A grisly 00s horror film dubbed ‘unsettling’ and ‘disturbing’ by fans is making its way to Shudder via Amazon Prime Video.
Released in 2003, High Tension, also known as Switchblade Romance, quickly made a name for itself thanks to its scenes of graphic, gory violence.
Directed by Alexandre Aje, the slasher follows Alex (Maïwenn), who travels with best friend Marie (Cécile de France) to her remote family home.
Once there, Alex’s parents are brutally attacked by a psychotic truck driver (Philippe Nahon) who terrorises the women and kidnaps Alex, leading Marie to seek revenge.
High Tension is part of the New French Extremity movement, a horror subgenre from France during the early 00s deemed extreme and transgressive.
It premiered at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival, and was later released across the world with some particularly graphic scenes cut for US audiences.
High Tension was included in Time magazine’s 2010 list of the ’10 most ridiculously violent films’ and very often tops round-ups of the most violent and controversial films of all time.
It caused controversy at the time of its release due to its narrative similarities with Dean Koontz’s novel Intensity, with the author slamming the film as ‘puerile’ and ‘disgusting.’
The film holds a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, and a higher 67% from audiences.
In their review, Bloody Disgusting said: ‘It completely unsettles the viewer like anything else to come out of the New French Extremity. The only difference is High Tension achieves its goal in the most unexpected way.’
The Ringer wrote: ‘High Tension is all kinds of wrong-narratively, corporeally, politically. But it also knows what it’s doing-it’s an arterial spray of expression, a celluloid dare to take it to the next level.’
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Cinema Crazed added: ‘Disturbing, demented, gory and one of the best horror films I’ve seen in a while.’
Meanwhile, Dread Central said: ‘It’s a movie that needs to be seen by all horror fans because it serves as a reminder of just how good a “slasher film” can be.’
After rising to fame with the release of High Tension, Aja went on to direct Mirrors, Piranha 3D, Horns, and The Hills Have Eyes in 2006.
Speaking at the Sitges Film Festival, Aja recalled how the success of High Tension kick-started his career as a filmmaker.
‘High Tension is the movie that started my life as a filmmaker,’ he said. ‘I don’t quite remember the projection here; my memory is a bit hazy, but I do recall realising right away that we had somehow connected with many people who, like us, wanted that seventies style to return to cinema.
‘High Tension is the film that started my life as a filmmaker and allowed me to cross the ocean to work in the United States with people I have always admired, like Wes Craven and Sam Raimi.’
High Tension comes to Shudder via Amazon Prime Video on August 18
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