Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
49
2012
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
70
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
52
Blind Side
47
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
41
G-Force
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
28
Pandorum
58
Pirate Radio
39
Planet 51
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
46
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum
56
Adam
39
Adventures of Power
66
Afterschool
73
Amreeka
49
Antichrist
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The
71
Big Fan
65
Black Dynamite
76
Bliss
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star
76
Broken Embraces
70
Bronson
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
60
Collapse
82
Cove, The
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The
53
Dare
50
Defamation
67
Departures
70
Earth Days
85
Education, An
55
Endgame
88
Fantastic Mr. Fox
31
Fix
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
xx
From Mexico with Love
28
Gentlemen Broncos
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Horse Boy, The
74
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
43
Little Traitor, The
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
46
Love Hurts
84
Maid, The
45
Mammoth
75
Messenger, The
55
Missing Person, The
59
More Than a Game
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
48
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
26
Oh My God
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Red Cliff
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
65
Skin
41
Splinterheads
42
Staten Island
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
58
Storm
82
Sun, The
49
Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73
That Evening Sun
61
Trucker
49
Turning Green
83
U2 3D
45
Uncertainty
67
Visual Acoustics
32
War on Kids
67
Way We Get By, The
65
Wedding Song, The
xx
White on Rice
59
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74
Woman in Berlin, A
43
Women in Trouble
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
High Tension
EMAILPRINTLions Gate Films Inc.
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 39 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Crime | Foreign | Horror | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Alexandre Aja
Grégory Levasseur
Directed by: Alexandre Aja
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 10, 2005
DVD: October 11, 2005
Running Time: 85 minutes, Color
Origin: France
Language(s): French / English / Italian (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: R for graphic bloody killings, terror, sexual content and language
Starring Cécile De France, Maïwenn Le Besco, Philippe Nahon, Franck Khalfoun, Andrei Finti, Oana Pellea, Marco Claudiu Pascu, and Jean-Claude de Goros
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)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: The Hills Have Eyes
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Film Threat Jeremy Knox
A movie that wants you to squirm in your seat and judged by that standard, it works brilliantly.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The film revels in blood and gore, but this is not just a run-of-the-mill splatter film. There's a lot of intelligence in both the script and in Alexandre Aja's direction.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
Like all horror films, High Tension builds to a final, sobering flash of chaos that settles all scores. Some viewers will hate Aja's movie for its end-game reveal; others will love it for the very same reason.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
But purely as an exercise in style, this movie has its moments.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
A chainsaw-cut above recent entries in the genre: a pure, unapologetic, unironic homage to the likes of "Friday the 13th" that respectfully salutes all the old shtick.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
I was annoyed by Levasseur and Aja's desertion of their tense, simple plot in favor of tedious "plot twists" that could, frankly, use a rest. It's a waste of a good first half. (Grade: A- for first hour, C- thereafter.)
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Even if you don't buy the ending, however, High Tension makes for ghoulish, sick fun, and Aja, who is already at work on a remake of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes, clearly takes this horror stuff very seriously. The genre can always use a few more like him.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The first two thirds of the screenplay by Aja and cowriter Gregory Levasseur is a relentless exercise in bare-bones nastiness.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ernest Hardy
While the acting is fine and the direction accomplished, the real stars of the film are editor Baxter and cinematographer Maxime Alexandre. Forfeiting a gold star is whoever haphazardly dubbed the film, simply giving up about halfway through.
Read Full Review >Variety Lisa Nesselson
Deftly juggles gore and suspense, and punchline holds an intellectual frisson or two for fans of gender-role speculation, but basically this is one more horror pic on the distinguished road already trodden by "Texas Chain Saw Massacre," "Maniac" and the like.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Mark Holcomb
Manages--before faltering under the weight of its own pretensions--to be pretty scary.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Though staged with technical skill and unflinching brutality, it's an awfully familiar-looking slaughter filled with moments on loan from other movies.
Read Full Review >Premiere Peter Debruge
Borderline reprehensible, High Tension is a living nightmare, but then, why else would you see it?
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
For much of its duration the film is a case of intense fare done with an undeniable effectiveness and ingenuity -- until it lurches into a deplorable surprise twist.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
For all this, there is one unalloyed good thing to be said for High Tension. When all is said and done, it really does live up to its title. In every other way it's trash, but that truth-in-advertising aspect is a major weight to throw into the mix.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Horror fans should see this, at least in geeky admiration for what it pulls off, but in the long run it's no more than a crisp footnote to genre history.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
This film is satisfied merely to wallow in women in peril, cinematic sadism and the spectacle of violent death and dismemberment.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The latest reshuffling of "Chainsaw" tropes.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
High Tension often feels like a ’70s exploitation movie in the best sense; unfortunately, the ending is so bad that it mars everything that comes before.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
That outrageous third-act reveal proves to be a major deal-breaker.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Stylistically thrilling but ultimately tedious French import.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
It can only be said that if you like this sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you like.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The horrible anticipation he [Aja] builds is derailed by a gimmick that makes the twist in, say, ''Fight Club" seem perfectly logical. To say more would be to ruin the movie, and why should I do that when its own makers have done it for you?
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
One of the ugliest movies I've ever seen. Even though it occurs mostly in the dark, the open flesh wounds are both graphic and implausible.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
If old-fashioned jolts are what you're after, this nasty piece of merchandise delivers. But so does electroshock.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Serial killing and other insanity in the French countryside, with ineptly dubbed English dialogue.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The philosopher Thomas Hobbes tells us life can be "poor, nasty, brutish and short." So is this movie.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Such a bizarre movie that it has completely occupied my thinking for days. Not because it's a good movie, mind you. It's more like the equivalent of a botched tooth extraction with a coat hanger. Some bloody shard remains stuck in an inflamed, fleshy part of my psyche, and it's going to take some serious tugging and tearing to root it out.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 4.8 (out of 10) based on 39 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
RavenX301 gave it a4:
I just got done watching this flim on the Movie network. Not very good. I would have given it a 7 or close 8 if it wasn't for the fact that TOoooooo many things have to be forgiven for the ending to work. At first it was good. It was like the old school slasher when there were very few poeple and that ONE killer. But thinking back on the sences after seeing the ending is too weird. At first (like I said) it seemed like maybe it was biulding to some kind of 'kitty' slasher and Texas Chainsaw Massarce, and unlike Riren who thinks that this has bee done so much (I;ve seen thousands of movies including over seas and this polt isnt AS overdone as you seem to think) No....I dont mind the story if it wasn't for ALL those mistakes after knowing the ending. There was a cool move on the surrvilence camera that really surpised me, but only because the movie was so outrageously pointing in one completley differnet way. The movie is way to out there that it makes it too impossible to understand becasue of the lack of actual common sense in a movie thats trying to make you believe in it.
Riren gave it a3:
High Tension has a twist ending that's simply been done too much now, and this is the worst execution of that particular twist ending to date. I won't spoil it for you, but honestly, this thing has been too many times to be novel, and too few times to be acceptable when repeated. It's like a slap in the face after you've put up with all the overreaching "tension" of the movie. The movie earns its credit with disgusting (if occasionally physically implausible - you can't behead someone by pushing a bureau against them) deaths and its dirtier, more realistic vision of the world. It can certainly make you squirm, but not as often as a horror lover might hope. Indeed, its ultimate lack of substance is the most bothersome part of the film, until you realize there was supposed to be something deeper going on all along. Then it all falls apart, in a pile of gore.
Drake D. gave it a5:
Well, I've been waiting quite a long time for this movie to come out on dvd and when i whatched it, it seemed a waste of time, but it kept me thinking throughout the movie. it deserves a 5 no more though.
John F. gave it a9:
I have no idea who "Chad S" is, nor do I have any idea what the "Metacritic Advance Scout Team" entails. But I must ask... why are poorly written, xenophobic rants given a stamp of approval on this site? This cretin's profoundly idiotic review (which housed some of the worst grammar in the history of the English language) not only misunderstood the film in question, but also managed to throw in some indescribably vulgar cultural elitism that couldn't possibly have been more wide of the mark. I like this site. But don't start bigging up meatheaded mouth breathers, lest your fanbase head for the tomato hills.... ANYWAY, this film is superb. The infamous plot twist IS a massive misjudgement, but when a director has spent the past eighty minutes thrilling you to the bone, forgiveness is all that it deserves. A cult classic in the making.
Joe b gave it a6:
Ending was weird. Movie predictable. Not bad, certainly not Good.
Luke L gave it an8:
No, the story wasn't all that great, but it kept me gritting my teeth and sitting on edge, which is a tribute to the camera work and editing. Brutal, but that is what a slasher film is suppose to be. Ending twist was so much better than what Hollywood ever puts out and that flashlight swaying back and forth - classic suspense.
Robby T. gave it a7:
Honestly, High Tension is not a good movie... but I loved it! it is the definition of what a horror movie was supposed to be ten years ago. So get out your official Slasher handbook and let's run down the checklist. Weapons: axe, butcher knife, barbwire, shotgun, chainsaw, revolver, switchblade. Check. We'll obviously need a dark cornfield (must be easy to get lost in). Check. Cut the phone lines. The police should be of absolutely no help. Check and check. Stir in some nudity and extremely graphic violence (including, but not limited to, decapitation). Check. But wait... there must be a twist... one that has been used so much that the viewer almost might not be expecting it. Check. How about some creepy music? Muse's "New Born" fits so perfectly in this film that it is amazing it wasn't tailor made for it. Bottom line: if you want to see a horror movie that reminds you why you started watching horror movies in the first place... High Tension fits the bill. Although (ironically) the film is entirely in French. Wait! I almost forgot the most important part: Enough blood to flood New Orleans all over again... Check.
