gore is on the silly side, too. But, even if one misses the twist-ending set-up on the first viewing, the twist makes the whole movie silly and pointless in retrospect. As a rule, a film that relies on a twist ending which doesn’t stand up to a second viewing is not a good film. It is a gimmick film. The film-making equivalent of a rubber chicken. Besides, a movie about pointless killing is,---well, pointless, after all. It’s no wonder that Aja’s next project is a remake of Wes Craven’s 1977 The Hills Have Eyes.
Stephanie smiles at Frank and gives him a Gray Goose and soda that he didn’t order; but it’s hard to take her seriously, having already met Brad.
Oh well. If you like Nahon, check out his other films, especially those of Gaspar Noé. Check out Luc Besson’s films, if you like Maïwenn (or Besson’s other love-interest, Milla Jovovich). But, If you like the sexy sexy Cécile De France, Frank recommends you check out her identical twin Stephanie (and her two new co-stars) down in So. Philly.
Christmas Eve. Crazy Pete’s Saloon, North 8th Street, Philadelphia. Stephanie the bartender shakes her new titties at the freak show on-stage, managing to knock a liter of vermouth with her left breast off a low shelf in front of her. Currently tonight’s stage act had hammered a ten-penny nail up his nose and to assure the realism of the trick, audience members are allowed to come up stage for a mere five bucks and each is allowed to try to sink the nail a little deeper into the geek’s sinus cavity. A few have even opted to rip a hole in their five-spot and hang it off the head of the nail.
However, there are mostly groans from the crowd (including the distinctive grumble of Graveyard Frank Trautman, who is here ducking out from the holidays), and Stephanie is the geek’s only cheerleader. But this, unfortunately out of loyalty to her boyfriend who is part owner of the club; in someway that she doesn’t completely understand, although she does know that his parents are full owners of Wasabi, the sushi bar two blocks away which he (predictably named, Brad) manages and lives above in a spacious warehouse. Brad also has some investment in Tickles, the semi-nude strip club on South Street, where Stephanie danced until about two weeks ago. Decidedly inconsistent yet territorially, Brad had demanded she stop dancing after they hooked up, but he had also been insistent she allow him “invest” in her boob-job as a Christmas present.
This is all neither here nor there. What catches Frank’s attention is not how a bemused Stephanie tries to fold her arms over her chest and re-finds her new appendages. What Frank spots is her uncanny resemblance to French actress Cécile De France (Around the World in 80 Days; Coraci 2004/L'Auberge Espagnole; Klapisch 2002). Her breakout performance in Haute Tension (Aja 2003) is now out on DVD (Lion’s Gate, 10/11/05). The film centers around De France’s and friend, Alexia’s college roadtrip to Alexia’s family’s isolated country farmhouse. No sooner are they snug in their beds when a brutal killer breaks in, slaughters the family (including the pet dog) and kidnaps Alexia. Alexia, BTW, is played by Maïwenn, Luc Besson’s gawky former girlfriend, who we all know as that weird blue opera singer in Besson’s 1997 The Fifth Element. The killer is Philippe Nahon, a veteran of the psycho role (Seul Contre Tous ; Noé 1998).
Some people have claimed Aja’s “High Tension” is a benchmark in French filmmaking–-the French’s mastery of yet another American genre, the teen slasher film.
The people who say that, however, are idiots.
The film does not deliver. If the film has mastered anything, it has somehow mastered the 21st c American horror film’s ability to be both immediately predictable and flawed in continuity at the same time (consider Hide and Seek [Polson 2005] or Saw [Wan 2004] or The Village [Shyamalan 2004], to name a few.).
Bleh. Forgive the spoiler, but the film opens with De France’s flash-forward to the plot twist at the end of the film and a series of very non-subtle hints that she is totally cuckoo and has a gay obsession with Alexia. So knowing that De France is the killer, why then 
is her ulterior personality the killer, Nahon, tooling around in his van and terrorizing the countryside? Why then is Nahon/De France slaughtering anybody? And how is she/he getting two vehicles around?
Now, granted, Aja is adept at creating dramtic tension as De France is alternately pursued by/ and purses Nahon/ herself. The gore is on the silly side, too. But, even if one misses the twist-ending set-up on the first viewing, the twist makes the whole movie silly and pointless in retrospect. As a rule, a film that relies on a twist ending which doesn’t stand up to a second viewing is not a good film. It is a gimmick film. The film-making equivalent of a rubber chicken. Besides, a movie about pointless killing is,---well, pointless, after all. It’s no wonder that Aja’s next project is a remake of Wes Craven’s 1977 The Hills Have Eyes.
Stephanie smiles at Frank and gives him a Gray Goose and soda that he didn’t order; but it’s hard to take her seriously, having already met Brad.
Oh well. If you like Nahon, check out his other films, especially those of Gaspar Noé. Check out Luc Besson’s films, if you like Maïwenn (or Besson’s other love-interest, Milla Jovovich). But, If you like the sexy sexy Cécile De France, Frank recommends you check out her identical twin Stephanie (and her two new co-stars) down in So. Philly. Merry Christmas.
posted by Graveyard Frank at 9:58 PM
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