Haute Tension AKA Switchblade Romance (2003)

When introducing his psycho-slasher shocker to audiences at the Sitges Film Festival in 2003, director Alexandre Aja described it as a story about love and obsession. Well, that is certainly one of the things it turned out to be, but he neglected to warn us that it was also going to be the most outrageous exercise in white-knuckle tension since Halloween, not to mention the most visually stylish Euro-slasher film ever made!

The film begins with shots of a horribly wounded young woman in a hospital and a voice-over that starts to explain “what happened”. The titles are beautifully crafted — cold and threatening as the headlights of a truck roll through the darkness, intercut with images of the same young woman, mortally wounded and lurching through a forest. She intercepts a car before suddenly waking up from her “super bizarre” dream in a vehicle with her best friend.

There is the lull before the storm that we all sense is lurking just around the corner as two young women head out to a countryside farmhouse for a few weeks of pre-exam studying. While the girls drive along without a care in the world, Aja cuts to scenes of the country girl’s family eagerly awaiting her arrival. Mother is hanging out the laundry, Dad is working at the computer, while little Tom is dressed as a cowboy in an effort to impress his sister and is chasing the family dog around the fields. It is a picture of short-lived tranquillity, and the first sign of danger appears when the camera pans to a rusty old truck parked nearby, looking as though it has driven straight out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Jeepers Creepers, with some mysterious activity clearly taking place within.

Just as the audience begins to sense that something is not quite right, Aja strikes home with a screamer of a shock that had viewers gasping in equal measures of horror and delight. This initial jolt is brilliantly timed and suitably grisly, whetting the appetite for what is to follow. Suddenly, the audience is fully aware that extreme danger is in the air, while the characters remain blissfully unaware.

There follows a tension-filled interlude in the cornfield as Aja employs the old Hitchcockian ploy to perfection — we, the viewers, can sense the danger, but those on screen have absolutely no idea. The girls reach the farmhouse and proceed to unwind. There is a wonderful Texas Chainsaw Massacre homage as Marie sits rocking on a swing outside while her friend showers indoors. The atmosphere is drenched in tension, with the audience expecting the dreaded truck to pull up at any moment… and it is not long before it does, unleashing the most horrific mayhem.

The scenes of carnage in the house are spectacularly handled, and while the gore is plentiful, the most unbearable aspect is the incredible tension that tightens relentlessly towards snapping point. Aja has his audience completely gripped, holding their breath collectively along with the traumatised Marie. The psycho departs with the apple of his eye entangled in chains, while Marie sets off in wild pursuit. To reveal any more about the plot would be sinful, particularly as the film deserves to be experienced with as few spoilers as possible.

The movie races along at a rollicking pace and is crafted with astonishing assurance for a man who was barely twenty-five years old when he made it. Haute Tension is the most unrelentingly terrifying experience since John Carpenter’s Halloween and stands as a fitting homage to the greatest slasher film of them all.

Sadly, however, the film falls frustratingly short of the masterpiece it ought to have been because of a twist ending that feels as though it cheats its audience — an unpardonable sin in the opinion of many viewers. While the film builds deliciously and unrelentingly towards a blood-drenched finale, the audience is suddenly sent reeling as though a rug has been rudely pulled from beneath them. Just as they stagger to comprehend what they have been shown, the film abruptly ends, leaving them floundering to regain their balance.

So Haute Tension comes just a little undone. The twist it springs upon its audience is undoubtedly a fun idea, but ultimately it is simply too much to swallow and feels like a bit of a cop-out. This is particularly disappointing considering that ninety percent of the film is otherwise a brilliant exercise in tension-building, containing scenes that compare favourably with Halloween, the film that so clearly inspired it, along with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Praise should be heaped upon Alexandre Aja for his mastery of the genre and upon Cécile de France for an exceptional performance, but other elements deserve at least equal fanfare, if not more. Ultimately, the most memorable features of the film are its stunning sound design and magnificent musical score, both of which evoke memories of John Carpenter at his very best.

The score by François Eudes is packed with menacing, atmospheric compositions as well as Carpenter-esque choppy rhythms that pound away ominously as danger escalates into bloody mayhem. In one particularly effective sequence, Marie searches desperately through the cornfields while the camera tracks her urgent movements and the soundtrack seems to menace her from a million directions simultaneously, creating levels of tension that become almost unbearable. The sound design and mix are absolutely crucial to the atmosphere of urgency and dread that the film manages to achieve.

The other key ingredient in the film’s success — and despite the disappointing ending, it still deserves consideration as one of the finest slasher films ever made — is the magnificent, largely wordless performance of Philippe Nahon, upon whose effectiveness the entire film depends. It is his burly physical presence that exudes menace and horror so convincingly, creating the urgency and dread upon which the film thrives.

Aja has also wisely adhered to one of the primary rules of a great slasher movie by never allowing the audience a proper glimpse of the marauding Nahon’s eyes. Without the aid of a rubber mask, hockey mask, or elaborate make-up, he manages to radiate absolute terror. Another major factor is Giannetto De Rossi’s spectacular gore effects, which, while suitably gruesome and effective, may occasionally be a little overdone. At times they perhaps linger just a touch too long. Nevertheless, the music, sound design, cinematography, editing, and effects all work together to create a film of extraordinary tension and terror.

Most satisfyingly of all, here is a horror film that genuinely achieves its primary objective: to scare the living daylights out of its audience while keeping them on the edge of their seats until the final shot. Haute Tension represents one of the most stunning directorial debuts the genre has ever seen. To display such command of atmosphere, pacing, and suspense on a first feature is nothing short of astounding.

It remains tragic and frustrating that the writers could not devise a more satisfying conclusion to match the brilliance that precedes it.

Quite simply, this film is an exhilarating and utterly nerve-shredding experience — easily the most ferociously tense terror ride in more than twenty years and, despite its flaws, the first true horror classic of the new millennium.

The movie deservedly collected some of the major awards at the Sitges Festival, including Best Director for Alexandre Aja, Best Actress for Cécile de France, and Best Gore Effects. It also received the prestigious Méliès Award for Best European Fantastic Film of 2003, an honour decided collectively by the community of Fantastic Film Festivals.

• Roger Ebert has condemned the film as being “nasty, short and brutish”. In our view, any horror film capable of getting Ebert so thoroughly riled must surely be doing something right! I would go so far as to suggest that a trashing from Ebert should almost translate into a high recommendation for genuine horror fans — something Mr Ebert never truly was, given his deep aversion to anything that might be considered remotely “nasty”.

Also, I recently had the opportunity to watch the version released in the United States, which was dubbed and cut in an effort to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating. The dubbing is utterly cringe-inducing and should be avoided at all costs. This hideous new version created specifically for the American market renders the film almost unwatchable. The accents grate on the nerves within minutes, and the very first line of spoken dialogue is so jarring that the film scarcely has a chance. One can only feel sorry for those viewers in the United States who received such a compromised version of what is otherwise a truly superb horror film. My advice would be to invest immediately in the UK Region 2 disc, though unfortunately many viewers in the United States still lack access to multi-region players and televisions.