Audio Format: DD 5.1 Surround, DD 2.0 Stereo
Video Format: Widescreen 2.35:1 (Anamorphic)
Languages: French
Subtitles: English, Korean
Region Code: ALL
Year Made: 2003
Running Time: 86
French filmmaker Alexandre Aja writes and directs the brutal slasher film Haute Tension, given the English title Switchblade Romance. Best friends Marie (Cecile De France) and Alex (Maiwenn Le Besco) go out to the countryside to visit Alex's parents. However, a homicidal delivery man (played by Philippe Nahon from Gaspar Noe's brutal movies) ends up at their house and starts killing everyone. Alex and Marie fight for their lives with help from several means of weaponry. Switchblade Romance was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival as part of the Midnight Madness program.
Haute Tension which translates to "High Voltage" (or is it "High Tension"?), but the English title for some reason is Switchblade Romance is a typical serial killer taking care of business film. He stalks out a house in a rural area, and decides to get rid of its occupants.
The inspiration for Haute Tension as mentioned by the director during the introduction came from horror films from the early 1980's. One scene in particular was ALMOST entirely lifted from Maniac. As a matter of fact, it was clearly a nice respectable homage which can only be appreciated fully by those who have seen the film.
There is some seriously nice gore in this film, and it showed most of it with sadistic glee reminiscent of a Fulci film. A brilliant decapitation and a throat being slit stood out for me. However, the film did hold back on the gore as it could have been much more brutal but they decided to not show it for whatever reason. There was a barbed wire beating and a shotgun blast which they chose not to show...
Special Features:
- Play movie/ Set up/ Chapter
- Behind the scene
- Photo gallery
- Biography
- Theatrical Trailer
