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Oh my god. Without a doubt I have not been affected by a movie this much since watching the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre when I was well under age and the movie was certainly more than dodgy. I couldn't sleep after watching that and was very uneasy, multiplied a gazillion times by the imagination of a kid. This certainly had a similar affect on me, it scared me and horrified me, it even surprised me more than any other movie has of late.

If you have any preconception about foreign cinema being weaker to Hollywood then you have hardly spent enough time watching foreign cinema and too much time engrossed in poor romantic flicks with Clooney et al. You really need to get out and grab some of that Japanese, Spanish and French cinema action. It's easily had and there's a lot to it, far better movies...anyway, I find myself digressing again.

From the outset this movie pitches itself as a hard horror, it isn't going to pull any punches and it's going to show you like it is, harrowing and horrific. That said, the story then turns to a slower pace and you find that it's mixing the suspenseful thriller in with the moments of full on horror, and it's done so well. Too well in fact, and watching the psychotic at work is sometimes shocking.

It rides a fine line between schlock horror and suspense horror, it manages to combine the two without falling into a complete gore flick. It is gory mind you, very gory. I was eating a couple of biscuits during the movie and I stopped until it was finished, even then I wasn't sure.

That's where this movies strength lies, it really pushes the boundaries of between those two types of movies but keeps its feet firmly in the suspense, and tension area. The film is exceedingly tense, and it's raised slowly to begin with, but creeps up at every set piece, and it's not long before the shocking and surprising final set piece is upon you. That in itself is terrifying, and as it unfolded on me I was stunned.

Part of me thinks that this movie could have done much better without all the horror, but I'm not sure that the film would have carried on the tension and suspense alone, it's the very presence of the horror that adds to and heightens the pressure.

A very stylish, tense film, truly a suspense-thriller-horror to be proud of from the French. Please Hollywood, don't remake it.

"High Tension" is clearly intended as a cheery throwback to those halcyon days circa 1980 when you could see "Driller Killer," "Maniac," and "Nightmare" back-to-back in a center city grindhouse where the house lights never went up, only one seat in the place didn't reek of urine and sweat, and the poor teenage usher and concession stand worker huddled together in the lobby under a bare light bulb to avoid being knifed to death by some crazed street person. Of course, this film, while being just about the most violent film in recent memory, is French, somewhat arty, and extremely well made, certainly at odds with the subject matter of its homage. If a straight-ahead slasher film throwback with no self-reflective winking to the audience is your thing, then this will be your thing too. Otherwise, it just is what it is: well-made exploitation fare, right down to the silly, slap-your-head-and-say-"doh" final twist, just like back in the day.

The title of this marvellous French horror thriller translates directly into English as 'High Tension', and as anyone who's seen it will tell you; it's an apt title. Simply put, Switchblade Romance (to give it English release, and better, title) is a pure adrenaline rush throughout. The film forsakes substance in favour of masses of tension and the result is a film that is guaranteed to get your heart racing. The fact that the film features numerous sequences of extreme gore doesn't exactly hinder it either. There has been a surge of good, inventive horror coming from overseas and independent studios recently; the likes of May, Dog Soldiers and Sleepless being among the best of them, and Switchblade Romance sits nicely alongside the cream of the recent crop. This film follows two friends, Alex and Marie who go to stay with Alex's parents in their country home. However, things go awry when a man breaks into the home and brutally murders the family. We then follow Alex and Marie through a roller coaster ride of tension and suspense as they try their best not get sliced and diced!

The film is very stylishly shot, and this has lead many to label it a 'Giallo'. This is most certainly not true, and there isn't much other than the style of the movie to suggest this. Switchblade Romance is more of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre style horror driven slasher than a Giallo; the film clearly knows this also, with a direct homage to the seventies classic towards it's climax. The amount of gore on display is impressive, and several scenes are certainly not for the feint-hearted. There's quite an array of weaponry in the film also, from the plain and simple switchblade, to much more exciting weapons like barbed wire, various guns, an axe and, my personal favourite, the chainsaw! In fact, I am pleased to report that Switchblade Romance features what is maybe the most brutal chainsaw scene ever! Aside from the weapons and gore, this film is also of note for it's music. The original score sets just the right tone for the goings on - it's atmospheric, but steady and almost like a lullaby, which fits with the film's style nicely. Switchblade Romance also features one of the best uses of original music of recent years, with a great scene that incorporates Muse's "New Born".

Switchblade Romance is pure style, and a complete adrenaline rush. Tension isn't in the film, it IS the film. In spite of it's lack of substance, this movie will have you on the edge of your seat and begging for more. Add that to some lovely music, classy acting and enough gore to fill an abattoir - and what you've got is the makings of a cult classic!

As many reviewers have said, this is one of the best body pile slashers films made ever, certainly in the last few years. Buckets of blood, great makeup and special effects, and some seriously genius ways of offing the good guys. But we also get one of the stupidest plot twists ever that not only ruins the vibe of the film, but makes the whole script seem completely incoherent. On multiple viewings you see the direction around this twist is actually quite well done, tons of small hints and some gross additions are noticed, but it's not worth it at all. If there was no plot twist, this would have easily gotten a 9 in my book, but it's lucky it got the 6 with that dumb idea tacked on for no reason.

...and so will faces, slashed throats, dismembered hands, decapitated heads, backs, arms, feet, stomachs, chests... In fact, just about everything that can bleed does bleed in this movie, and does so copiously.

High Tension, aka Switchblade Romance (much better title) is the best horror movie I've seen come out in theaters in years. After so many times hearing "this is the movie horror fans have been waiting for" and then being horribly disappointed by Cabin Fever, The Ring, Malevolence, Darkness, The Grudge, and every single other one, I am throwing my full weight behind this one. Switchblade Romance is the movie real horror movie fans have been waiting for. It's a bloody, merciless, no-humor and no-holds-barred homage to the classic slasher pics of the 70s, and yet it surpasses almost every movie it draws its inspiration from. We get an unstoppable but definitely human killer, far more interesting than, say, Jason or what Michael Myers has now become because of his obviously being human and because he makes some undeniably smart decisions and operates in a continuously logical, inescapable way. The arsenal on display is impressive, as it should be in any decent slasher movie. We get the basic straight razor, the butcher knife, shotgun, axe, and, in an incredible and deliciously violent nod to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the power buzzsaw.

Every aspect of this film is in place. The plot is simple and straightforward, the acting, even dubbed, is interesting (and despite complaints of why only parts of it were dubbed, if you watch closely and pay attention to who speaks French and who is dubbed, it actually makes perfect sense and fits with the movie), the cinematography is strangely artistic, almost gialli-like, the bloodletting stylish and gruesome, the sound design incredible, the tension almost unwavering. The initial horror set piece, the arrival of the killer and the slaughter in the house, is bound to become a well-remembered and oft referenced classic scene of horror. The sheer brutality and stark reality of it ranks it up there, in my mind, with the gut wrenching finale of "Odishon." A quick word on the performances. There's minimal dialogue, but what there is is at least two steps up from most horror films. Its meant to build character, whereas most slasher flick dialogue is there just to drive the plot. Here, we care about the characters, even those who don't get much of a chance to talk, because the situation is so much more real than your average flick and so is the acting. Cecile de France's physical performance is stunning, the fear on her face, the tension in every limb, the breath rate, the pain, everything, and the sheer madness that Maiwenn's character endures is perfectly conveyed by the utter despair she is able to convey even with a gag in her mouth most of the time.

An, of course, a quick word on the ending. Quit complaining! The ending of this movie is great, not only does it take an extremely well made but somewhat shallow gore pic to a whole new level with some interesting things to say about... well, I won't say on account of not spoiling it, but yes, it actually does make sense if you've watched the movie carefully and have enough intellect to think about it on your own rather than just taking at face value what you've seen. I halfway wonder if the twist wasn't in part a snobby French joke Aja decided to play to see if we lulled, summer blockbuster-fed Americans could figure it out and realize that everything works without being spoon-fed exactly how it works.

8 / 10 - which makes it twice as good as the next best horror movie to come out in theatres in a decade. The only thing that keeps it from attaining a perfect 10 is that, although the tension is cranked up high for most of it and the scares are a thing that will haunt you more after walking out of the movie than when you're watching, the suspense does kind of flag unexpectedly in a few key places. Still, given the other 80% of the movie is extremely suspenseful and effectively brutal, this is a small flaw. If you like horror movies, GO SEE IT.