Haute Tension (High Tension) - American release (1 Viewer)

[Benson R]

I am sorry I offended you that was not my intention. I'm sure most people in the so called Bible belt are not the ones causing the studios to pander to the family friendly market, but that is where they are in the highest concentrations, and those are the areas where distributing an unrated film poses the biggest problem.

I think its a valid suggestion that the studios look into releasing content thought to be offensive uncut in markets where they are less likely to recieve flack from the local community, and play the R rated cut in the rest of the country.

I think a good example is uncut dvds and walmart. Walmart for the most part will not stock unrated dvds. In many cases the studios produce an R rated dvd version solely because some retailers like walmart will only stock it R rated. The unrated is still available for other chains to carry.

 

[Kain_C]

Methinks if you actually lived in the south, you probably wouldn't be saying that, would you? You go on to say that it isn't the people's fault for such attitudes and then condone a method of film distribution that basically punishes them by depriving them of what the other places are getting.

I don't think it's a 'valid suggestion' at all.

 

[Benson R]

Its definetly a valid suggestion. Look its not about being fair, its good business sense.

If rural areas get the R rated cut, and people there want to see the unrated cut they can go to urban areas to see the other version.

I live in one of the few sections of jersey thats still rural, and I often make trips to new york to see films that are only playing in art house theaters.

Also if studios would experiment first by releasing films like Haute Tension in certain marktets to test the waters, they may see that it is not a problem and may eventually release the films uncut across the country.

 

[Dave Hackman]

Pretty good. I would like to see the original film uncut with subtitles because the American voices don’t seem right and at times the movie reverts to subtitles anyways. One minute the girls are talking in English the next singing in French. One minute the lead character is screaming in English next in French. Just pick one stupid language and get on with it please. I was happy with the bloody scenes and the way people died and at no point felt like I needed to see more. I actually had to look away at the foot scene.

This movie has a lot going for it, lengthy story with plenty of hide and seek scenes. Killer with a direct approach to killing. Body dismemberments and a bloody splat scene. A nice Duel moment and a woodsy Texas Chain Saw Massacre power tool scene. Characters who aren’t overly stupid, well the mother did seem a little confused but rightfully so. This movie looked and sounded the part.

My complaint goes to the little secret that is reveled at the end about the killer. I just didn’t like it or feel it was needed. I liked it as a straight movie with a killer and a to be killed. I didn’t want or need a twist in the end and initially felt letdown. As time moves on I find it easier to accept the ending more but still wished it worked itself out in a different way.

This movie motivates me to seek out more unknown (to me) horror films. Horror is an addictive genre where one half way decent movie can inspire me to seek out many others until I wrongfully pick a dud that kills all hope and leads to my complete avoidance no matter how good the review. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

B-

 

[Travis W.]

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Kain_C]

So which is it than? You initially proposed cut versions being released for an entire region (the south). Kinda hard for some of us to travel a couple hundred miles to see an uncut version, don't you think?

And it is not good business sense, logistically speaking. How do you define the boundaries of the south? What about having to create different promotional items (posters, TV commercials) to encompass the different ratings for the different versions?

I know it's just an idea, but I hate any kind of idea where a level of regional discrimination exists mixed with a form of censorship. It's like you're perpetuating the stereotype of stupid backwood hicks and adding fuel to it by saying we can't handle unrated material.

I'll say it again. I don't think you would dare propose it if you actually lived in the south. Obviously, you have struck a few nerves with your idea so I would suggest you drop it.

 

[EricSchulz]

Today's Racine Journal-Times had an AP story on High Tension and the whole dubbing/subtitled issue. An interesting read and I am sure that many papers around the country will run it with the movie opeing this weekend. I was a little shocked about Entertainment Weekly only predicting a $6M take this weekend, though. I think genre fans will be out in force for this.

 

[Kevin Grey]

$6 million is looking like an *extreme* over-estimation. I don't know how it did on Friday because it didn't make the Top 10, but the Number 10 film, Lords of Dogtown, only cleared $665,000. It will be a miracle if High Tension can even pull in $2 million this weekend.

 

[Benson R]

Listen, I'm sorry I singled out the south but I still have a valid point.

You say regional distribution is not fair, but why is it fair that nobody gets to see the real version when there might be sections of the country that it could be released uncut without issue.

Should Europe not get to see uncut version of movies censored in the US to be fair to everyone? Should the US have to see movies censored for violence because they were in certain Asian countries?

And I really feel if they would start releasing unrated cuts in certain markets to feel it out, then perhaps sooner then later the entire country could be seeing unrated and NC-17 pics. Right now nobody gets to see it.

 

[Brook K]

Well that was a disappointment to say the least. After the "twist" I slumped in my chair and thought about just walking out right then. Dumb, dumb, dumb...Had a few good moments and I always appreciate a healthy amount of gore, but really no different from a zillion other slasher movies. Comes up short on style, personality, atmosphere, and tension.

And another Booo! to Lions Gate on the dub. Just a stupid decision made worse by the poor quality of the voices and the synching.

 

[Malcolm R]

Another disappointed moviegoer here.

The twist didn't make any sense to me with regard to:

The first scene with the "killer" in the truck where he's using someone's head for, er....head. What was the point of showing this to the audience?


or

The whole car chase scene.


POV just shifted all over the place, and back and forth. It made no sense why some things were shown one way, the other, or at all. For example, I can't understand why, at the end:

The "killer" was still portrayed as the big scary guy, when it had already been revealed that the girl was the real killer. Why didn't we see the girl wielding the power cutter and chasing Alex? After the security tape revealed the twist, the big scary guy should have disappeared from the film.


It better make whatever it's going to make this weekend because if my audience was any barometer, public word of mouth will kill this fast.

 

[Doug R]

I agree the twist is weak.

Regarding the "head"

It's supposedly a "clue" to what's going on since the head giving head looks like the girl's friend.

 

[George_W_K]

When I first saw the trailer for this film, I wanted to see it. Then, I saw a commercial for it on TV and saw a scene where I thought a twist was given away. After reading what the "twist" is, my fears were realized. How stupid is that markering? It sounds like the twist is something that wasn't needed anyway, but why give it away?

Btw, the commercial had a scene where the blonde girl was in a psyche ward or something of that nature, so I figured it was her.



Think I'll skip this one.
:rolleyes

 

[Benson R]

Yeah I saw that commercial and noticed they gave away the ending too. Pretty week.

In general I think Lions Gate has done a craptastic job with distributing this film.

Its such a shame because they started out doing it the right way for a change.

Initially they started playing the international trailer last fall promoting it for winter, and it was going to be uncut/subtitled.

Besides the crappy treatment of the film itself, LG marketing campaign was beyond terrible. I thought the original trailers was one of the best I have seen recently, and it was what prompted me to go ahead and order an import copy. The trailer for the American release makes it look completely boring and generic. And I guess audiences agree since it bombed this weekend.

 

[Travis W.]

Box Office Mojo is reporting a 1.5 million gross for High Tension this week...somehow I thought it'd do a little better.

They would have made the same amount, if not more, doing a limited unrated run.

 

[Justin_S]

Yep, they could've, and I'm glad this has come back to bite them in the ass.

 

[Rich Malloy]

I haven't taken an inventory, but I recall at least three reviews mentioning the "atrocious dubbing" of the North American release (Ebert on the TV Show, the "beyond the multiplexes" multi-review roundup at Salon.com and - I think - Slant 'zine).

I'm a fan of this film (didn't think the twist added much, but neither do I consider it much of a detractor), and, generally speaking, I'm a fan of the films LGF distributes. But this strategy deserved to fail, and I can only hope the morons running this company might learn a little lesson. If you're gonna go after provocative, out-of-the-mainstream films - and especially if you're gonna make big noises about presenting them all uncut - then quietly trimming away the most extreme shots/scenes in order to get an R-rating and dubbing it into English in some misguided attempt to appeal to, I don't know, let's say the Walmart crowd, is a sure way of alienating your primary audience.

 

[Tino]

A mediocre, derivative, immediately forgettable example of *eh* horror filmmaking. And adding the all too current fads of gore for the sake of gore and unecessary twist endings just makes it more disappointing.

For a much better, similarly themed film, watch Anthony Waller's excellent Mute Witness.

 

[GuruAskew]

The twist ending totally doesn't stand up. Other films with similar revelations offer hints throughout the movie and adhere to a certain logic but this one defies all sense. The film was obviously derivative and unoriginal but before the twist it's still a completely effective horror film. Within the horror genre I would probably give the film pre-"twist" a 7 out of 10 but I have to say that the illogical ending drops it down to 5 or even a 4.

 

[Benson R]

I disagree. I enjoyed the twist ending and I dont think you can argue that there are any plot holes.

The movie makes it clear that what you are seeing is from her perspective and it is what is going on in her mind.

You can say you didnt like it, but the logic is not flawed, its just a movie.