warning: major spoilers

In 27-year old French director Alexandre Aja’s homage to American slasher flicks, two unwittingly doomed young women retreat to the countryside to study for their college exams, but instead of finding peace and quiet they are soon fighting for their lives. Unlike its role models from the seventies and eighties, this movie boasts quality acting, photography and sound. But it’s hard not to have a low tolerance for High Tension’s cheap tricks, namely relying on homophobia to deliver the “twist” at the end.

Originally released in France in 2003 as Haute Tension, the movie opened in American theaters on June 10th with a translated title and an overdubbed soundtrack. The director decided to forgo subtitles so as not to distract from the suspense, explaining on the movie’s official website that he wanted American audiences to be able to experience his film “on the same visceral level as French audiences.” It’s hard to imagine what could be more distracting from impending horror than visions of Pipi Longstocking. But the movie hardly has any dialogue anyway, and before you can remember the name Villa Villakula, gruesome brutality takes center stage.

A heinous killer shows up in the middle of the night and uses a variety of hunting and woodworking implements to butcher his victims, the entire family of one of the two women. Without uttering a word he murders each one, the unflinching camera sparing none of the gory details. The two girls are the only survivors--Marie (Cecile de France) because she manages to outwit him, and Alex (Maïwenn Le Besco) because she is instead shackled and gagged and made to overhear his sick handiwork before he spirits her away in his creepy van.

From then onward, Marie heroically attempts to rescue her friend, cleverly sneaking into the getaway vehicle and bravely confronting the killer in a bloody battle. When she finally kills him with a hastily assembled mace followed by successful suffocation, she returns to the van to free Alex from bondage.

But instead of relief and gratitude, the traumatized Alex turns on Marie, and we learn then that the killer and Marie are one and the same. What we had been seeing was Marie’s perspective, and her desire for Alex is so repressed that it takes on an alter ego.

In this light, what had been a tale of revenge and fearless loyalty becomes a fantasy of lesbian lust gone horribly awry.

Marie’s repressed desire for Alex is hinted at in a foreboding way. On the drive to Alex’s family’s farmhouse, Marie teasingly call Alex a slut, but it’s clear that there’s more than friendly jealousy behind her complaint that Alex “dumped” her for several hours and ran off with a boy. Alex refers to Marie as a prude because she doesn’t share the same interest in boys. But a different explanation is suggested when, after arriving at the house and meeting the whole family, Marie heads out to the swing set in the yard for a smoke. From there she has a perfectly framed view of Alex’s naked torso as the latter showers before bed.

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