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High Tension

High Tension

2003
Suspense/Thriller, Crime
1h 31m
A white-knuckle journey into the heart of fear, this is the terrifying story of two girls' battle for survival at the hands of a sadistic psychopath. (Lions Gate Films)
Your probable score
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High Tension

2003
Suspense/Thriller, Crime
1h 31m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 44.61% from 1943 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(1943)
Compact view
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Rated 14 Aug 2007
45
27th
Ah yes, the infamous twist that wasn't given away because parts of the film would've been impossible (driving two cars at once for instance). It just really takes away from what could've been a pretty decent horror flick. With that said it's got a fantastically gritty style of make-up, sound, and cinematography. It's shame that it's not more than just style.
Rated 11 Sep 2011
50
27th
Something something lesbian self hatred something something...
Rated 29 Oct 2017
61
26th
Some really, ugh, "high" tension and effective slasher histrionics largely undermined by absolutely insipid plot gimmick & twist ending. The film kinda wants to have its trahsy cake and eat it too throwing away any semblances of internal logic in the process. The horror therefore falls apart very quickly which is annoying since there is some really good stuff in the slasher scenes in terms of camerawork, music and editing. Feels like two well made but different movies violently slapped together.
Rated 03 Dec 2007
71
60th
I really wanted to give this an 80 but the twist ending was just awful. Really nice horror flick before that, though.
Rated 08 Feb 2008
70
22nd
Another stupid twist, ruining a well-made movie. A classic staple of 21st century "horror". Boo.
Rated 11 Oct 2009
65
46th
Conservative, unimaginative, dull. Meh, not what I expected.
Rated 25 Oct 2017
60
25th
While I'm definitely in the camp that believes the ending is ludicrous, I don't think it completely ruined what comes before it. Textbook suspense and some wonderfully realistic gore. Almost a horror classic.
Rated 27 Jun 2018
58
34th
A horrific film adaptation of Ray Stevens' I'm My Own Grandpa.
Rated 24 Jul 2007
12
0th
This film's story is extremely nonsensical. It's also incredibly boring. A bunch of well shot violence is not enough to make a decent horror/suspense movie. The movie is also very sexist and misogynistic.
Rated 04 Nov 2007
35
9th
Watching terrible events happen to poorly drawn characters I don't care about? Where do I sign up? Not gory enough to be a good splatter movie, too cliche to be a good horror movie, and not worth watching in general.
Rated 26 Jul 2008
45
29th
A nice little horror flick up until the twist, which is why I gave it a 45.
Rated 18 Jan 2009
70
49th
Quality horror film, in fact one of the better ones of this decade...For 2/3 of the running time. The twist is so frustrating because the film is such good horror and it makes no sense. Regardless of the twist, Aja is talent to watch.
Rated 20 Oct 2016
3
38th
If you've ever heard anything about High Tension, it's that it's got an insanely obvious and stupid twist. Knowing that going in alleviates the issue, so I was better able to appreciate its streamlined purity as a superviolent slasher chase flick. The real problem? The characters and story are truly paper-thin. Thinner even than, say, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - likely this film's biggest influence - but without the low-budget grime and high-octane intensity of that film to compensate.
Rated 12 Aug 2017
70
58th
The tension is indeed high. Could go as high as an 80 if not for the horrible plot twist that undercuts the entire film that came before it. I recommend turning the film off 15 minutes early, you get a good scene of catharsis that works well as a bookend to the story, then just pretend the credits are invisible and stare at your blank TV screen for a couple of minutes. Macabre Month of Horror 2017 video review: https://youtu.be/wP6kmQrrr0s
Rated 22 Apr 2007
60
47th
Ultraviolent movie with an amazingly filthy and sadistic slasher. Plot twist is fucking retarded though and totally out of the blue and doesn't even make sense.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
91
86th
Say what you will about the ending (I personally loved it), the movie still creeps the hell out of me, and it's fun to watch multiple times to see all of the foreshadowing.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
45
14th
The ending ruins the entire film.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
59
36th
It's got a really gritty look to it (which is good if it's not pounded into the ground), but the story really does lack. I'm pretty much in agreement with most when I say that I hate the twist. I would've been perfectly happy with no "twist" and just some backstory on the antagonist.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
50
7th
It was really bad. Didn't these guys realize that the character in "Adaptation" was just kidding?
Rated 14 Aug 2007
71
65th
Misogynist, ugly and vile- hey, it's an ethos. Manages to up the ante on sickening gore, with intensely intimate direction from Alexandre Aja. Morally objectionable, but unbearably intense.
Rated 02 Sep 2007
40
12th
Some solid gore, but the acting is shit, it tries way too hard to disgust and repulse the audience, and the twist ending is terrible and creates so many logistical holes in the already shaky film. Entirely skippable.
Rated 14 Mar 2008
84
75th
When you ignore the unnecessary ending, this is an intense, scary, well crafted horror film. Its matter of fact brutality is the heart of what makes it so effective. You just have to pretend the last five minutes don't happen.
Rated 18 Jun 2008
1
1st
Bland gore mixed with bottom of the barrel psycho-thriller plot that reaches new lows in dumbass screenwriting.
Rated 27 Aug 2008
75
58th
Would have scored much higher if not for the weird, nonsensical, tacked-on-feeling ending. Very good horror movie up to that point.
Rated 09 Sep 2008
2
33rd
God damn, that surprise twist. Everyone is going to kvetch on endlessly about it, and I agree it sucks. Up until that point, however, I was enjoying this for what it was: a pretty straightforward, tense serial killer horror film. Granted, that twist gave us the amazing cement cutter(?) scene, but it was bullshit. It was utter bullshit. I agree with other reviewers that it was sexist to boot.
Rated 07 Oct 2008
60
50th
Starts off rather well, and after the necessary drama gets straight into business with some well executed gore. After the first part, as the action leaves the house and enters the streets, it loses a lot of it's tension. The ending, even though silly and impossible, improves the experience though and the car sequence is one of the most shocking scenes I've ever witnessed. Muse's music feels out of place and some of the surroundings scream cliché, but I can live with that.
Rated 08 Dec 2008
65
51st
The music is the best thing about this French slasher flick for sure: ambient, disturbing, creepy as fuck. Does an awesome job of ratcheting up the tension and maintaining it at insane levels for long periods. Add in a disgustingly filthy and sadistic killer, and some really quality gore scenes and you've got amazing potential. Sadly, all the great set up work is totally undermined by a silly and completely illogical plot twist. Still pretty enjoyable until the letdown at the very end.
Rated 14 Dec 2008
50
10th
Visually indistinct from just about every modern horror movie; it's all sodium lighting and those nauseating blue-green hues everywhere. Having trouble figuring how people could have "liked this until the twist" because before the big reveal, there's absolutely no story or characterization, it's just people being killed.
Rated 28 Apr 2009
70
29th
You have no idea how much I wanted to love this movie, it's so good up until the end where it implodes.
Rated 04 Jun 2009
82
76th
Among the best horror movies I've ever seen, until the twist that is. It's not horrible and it's actually quite well made but it's still completely unnecessary and flattens the atmosphere.
Rated 08 Jun 2009
65
51st
The first 3/4 of the movie would be an 85, unfortunately the ending was only worth a 45, so I split the difference
Rated 26 Nov 2009
80
55th
Would've been great if not for that super duper stupid ending.
Rated 09 Feb 2011
70
65th
Good slasher, very poor twist.
Rated 30 Apr 2012
40
5th
Score reflects the stupid twist ending.
Rated 11 Aug 2012
40
7th
Wait, so the reason for all the murder and gore is...what?! But that's stupid and unnecessary...alright, I wasn't expecting that ending, but it doesn't mean it was good. To think of it, it made me look down on the rest of the film aswell. Shame, I was looking forward to this, and it wasted my time... should've just watched The Incredibles again like I was going to...
Rated 02 Jul 2014
3
24th
Alexandre Aja combines his knowledge of slasher cliches with the plot of an M. Night Shyamalan flick.
Rated 23 Jul 2014
68
15th
Yeah, the low score is due to The Twist, but mostly because of the way it's handled. Since the movie is driving towards it, it inhibits what the characters can actually do - all communication effectively ends once the mayhem starts, because that would give it away. Since it's handled sloppily anyway, the shock is quickly replaced with thoughts of "But wait, if that's the case, then how did..." It dominates the movie and prevents it from being much more than a pile of viscera.
Rated 11 Jul 2015
17
3rd
The script didn't cater to the twist, or vice vera. A sanity check may have cleaned up the errors. But that didn't occur & there's a bunch of plot holes (literal skull fucking scene, how the knife got in the back of the truck, who drove the truck or the other car?) left for the audience to mull over. In fact, watching her act out what occurs whilst deadpan would've been more effective. Still, decent super gore & HT has the traditional lesbian undertones required for any slasher worth its salt.
Rated 02 Jul 2017
50
8th
Top badass moment? With more twists than a trap in Saw, I'm sure there were plenty. Sadly I fell through one of the massive plot holes and lost sight of the film. But really, running through a field of head-high maize within 10 minutes of it starting? What on earth were they thinking? Horror character mistake Number 1! 2 decapitations, no cats or chainsaws. (I'm afraid other power tools, however awesome, just don't have the gravitas of an off-label and badly operated Stihl or Husqvarna.)
Rated 09 May 2020
4
52nd
Was really digging the home invasion first part and the lack of backstory we got for the killer. It just seemed like he was a being there just to kill which is obvs very Halloween inspired. The twist is mind boggling and stupid, but even before the horrible twist I found it to be losing its lustre anyway. Still solid enough first 30 minutes and scattered moments otherwise.
Rated 15 May 2020
67
41st
The entire set up is amazing just hands over your face scary shit. Camera moves fluidly throughout the house capturing some of the most brutal scenes. The rest is obviously a let down ESPECIALLY THE TWIST IM SORRY THAT MAKES LITERALLY 0 SENSE. IDIOT!
Rated 09 Oct 2020
35
12th
It's beating a dead horse to say the twist was garbage, but it's that bad it bears repeating. Like, did Aja just come up with a twist and decide to never reread his script? The movie has some nice character build up for the first 15 minutes, and then never references it again as we get grunting and hiding in closets from the worlds stupidest protagonist. Like girl, your friend's family is being hunted down and you don't go AND WAKE UP YOUR FRIEND. Gore make up and soundtrack are great though.
Rated 01 Jul 2022
50
23rd
I know it's french and all, but doesn't it have to make at least SOME kind of sense?
Rated 28 Nov 2006
85
75th
The concrete saw made the whole thing worth while!
Rated 14 Dec 2006
78
32nd
A decent slasher flick with lesbians and a cringe-worthy twist that torpedoes the ending.
Rated 21 Mar 2007
67
36th
The title says it all. Too bad the actual movie outside of the tension is pretty dull.
Rated 04 Jun 2007
28
28th
How can it be her? It makes no sense... Cool idea, but not believable towards the end. I give the first half a thumbs up...and the last 5 minutes a thumbs down
Rated 25 Jul 2007
50
8th
so-so Horror with a lame twist
Rated 07 Aug 2007
89
80th
Kept from perfection by a lousy ending, altogether though, very very intense.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
40
14th
The silly twist ruined the entire movie for me.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
91
85th
High Tension is one of the best horror films in ages. Violent, thrilling and visceral, it goes right fo rthe juggular.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
50
44th
I wanted to like this movie, and up until the last 20 minutes I did. Why did this movie need a twist ending? Especially one that made no sense at all? Honestly, if it wasn't for the ending of this movie, I would have really liked this film...
Rated 14 Aug 2007
82
76th
good movie, terrible ending
Rated 14 Aug 2007
5
5th
Plot holes abound... Am I supposed to care about these people?
Rated 14 Aug 2007
3
5th
Hay doods ultraviolence = good horror right? NOT RALLY.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
50
4th
Brainless and only a couple of scares. This is one of those tricky movies that makes no sense. Avoid.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
13
9th
Ending ruined it for me.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
75
33rd
Some nice, sick, disturbing moments, but ultimately, played like a remake of Dean Koontz's made for TV movie Intensity. Just a lot more gory.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
30
2nd
All I can do is to laugh at how silly, stupid, and boring it is, with characters that have no depth and situations that defy any explanation. It's confusing, revolting, ridiculous, and in the end, it just made me angry. Insulting, on many levels.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
87
69th
horrible ending but a really good time
Rated 14 Aug 2007
9
57th
Had a pretty cool story line but the end was a bit hazy.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
70
37th
Gore fest and good acting. Predictable ending. Not a favorite but worth watching.
Rated 15 Aug 2007
65
15th
I saw the 'twist' coming, but it wasn't that great either way.
Rated 24 Aug 2007
44
18th
A pretty well-done thriller...up until that ending. Worst twist ending of all time, bar none. It ruins the movie completely.
Rated 15 Sep 2007
40
11th
Good looking and gory, but also silly and insulting.
Rated 17 Dec 2007
70
29th
Though it's a complete rip-off of Intensity by Dean Koontz, I thought it was well done.
Rated 31 Dec 2007
75
50th
Extremely solid right until the very end, when it completely loses its shit and fades out with one of the biggest cop-out endings in horror history.
Rated 30 Mar 2008
92
96th
Um dos melhores filmes de terror. Bom roteiro, atuações competentes e o mais importante: muito sangue. A melhor cena de decapitação da história está aqui! Para quem gosta do gênero, é imperdível.
Rated 19 May 2008
84
86th
the title isn't a lie, this does have plenty of tension, i could have done without the stupid plot twist, but it's a memorable and thrilling. a generally well made movie.
Rated 21 Jun 2008
60
75th
The dubbing was pretty crappy, but after about twenty minutes they stop talking in English anyway.
Rated 27 Jun 2008
81
91st
Nice movie
Rated 06 Jul 2008
70
41st
A slasher with a slightly intelligent nerve. Makes for good entertainment, but quickly forgotten.
Rated 26 Sep 2008
85
78th
a real deep movie, like it a lot
Rated 27 Nov 2008
50
21st
Poor man's Psycho, maybe.
Rated 27 Dec 2008
77
45th
The film's title explains exactly the feeling I had during the entire ride.
Rated 09 Jan 2009
1
0th
"Aja's rip-roaring romp certainly gives horror fans more than their money's worth."
Rated 13 Jan 2009
75
53rd
I probably like this movie more than I should. I had the ending figured out about half way through and I was sort of making fun of the lead girl. However, there was something about the relationship with the girl in the back of the truck and the audience that I liked a LOT. I hate to ever say that I can't explain why I like something, but that's the case here. it is gorey in parts too...
Rated 20 Jan 2009
10
3rd
I liked this movie alot right up until its end. It is a well shot, well articulated film that is genuinely creepy and will terrify you right up until that point. Alexandre Aja has made some really good films, except for this. Twist endings that insult your intelligence for having sat through it for most of their runtime suck. It is clearly established that someone is doing the slaughter here, and then upon the credits rolling, your left to think WTF? And that isn't a good way to go out at all.
Rated 21 Jan 2009
50
24th
Why-oh-why did they have to ruin a good slasher/horror film by putting in a twist? Would have been very enjoyable without that.
Rated 18 Feb 2009
40
90th
"The last three fourths of this film are basically like the last five minutes of Halloween -- total fear and total suspense."
Rated 19 Feb 2009
79
90th
Points deducted for seeming to suggest questionable correlations related to sexuality. But otherwise, very effective horror.
Rated 04 Mar 2009
25
33rd
"...succeeds greatly in its first two-thirds, but the contrived, implausible climax leaves much to be desired."
Rated 04 Jun 2009
80
83rd
Thrilling horror movie that is almost perfect until the last 10 minutes when everything falls apart.
Rated 10 Jun 2009
80
91st
Best horror I've seen, most definitely.
Rated 12 Jun 2009
61
45th
Two girl students in the country for the weekend. Not a bad crime story.
Rated 30 Jun 2009
45
27th
Overall Enjoyment: 20/40, Plot/Themes: 10/20, Cinematography/Direction: 10/20, Acting/Writing: 5/20
Rated 02 Jul 2009
65
34th
Just as the moniker suggests, this film is definitely high in tension. It is fairly unbelievable though.
Rated 06 Jul 2009
2
40th
Decent horror. Suspense due to the sound design, and the twist is not so much a twist really, as the hints to what actually is going on are many.
Rated 15 Jul 2009
70
28th
Jesus Christ. The dubbing is a little bit bothersome, but good lord this is balls-to-the-wall. Gut-wrenching, really.
Rated 16 Jul 2009
33
2nd
Unmitigated Froginese bullshit. Whenever the French copy an American genre, they usually fail horribly. I would rather watch twenty movies about ennui, existentialism, and twincest than sit through this idiotic murder porn again. On the other hand, if they made a movie about the filmmakers being horrifically tortured, I would watch that with glee.
Rated 20 Aug 2009
90
60th
Slasher flicklike a slasher flick should be done. Ultra-violent with great twist. Only reason it didnt get a 100 was because few plot holes. And the main star is georgeous and totally damaged.
Rated 31 Aug 2009
95
94th
Horror at its best!
Rated 12 Oct 2009
75
74th
Awesome soundtrack, mass amounts of blood, a hot french chick - good times.
Rated 06 Feb 2010
45
26th
Such an interesting film, but the ending absolutely kills it.
Rated 29 May 2010
84
75th
alot of people complained about the ending...while confusing and utterly impossible...I love this movie...Aje's best work
Rated 21 Jun 2010
10
19th
A great twist makes you look back and say "ah"; a terrible one makes you say "What. the. fuck."
Rated 08 Jul 2010
85
56th
Surprise this movie was a total surprise, I figured it out but it had a great twist and the story was lamo but the cast pulled it off.
Rated 11 Jul 2010
63
49th
good horror, but the last 10 min turn into a comedy
Rated 31 Jul 2010
5
40th
A perfectly good movie that was in leagues with Halloween and other classics but destroyed by the cliche and lame ending.
Rated 17 Aug 2010
100
92nd
One of the best of the French New Wave horror. Truly horrific, bloody and full of some wonderful twists this is highly recommended to even the most jaded of horror fans. Alexandre Aja shows a real eye for horror and this is one of his best works.

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