High Tension (2003)

[RyanSz 3140]

I saw this movie a couple of years ago after hearing about how creepy and gory it was. It succeeds very well on those aspects, but the movie is almost completely undone by its twist ending. It's about two friends spending a weekend at one of their parent's house to study. On the first night a maniac (who is introduced to the audience in a scene where he gets a blowjob from a decapitated head) comes to the house and murders everyone in the house except the two friends. He takes the daughter of the family hostage while her friend tries to rescue her in a very bloody pursuit.

 

The movie lives up to its name for creating some of the best tension filled scenes as the maniac combs through the house looking for the main character and the killings are incredibly gory. Yet after all is said and done and the killer is revealed I was left scratching my head wondering what the fuck I just saw. I had to Google a review/evaluation of the movie and look at IMDB to get a better understanding of the ending because the explanation of how the twist was possible was left out of the movie.

 

This would be a perfect October episode and follow in the footsteps of Sleepaway Camp for having a crazy twist ending.

[seanotron 2307]

I saw this one in the theater and seem to remember the English dubbing to be particularly bad. The twist ending is ridiculous nonsense, but the problem is the rest of the movie plays it all straight and none of the actors are outright bad. The whole show would have to be about the ending, really.

[RyanSz 3140]

Yeah the bulk would be deciphering that ending.

 

**SPOILER***

 

Since it's basically meant to be the ramblings of a crazy person and that much of it hasn't actually happened outside of the murders/kidnapping, it would have been good for that to have been explained in the movie. Instead it just ends abruptly after the friend sees the killer one last time, leaving the audience scratching their collective heads.

[seanotron 2307]

Oh I agree, that ending was garbage. I remember being in the theater thinking 'Wait...what?!'. It was obviously just thrown in for the hell of it

[Lando 2019]

I didn't think it was bad, I think that it was an attempt at showing the view from inside one of the personalities. I think that they should do the one ripped from the bad movie idea in Adaptation: Thr3e

[ChristopherSchneider 0]

Yeah, it's a shame that until those last few moments the film is pretty amazing. That twist ending is truly out of left field, unless you've read the book this is apparently stolen from.

[RyanSz 3140]

Yeah, it's a shame that until those last few moments the film is pretty amazing. That twist ending is truly out of left field, unless you've read the book this is apparently stolen from.

 

I have read Intensity by Dean Koontz and the movie is only adapting the parts where the killer is in the house and that the main character chases after the killer. The whole thing about the killer being the unreliable narrator was something original.

 

I think that they should do the one ripped from the bad movie idea in Adaptation: Thr3e

 

Thr3e at least had a basis for the twist. You saw the main character's upbringing with his crazy family so it would make sense that he wouldn't be right in the head. The twist in high tension was such a kick to the nuts with no explanation that it ruins an otherwise good movie.

[Lando 2019]

I have yet to see Thr3e, but I remember the ridiculous premise in Adaptation involving a nonsensical chase scene. Is the chase scene in Thr3e?

[ChaddDerkins 1]

One of the worst twist endings ever. It seemed like an afterthought to comform to the standards of the post-sixthsense landscape, and it completely ruined what was otherwise a pretty entertaining movie.

[ChaddDerkins 1]

I will note, to contextualize my statement, that I love the Sleepaway Camp twist, and think it's actually a brilliant movie. I have loved it since childhood though, so that might be sentimentality speaking.

[RyanSz 3140]

I have yet to see Thr3e, but I remember the ridiculous premise in Adaptation involving a nonsensical chase scene. Is the chase scene in Thr3e?

 

***SPOILERS****

 

You don't need to see Thr3e, even if just for the twist, the movie is a shitty adaptation of a religious mystery book. It all involves a guy being tracked by this supposed serial killer who wants him to atone for his sins and would punish him, his crazy aunt, and his childhood friend. After a whole lot of stupid plot points and misdirects, you find out that not only is the serial killer a figment of the main character's imagination who was made as a copycat of the real killer, but the childhood friend was also in the main character's imagination. It was really convoluted though it was surprising to see that the friend wasn't real either.

[sillstaw 414]

I have yet to see Thr3e, but I remember the ridiculous premise in Adaptation involving a nonsensical chase scene. Is the chase scene in Thr3e?

 

I don't think the "machine vs. horse" chase is in the movie. I have heard that there's an exploding dog house, though, so make of that what you will.

[seanotron 2307]

I will note, to contextualize my statement, that I love the Sleepaway Camp twist, and think it's actually a brilliant movie. I have loved it since childhood though, so that might be sentimentality speaking.

 

The thing is, Sleepaway Camp actually lays a foundation for that ending. Yes, the movie is ridiculous but they clearly had that ending in mind all along. Same with Sixth Sense or Usual Suspects, etc. High Tension, on the other hand, gives the audience absolutely no opportunity to suss out this ending, as it goes against every single thing you see in the movie up until that point. That's why it bugged me. It was a cheat.

[ChaddDerkins 1]

 

The thing is, Sleepaway Camp actually lays a foundation for that ending. Yes, the movie is ridiculous but they clearly had that ending in mind all along. Same with Sixth Sense or Usual Suspects, etc. High Tension, on the other hand, gives the audience absolutely no opportunity to suss out this ending, as it goes against every single thing you see in the movie up until that point. That's why it bugged me. It was a cheat.

 

Reading that the twist ending did not exist in the source material comes as no surprise at all. It just seemed so tacked on, because they felt pressure to have it end on some sort of twist, just like every other movie. It really bummed me out, because I thought the movie was great up until that point, and the ending retroactively ruined the whole thing for me.

[RyanSz 3140]

When I first saw the ending I was like "What the Fuck?" but after reading how the twist works within the movie, it's not so bad but it would have been better if there was a straight ending.

[Lando 2019]

 

***SPOILERS****

 

You don't need to see Thr3e, even if just for the twist, the movie is a shitty adaptation of a religious mystery book. It all involves a guy being tracked by this supposed serial killer who wants him to atone for his sins and would punish him, his crazy aunt, and his childhood friend. After a whole lot of stupid plot points and misdirects, you find out that not only is the serial killer a figment of the main character's imagination who was made as a copycat of the real killer, but the childhood friend was also in the main character's imagination. It was really convoluted though it was surprising to see that the friend wasn't real either.

 

I watch a lot of terrible movies that I don't need to see.

 

Sadly, this sounds like it rips off Donald Kauffman's idea a lot less than would be entertaining. The idea of a guy being held hostage and working in the police station would be amusing to see put out non-ironically.

 

And for the record, I LOVE Adaptation, I'd probably put it in my top 10 movies ever.

[Lando 2019]

 

The thing is, Sleepaway Camp actually lays a foundation for that ending. Yes, the movie is ridiculous but they clearly had that ending in mind all along. Same with Sixth Sense or Usual Suspects, etc. High Tension, on the other hand, gives the audience absolutely no opportunity to suss out this ending, as it goes against every single thing you see in the movie up until that point. That's why it bugged me. It was a cheat.

 

I don't think that not giving the audience a hint of the twist is necessarily a bad thing in this case. I think that in High Tension, the intent was to give you a feel of what the main character experienced, one of the elements being confusion, and there would be no way to give the viewer confusion and tell them what's going on at the same time. I think that you could say the same about some of David Lynch's works like Mulholland Drive, which simply wouldn't work the same if the viewer hadn't experienced some confusion at some point throughout the movie.

[seanotron 2307]

 

I don't think that not giving the audience a hint of the twist is necessarily a bad thing in this case. I think that in High Tension, the intent was to give you a feel of what the main character experienced, one of the elements being confusion, and there would be no way to give the viewer confusion and tell them what's going on at the same time. I think that you could say the same about some of David Lynch's works like Mulholland Drive, which simply wouldn't work the same if the viewer hadn't experienced some confusion at some point throughout the movie.

 

Yeah, but it's not like Lynch's films make sense and then suddenly get weird in the last 5 minutes. You know what you're getting in a Lynch movie. You know some thought has gone into it, regardless of whether those thoughts make sense. High Tension just didn't know how to end and so they go for a twist that comes out of nowhere and completely nullifies everything you've seen up until that point. It just doesn't work for me.

[Lando 2019]

I hear ya, you were expecting something else. I will say, I am not arguing that this movie is great, just good and admittedly it has been a long time since I have seen it.

[RyanSz 3140]

Going to bump this thread because this film really should be covered on the podcast, if only for the bonkers twist and the scene where the killer is getting oral sex using a decapitated head, which in connection to the twist has no basis in reality and shouldn't exist.