High Tension

A few things become immediately apparent after watching Alexandre Aja's French slasher flick: (1) while certainly a very violent film it is not as gory as I was expecting (which may say more about me than the film itself), (2) Aja is a competent and even slyly effective craftsman of terror, and (3) twist endings have become far too stylish. In fact, the utterly ridiculous ending of this film ruins an otherwise solid slasher film. The film's dyke-ish heroine, Alex, is unusually resourceful for a horror film lead, as crafty, in fact, as the brutish killer whose face is always concealed in shadow cast by his fedora. Aja's direction is often so efficient in its rising tension, that one may be quick to forget just how little actaully happens in the film. The entire film feels like a silent (there is very little dialogue), slow build up which is occasionally broken up by some brutal and cathartic death scenes. But damn that ending. Who the hell comes up with this stuff and thinks that it will ever work?