High Tension (2003)

Episode 113, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd:  Hello, and welcome to another episode of 2 Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig:  And I’m Craig

Todd:  Today’s film is High Tension from 2003, a French film otherwise known as Haute Tension. Or something like that. I don’t know how you pronounce it. I didn’t take French. I took Spanish. So

Craig:  Well, I’m glad you gave it a try.

Todd:  I had Todd give it the old college try. Right? Right. Yeah. My wife, she took French in college. She couldn’t figure out how to pronounce it either, so she’s giving me a dirty look right now, so I’m probably gonna edit this part out. It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve seen this movie. What what made you wanna watch it now?

Craig:  Well, because I don’t think that alright. My my thought for picking it was I’ve never seen this and I see it referenced online all the time. People are all the time time referencing this movie. And so I thought, you know, I need to get with the times and see what this movie’s all about. As it turns out, I think I have seen it before.

Todd:  Oh, yeah. Because I’d be surprised.

Craig:  Yeah. There’s this is first of all, this is a movie that relies on a big twist ending. So if you haven’t seen the movie and you don’t or if and you do plan to, you may wanna not listen to this, until after you’ve seen it because, I went into it and it was just only vaguely familiar, but I felt like I knew something that I wasn’t supposed to know in the beginning. And as it turned out, I was right. But really, I didn’t remember it well at all. So it was it has to have been 15 years or more since I’ve seen it. I guess it couldn’t have been more. It just came out 15 years ago.  But, anyway, that’s why I picked it, and here we

Todd:  are. Your spidey sense was tingling. Yep. Yeah. So this movie, okay. Again, we’re just gonna we’re gonna be spoiling it straight from the get go, I think, because that’s really once you know the twist of the movie, the movie takes on a whole different shape. And I think, actually, that’s problematic because I didn’t really enjoy it as much the second time around. I found it really almost pointless to watch the second time around.  Does that make sense? Yeah. Like, so much of this twist, and I think a lot of what it gets criticism for online is the twist is rather improbable. Yeah. It’s improbable because of the way it’s presented. I mean, if this is if this is the end result. Alright. So, okay. Let’s just let’s just talk about the plot real quick.

Craig:  Okay.

Todd:  So it starts out with a woman who’s like sitting in a in a white room. It looks like it’s a hospital room or something like that. We don’t see her face, but we just see scars and things on her back. It looks like she’s been through some trauma.

Craig:  Mhmm.

Todd:  This is intercut with some, it seems like, some scenes of her being chased through the woods. And, she is saying over and over again, I will not let anything come between us anymore. I will not let anything come between us anymore. So then after all of this bit where she’s being chased through the woods, she kind of wakes up, and she’s in the back seat of a of a car traveling down the road with a friend. This woman’s name is Marie, and her friend’s name is Alex. And they’re college age, I guess, kids, on their way to Alex’s home. They’re in the south of France, and they’re going to they’re they’re roommates. I guess they study together, and they’re going for what appears to be a study break at, Alex’s childhood home

Craig:  Right.

Todd:  In out in the middle of, you know, the French countryside, basically. So she describes this dream to her and she says, yeah, the dream was really crazy because, oh, she well, this this, you know, Alex says, well, who’s who’s chasing you? And she says, well, what was funny about is I was chasing myself.

Craig:  Mhmm.

Todd:  And that that’s, I mean, if you you know what’s coming, then that really gives it away. Right. But so, yeah. So anyway, they have some conversation that, again, in retrospect, also is somewhat revealing. And, they’re basic and I mean, I can’t put the clips in because it’s in French. Right. What they’re basically conversing about with each other is a little bit about Alex’s boyfriend troubles. She’s trying to see this guy, but she’s not quite sure if he’s serious.  And Marie seems, I don’t know, a little distant, maybe even a little troubled by this when she’s talking with her.

Craig:  Right. And and so they go to Alex’s house, and it’s this, you know, nice big restored farmhouse, and they meet her family, and it’s a dad and a mom and a little brother and a dog. It’s all very rustic and sweet, and the family’s really nice. And then, well, then we just cut to this random scene of this big scary truck. It’s not quite it’s not quite as old and scary as the Jeepers Creepers truck, truck, but that’s what it reminded me of. Kind of this big industrial type truck. And, we pan in towards it. And it sounds and looks like the guy sitting in the driver’s seat is getting a blow job, but, then the the guy in the seat throws a severed head out the window.  So it appears that he had just been pleasuring himself with this severed head. And then we cut back to the family house.

Todd:  Right? Like It’s cool. These are just the this is just the kind of things that we laugh about. You know? I guess when you watch horror movies, you just say phrases like this all the time. I know. Oh, so anyway, he was pleasuring himself with a severed hand.

Craig:  Yeah. Right.

Todd:  Moving on to the farmhouse. Right. Well, but

Craig:  I mean, that’s just kind of how it’s presented Todd. Like, we just we know nothing about what’s going on. We have no idea who this guy is. You know, we have no idea how he fits into this puzzle in any way. We just see this quick scene and we guess, okay. I guess there’s a crazy killer out there. And so they go back to the house and everything’s very normal. And, like, Alex shows Marie her room and, then everybody goes to bed and then Marie masturbates for a little bit.  And then there’s a knock on the door and it just becomes a kind of home invasion slash slasher movie. This big, burly, scary looking guy who we see from the very beginning. There’s no kind of trying to shroud who he is or anything. You know, we see his face, and, you know, I don’t know. He looks rough. He looks like a big guy. I wouldn’t wanna run into him in a dark alleyway. But he just immediately starts killing everybody.  Like, as soon as the dad opens the door, the guy reaches in with a razor blade and slices him across the face. And then, he beats him around a little bit and somehow like gets his head in between, 2 of the stair Craig posts. And he uses this great big huge dresser. He slides it, and and takes the dad’s head off.

Todd:  It’s really brutal.

Craig:  It is. And the whole movie is super violent. You know, this was directed by Alexander ‘Aha. Was this his first movie?

Todd:  Wasn’t his first movie, but it was his first big one. Gotcha. Might have been his first big budget film, but he did, like, 2 or 3 others before this.

Craig:  Gotcha. Well, what I know about him, which is not a whole lot, is just that he is kinda big into this really big, gruesome, gore, you know, stuff, which is all well and good. The other movie that, I always associate with him because he directed it was the remake of The Hills Have Eyes, which is one of the most brutal, gross, horrible, violent movies I’ve ever seen in my life. In fact, that I thought it was really well made, but I made the mistake. I’m, like, oh, it’s really well made. It’s a really well made movie, so I’ll show my partner, and he’ll appreciate it because it was well made. And not only did he freaking hate it, but he was legitimately mad at me for days. Like Yeah.

Todd:  I mean, it’s one of the it was one of those movies that I was kind of sad that I watched, to be honest. Like, I’ve seen the original, and the original’s fine. You know? It’s violent too, but not like this. This is, you know, they get sexually violent and gross and and yeah. It’s

Craig:  Yeah. It’s it’s it’s really, really bad. Don’t show it to your partner if they are not into horror movies. They will not appreciate it regardless of how well made you think it is.

Todd:  Look at the pattern of the blood spray. It’s awesome effect. Yeah. You can really see, like, without anyway.

Craig:  So anyway so, you know, I know him from that. And and, so he he’s he markets on major violence and gore, which is fine. I don’t have any problem with that. And this movie is super violent. You know, the this guy, he goes around. The first thing he does is he kinda it’s like he kinda scopes out the house to see who’s there. And he ends up tying up Alex to her bed. And, Marie is really smart actually in this part and knows that the killer is looking around to see who’s there.  So she really quick makes up her bed and goes in and tries to get rid of any evidence in the bathroom of the fact that she’s there. And when he comes in, she hides and though he almost finds her, he doesn’t and so he doesn’t even know that she’s there. So then he kills the mom. He, like, slits her throat and blood splatters everywhere. And, the little boy he’s already killed the dog. The dog was the second thing he killed. And then the little boy goes running out side and runs out into the field, but we see the big guy follow him with this great big huge shotgun, and he shoots the little kid. Marie comes back in, and she goes into Alex’s room, and she’s like, I’m gonna help you.  I’m gonna get you out of this. She tries to untie her, but she can’t. And, eventually, the big guy comes back, and he takes Alex out to his truck and is gonna go off with her, I guess. Somehow Marie sneaks into the back of the truck with her, so they’re both there. And then it becomes just kinda like a little road movie for a little while.

Todd:  Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Marie’s in the back of the truck. It’s it’s it’s an interesting scene because, it looks like Marie, she has a I’m sorry. Marie has a knife, And it looks like, she’s poised, ready that when this guy comes around to the side of the van, to close the door, she’s gonna stab him. But instead, he just immediately slides the door shut and locks it before she can.  And so she’s stuck in the back of this truck as he drives to a convenience store, gas station. And while he’s pumping gas, Marie slips out of the truck. And I think the first note that I make in on my paper is how did she get out of the truck.

Craig:  Without him noticing. Right.

Todd:  Yeah. It just and it’s an interesting scene because it’s a close-up on him, putting the gas pump inside, and then it the camera slides down to the ground level and slides across underneath the truck, and you just see these legs drop out like she came out the back. Mhmm. And then she, you know, walks across and, while the guy is pumping gas, there’s kind of this tense scene where the gas pump is slowly clicking towards, you know, full. Mhmm. And she is sneaking her way towards the she’s, you know, for his view of hers blocked by the truck because it’s

Craig:  so huge

Todd:  and doesn’t have windows. And finally, when it clicks, she runs and takes off into this convenience store. And there’s a clerk in there, and he’s a nice guy. And she runs around and hides in the aisles. And I don’t think he sees her initially. Maybe he’s in the back and he comes out.

Craig:  No. No. No. He did because she runs in and he’s standing behind the counter and she says, call the police. And he’s like, what’s going?

Todd:  That’s right.

Craig:  And he’s like what’s going on? But she doesn’t have time to tell. She just runs around, and and she’s hiding and this big guy comes in. And here was the big, you know, kind of first surprise for me was the, the big scary guy walks in and is like, hey, Jimmy. How’s it going? So he knows like like, he frequents this gas station. So apparently, he’s from around here and Jimmy knows who he is, but he also Jimmy also knows that this girl is hiding. He doesn’t know why. And so the big guy goes around, like, I don’t know, shopping, getting some stuff or whatever. And, he’s talking, to Jimmy at the counter, and Jimmy notices that there’s blood on the big guy’s hands and becomes kind of visibly nervous.  And he actually starts to reach for a gun under the counter, but the big guy grabs his hand and says, I’d really like a bottle of whiskey or something like that. So Jimmy has to take keys and go to where the liquor is locked up because it’s, I guess, too late to be selling liquor but he’s gonna sell it to this guy anyway. And as he’s standing there at the liquor cabinet unlocking it, he really furtively kind of looks over to his left and sees, Marie crouched down and he kind of gives her a wink or a little nod or something like, it’s gonna be okay. I’m I’m going to help you. And then immediately, the big guy comes up behind him and kills him with an axe in the back. Yeah. And he’s dead.

Todd:  Yeah. Sorry, Jimmy. Poor Jimmy is very dead because, like, not only does he axe him in the back, the the Jimmy’s on the floor face down with his axe on his back. The guy, like, kicks him over onto his back and then just, like, steps on him to, like, push and grind the axe further into him. It’s it’s just really, oh, I mean, it’s really gross. It’s really brutal. But this is a really high tense scene, and I think the movie earns its title, you know? Sure. It really does.  Like, this this guy is really painted as ruthless and relentless, and and it’s like nothing gets by him, you know? And when he just openly just kills this gas station attendant, you realize it doesn’t matter. You know? I mean, they’re in a public place. Somebody else could walk in. You know, this guy just just acts as this dude.

Craig:  Right. And he’s gotta he’s gotta be crazy. Like, if if he knows this kid, I would assume that means that he’s either from this area or, you at least goes through here on a regular basis. So he’s kinda throwing caution to the wind. I I guess if you’re a psycho, you don’t really concern yourself with those things. But, it’s it’s surprising it’s surprising in its violence. I didn’t see it coming. Well, Marie somehow sneaks down to the bathroom and, is hiding in the bathroom.  And it’s kind of a long drawn out scene where the big guy kinda goes through every stall in the women’s room. There’s nobody in there, but he’s, like, talking to himself, like, who were you looking at, Jimmy? Or what were you looking at? And as it turns out, she’s really hiding in the men’s room, and he comes in there and he doesn’t look around as much, which, again, why? Like, he was so thorough in the women’s bathroom and then he doesn’t really look around in the men’s bathroom at all. He just takes a piss and then he leaves. And Marie takes a moment once he’s gone to, like, wash up. I’m

Todd:  like Yeah.

Craig:  Like, what is happening? And It’s like ridiculous. Yeah. As she’s watching up, she hears the truck start up and she runs back upstairs and the truck is pulling away. So she calls the cops and is like, I was at my friend’s house and the psycho showed up and he killed her whole family and, now I’m at a gas station and he took my friend and I’m worried about him. And the cops are like, okay. You know, they seem to be taking her seriously. They’re like, you know, we’ll we’ll help you, but you have to tell us where you are. And of course, she’s not from here, so she doesn’t really know where she is.  And she can’t give them the address of the family’s home, and she doesn’t know what gas station she’s at or where it’s at. So she kinda gets frustrated with them and and hangs up, and then she takes the gun from under the counter and finds Jimmy’s keys, I guess, and he drives like a Trans Am or some cool car like that. And she goes she goes she goes taking off after them. And, eventually, she catches up with them, and she follows them from a distance for a while, until the big truck turns off on kind of an off road like a dirt road and she drives past it, I guess so that he won’t immediately suspect that she’s following him. And she waits a little while and then she turns her lights off and she backs up and she starts following him down that road. And she’s following him for a while, but then she loses him somehow. Like, she’s kind of drifting off or something and he goes around the corner, and when she comes around the corner, he’s not there anymore. As it turns out, he was on to her.  He must pulled off the side of the road because now he’s behind her and he’s chasing her, and, he’s like ramming her with the truck until eventually he rams her off the road and the car flips over and, she crawls out and she’s all bloody and she’s injured. But luckily out there in the middle of nowhere, there appears to be like an abandoned greenhouse?

Todd:  Yeah. It’s not like a glass glass covered greenhouse. It’s like somebody somebody’s plants. I think it’s like, you know, farmers when the wintertime comes, they start to certain plants that are still growing or whatever, they start to put these canopies of mostly translucent plastic over them.

Craig:  Yeah.

Todd:  And it’s like this, except it’s overgrown and the plastic’s all ripped up and whatnot, but she can still kinda walk through here and, and creep around. And and she creeps around a bit, but then, of course, the guy comes around with his flashlight. And, so she sees that, she tries to hide. And as she’s sneaking around, it looks like she’s going to try to stab him or shoot him.

Craig:  Well, no. She’s she’s not gonna try to shoot him because she had the gun.

Todd:  Lose the gun? Oh, but yeah. She has the bullets.

Craig:  Yeah. He had taken out the bullets and, like, he taunts her. Like, he holds them out the car window and drops them. So the gun’s useless. So instead

Todd:  Like like she would see that.

Craig:  You know, you’re both kinda fucked. Right. So, instead she makes a mace. She, she gets, like, a a a broken off table leg and some barbed wire, and she wraps the barbed wire all around the leg, and she’s armed with that.

Todd:  She’s gonna go all Negan on this guy. Right. From, yeah, Walking Dead. Have you ever seen that?

Craig:  No. But I know the reference.

Todd:  Okay. Yeah. It’s pretty brutal. You’re kinda and when you’re watching this movie, you’re like, yeah. This is like this is the weapon.

Craig:  This is

Todd:  what you should’ve had from the beginning. A table leg wrapped in barbed wire.

Craig:  Yeah. And I mean, you appreciate the fact that she’s tough, you know, like and and she’s resolute. She wants to save her friend, you know. She could have just stayed and wait waited for the cops or whatever, but she’s taking matters into her own hands. Mhmm. But so she sees his flashlight kind of looking around and so like she’s kinda I guess trying to sneak up on him, But she realizes when she gets close enough that he’s tricked her again and he’s just hung the flashlight, like, by his belt or something from the ceiling. And so it it’s just kind of naturally swaying around and that was what was causing the movement. And then he attacks her from behind, and I think that he puts he he takes some of that plastic that we’ve seen, and he wraps it around her face.  And she struggles and struggles, but eventually she succumbs and she’s out of breath. She doesn’t pass out entirely, but she falls to the ground. And he gets down on the ground with her and he’s kind of, I don’t know, he’s kinda being gross and with his razor blade, like he’s running it up and down her abdomen and, like, he kinda sticks it down her skirt a little bit. And he’s saying things like, why do you care so much about Alex? She turns you on, doesn’t she? Well, she turns me on too. And he’s being all gross and he’s, like, got his her finger or excuse me, his fingers and her mouth, and she’s Craig. But we also see that she’s feeling around for something and she comes up with a rock and she hits him in the head with the rock hard, and he’s stunned and he starts bleeding from his head and she gets him knocked over and, I think that then she uses the plastic on him and it seem it seems like he’s dead, but she lifts it up to kinda check and, like, I feel like she listens to see if he’s breathing or she listens for a heartbeat or something. And she seems satisfied that he’s dead, but then all of a sudden he reaches up and grabs her by the throat. And so she puts the plastic back over his face again until he, I guess, passes out again.  And then she takes the mace and just goes to town on his face, like, just obliterates his face, with this mace. And you’re thinking, hooray, You know? The the day is saved. And, she runs to the truck and and she’s she flings it open and she jumps in and she’s like, it’s it’s everything’s okay. You know? I’m I’m gonna take care of you and and it’s gonna be fine. But here’s where the big twist comes in because Alex is not happy to see her.

Todd:  That’s right. She takes this gag that’s that’s been around Alex’s mouth the whole time. And she says, what are you doing? Alex, by the way, has sec secured that knife that that she had that they had in the In the truck. Van earlier. In the truck earlier. And so once she’s free, she she brandishes the knife in front of her, and the and Marie’s like, what? What are you talking about? What are you talking about? I’m, it’s, he’s fine, it’s, he’s gone, it’s just you and me, it’s just you and me now. And she’s like, you killed my family, you killed my whole family. How could you do this, and I’m gonna kill you.  And then we get these flashbacks to all of several of the scenes that we’ve seen previously, except instead of this big burly man, it’s her. And that all starts off with the police, coming. We actually see the cop cars drive up to the convenience store, and they go inside and they see the the carnage. And one of the cops goes to the camera

Craig:  Mhmm.

Todd:  And he starts playing back the footage. Now, we had seen and this is, I don’t know. This is kind of a problem with the movie too. We had earlier actually seen, the movie made a bit of a deal out of showing us the mean, burly guy on the surveillance camera.

Craig:  Uh-huh.

Todd:  And it had panned back to him in the shop as he walked out. But here, in the same scene, we see that this girl has, you know, Marie has actually axed this guy, and she’s the one who walked out. And so they know to look for her instead. And that’s how it’s more or less revealed to us. And then it kinda flashes back through all these scenes, and it and it shows you, oh, Marie is actually the one who murdered, the mother. Maybe Alex was actually in the closet watching. Maybe she was the one actually watching.

Craig:  Right.

Todd:  I’m not quite sure there. I think that was implied, but it it it all kind of cuts around rather quick. Mhmm. And, yeah. And so Marie is disturbed, and it appears that Marie has this, love for Alex, and, maybe is having a hard time wrestling with it, or coming to terms with it, or something like that, or she’s just psycho and wants her all for herself, and all the talk of the boyfriend and whatnot kind of gets her going. And so she’s gone on this murderous rampage.

Craig:  Well, yeah. Oh, gosh. Okay. So she goes on that’s alright. I’m gonna finish this out real quick, and then I’m gonna talk about the many questions and problems that I have with this. We’re we’re hitting a record here. I mean, I there’s really not much to it. And, like, usually I take pages of notes.  Like, I usually have at least 2 full pages of notes and I’ve got, like, half a page here. I knew that we would get through it really quickly. But anyway, Marie is trying to reassure Alex and it’s like she’s confused. Like, she’s like, what are you talking about? I don’t even know what you’re talking about. And so, Alex stabs Marie in the abdomen and and then Alex takes off running. All of a sudden, Marie turns back into the big burly guy. It’s like they you know, there’s a a flip or something, and all of a sudden, she’s that actor actor again. And, of course, he’s all bloodied and and disgusting.  And, he goes to the back of his truck and pulls out a cement saw of all things, like, this huge, and pulls out a cement saw of all things, like this huge this huge circular cement saw. And he’s chasing her through the woods, and he’s saying, I’m gonna take care of you, Alex. And I feel like, you know, that’s meant to have dual meaning. You know, like, I don’t know.

Todd:  Yeah.

Craig:  But what we realize is that her dream in the beginning was it it it this is it. You know, this is it happening. You know, she’s the one who’s in pursuit, and Alex is the one who’s running away. And it’s very Texas Chainsaw Massacre in this moment. I mean, the the guy even looks like Leatherface, and he’s brand this huge saw and they’re running through the forest. And it even, you know, plays out the same way. She gets to the highway, Alex gets to the highway, and there’s a car running by and she runs out in front and it swerves and kinda goes in the ditch and she runs and jumps in the back and she’s like, come on. Let’s go.  Let’s go. Let’s go. And but of course, he can’t get the car started. So, the big scary guy shows up with his huge saw and, jumps up on the hood and puts it through the windshield and totally just eviscerates the driver. And the whole inside of the car is just, you know, it’s like a geyser of blood and Alex is covered in blood. But eventually, she gets out and, Marie eventually notices that she’s out. She’s kind of pulling herself down the highway because I guess she stepped in a big piece of glass or something, so she’s incapacitated. But we also see that she’s either found in the car or found in the street a crowbar, and she’s kind of dragging that along with her, but she’s kind of keeping it hidden underneath her arm.  So then, Marie ends up, you know, standing over her and she’s like, so you wanna drive me crazy, you bitch? And then she’s like, do you love me? Do you love me? And she’s, like, demanding, do you love me? And finally, Alex says, yeah. And Marie puts down the saw and leans in and starts, like, trying to make out with her. And, like, they’re they’re both they’re both covered in blood in the middle of the street. And then, Alex takes the crowbar and impales Marie with it. And and we cut to the end which is, you know, our end cap. We go back to the hospital. We realize that the person in the hospital is Marie and she’s just sitting there chanting nothing is going to come between us ever again, nobody will ever come between us again, Alex. And it pulls back from the shot and we see that Alex is watching her through a, one way mirror.  And she turns to somebody and says, you’re sure she can’t see me. Right? At which point, Marie turns towards the mirror and smiles and reaches out as though she knows she’s there. And that’s the end.

Todd:  That was the creepiest part. Actually, that that that part freaked me out.

Craig:  Well, the look on her face is really creepy.

Todd:  Yeah. It’s super creepy, and it it’s almost kind of implied she has supernatural powers, but not really. I mean, it’s just kind of like one of those things. Yeah. This once you once the end comes, you’re kinda like, because each the movie’s just full of plot holes.

Craig:  Exactly. So many plot holes. Like, that’s the thing. Like, I can appreciate the concept and I think that watching it the first time, I didn’t see the twist coming. And so when it came, I was so taken aback. I was like, oh, that’s cool. I would have never thought that. And so then I wasn’t as critical about it.  Knowing what the twist was and watching it again, I’m like, what? Yeah. This doesn’t even make any sense.

Todd:  The thing is, you know, it’s presented so you will never figure this out, because it the movie makes no sense that way. So I think what you’re supposed to accept is that pretty much everything you’ve seen play out was happening in Marie’s head. That’s the closest you can come to forgiving the film. But then you have to accept that everything that you saw was just a lie, not a clever lie. You know, when these kind of twists happen, then you’re supposed to be able to go back and see hints at it, you know? Right. The filmmaker usually drops in these hints, or he films it in such a way that it could be ambiguous once you know the twist. I’m trying to say that, for example, the film makes it very clear that on the video camera, which is supposed to be, you know, a neutral observer Right. We just take it in film that a camera is a neutral observer.  And so in any other film where there’s some dual personality, you might see whatever we’re supposed to be seeing in somebody’s head playing out on screen, but then when the screen pans over to a video camera of the same thing, you know, film language just tells us that that’s supposed to show us what’s real. You know? Right. And that would be a way of revealing a twist. Oh, but but in the camera, it’s actually her, you know? Yet this movie completely flaunts those kinds of things. So it shows us in the video camera that it’s the man, and only later, you know, when the police watch it, oh, suddenly it’s her. And then it it just the the way that things play out, they could never have played out that way. Right. Because Alex is in a completely different location half the time as this killer is.  Right. So so what’s going on? Like, is she doing these murders and then going back around and, like like, playing out some fantasy as herself?

Craig:  I don’t know. It just doesn’t make sense. I mean, even from just the general concept, like, concept, like, why? Why is this happening? Like

Todd:  Yeah. Why is she doing it in

Craig:  the first place? This girl, I mean, we’re not given we’re not giving any given any history that would suggest that she’s unstable. You know, sometimes in movies like this, you know, they’ll talk about, oh, yeah. I went through something traumatic in my past and blah blah. And then there’s, you know, some sort of at least even if it’s loose, some sort of loose motivation for why they’re doing what they’re doing. But it just seems like she’s friends with this girl. Okay. So she has a girl crush on her roommate. Big deal.  Like Yeah. That so you’re gonna and then what’s the end game? Like Yeah. Are you trying to set yourself up to be the hero? Like, you rescued her, so now she’s gonna be in love with you even though oh gosh. Even though you’re the one that killed everybody? Like, I don’t know.

Todd:  Well, it’s like that kind of I think it’s kind of like that fantasy. I mean, it’s supposed to be anyway. It doesn’t make sense as it, but it’s supposed to be that kind of fantasy where, yeah, you set up this this situation where the person you love is in peril. You know, they they don’t they don’t they can’t see what what you see in them, but you’re gonna set up the situation that they’re in peril. And then through this traumatic incident where you come in and save them that you’ve set up, then now they suddenly, like, love you. But you don’t do it by murdering their whole family, you know? It’s it. And what is it that triggers it? And and I I mean, the movie’s called High Tension, and I think we’re supposed to mean that’s supposed to have a dual meaning and it’s supposed to have some I think sexual tension is involved here. Because from the get go, there’s that weird head masturbation scene at the beginning.

Craig:  Right. And as I was watching that, I and they they threw the head out. I was like, Todd. That head looks just like Alex. Well, apparently, it was. Like, that was the intention. So was Marie having weird decapitated head sex fantasies about Fantasies.

Todd:  Yeah. And and And as a man Go ahead. As a man, I mean, I I is this is this trying to make some kind of statement about her sexuality that her bad side is a man, that she has to kill before she can come to terms with it, you know? I don’t know. With her lesbianism or whatever. I mean, it’s just it’s problematic if you go that that far. And and the whole scene with the the decapitated head introducing it, so is that the point at which that happens before they even get to the house. Right? Either then or right after. And so we don’t really see any change in Marie.  Like, this is supposed to be like like, the guy is coming. You know, like, this side of her has arrived. Right. There’s nothing on the other side of it that we’ve walked that we’re watching that would give any indication of this. Like you said, she seems perfectly normal. Now the point at which she sits, lays down and masturbates is and they make a big deal out of that is intercut with the guy driving down the road and arriving at the house. True. And, you know, the man is murdered as she kind of comes to climax, So maybe he’s trying to say something here, like it’s her sexual tension that becomes unleashed in a violent way.

Craig:  I guess. You know, I I guess that, your theory that this was kind of all, you know, just a delusion in her mind I mean, I guess are we supposed to believe that she has, like, dissociative personality disorder? Like, is this a multiple multiple personality kind of thing? I guess, you know, there are concrete events that are taking place, but her mind is constructing the narrative the way that it wants to. I I I is the only way that I can wrap my head around it. And, like, the whole scene in the gas station where Jimmy was familiar with the killer. Like, was that all just a delusion or like I almost got the I almost got the suggestion, like, so maybe he knows her, but that wouldn’t make any sense because she’s not from around there. Yeah. So gosh, I just don’t know. It’s it’s it’s a frustrating movie.  And it’s funny as we sit here talking about it, I feel like somewhere out there, there are huge fans of this movie who, if they heard us talking about this would have all kinds of explanations that that we’re that we’re not coming to.

Todd:  Well, it the problem is you feel cheated as a viewer, I think, because it’s almost back to that whole, it was all a dream kind of trope. Yeah. And nobody really likes that unless it’s done in a very clever way. And this movie doesn’t offer those clever aspects of it to let you go back and piece the puzzle together like you should have all along. You know? Mhmm. It’s just not that at all. It is truly this, at best, it’s truly it was all a dream. And everything that we saw, quite honestly was rather pointless, you know.

Craig:  Right. And I I agree with you that it kinda makes you feel cheated because part of the satisfaction in watching a movie like this where there’s a twist at the end you know, this movie does it a little bit where we get little bits of flashback to kind of see her perpetrating the violence or whatever. But and and movies like any number of the Saw movies, you know, usually there’s some sort of twist at the end, and then it goes back and fills in the puzzle pieces for you. And and putting those puzzle pieces together is part of the fun. And when the puzzle pieces don’t fit, it just kinda it detracts from that fun for me.

Todd:  And the movie also asks us to accept, even as a fever dream, it okay. But the reality is that this woman murdered this girl’s family in their home, bound up Alex, took her away. Right? That is the reality. But there are a couple other problems with that too. Okay? So where did this giant truck come from? Yeah. Did she like, where in the hell did this truck come from? Because it’s kind of undeniable there’s a giant truck because she’s hauling Alex around in it. Mhmm. And how did she get into Alex’s room, bind her up in chains and a gag without making any sound that the other family would hear so that she can systematically go around and make a huge noise slaughtering the dad downstairs, and then come upstairs to the mother and make a huge deal slaughtering her.  That was a pretty big leap as it was playing out, honestly. Yeah. But then, you know, once you add the the Alex part into it, it’s even a bigger leap. And then where did what about this other car? Right? Was that all a dream too that she was pursuing herself in a in this guy’s car?

Craig:  Mhmm.

Todd:  So then if that’s the case, how did they end up in the woods? Did she just park there, I guess, and start wandering around? Mhmm. Yeah. It’s yeah. I actually read a review because I always try to do this because Roger Ebert was alive when this movie came out. And believe it or not, he reviewed it. He hated it. Right? He did. And he said, this movie has plot hole big enough for you to drive a truck through.  And in fact, they do in fact drive a truck through it.

Craig:  Yeah. I mean, it got mixed reviews. It got some positive reviews, but, Ebert wasn’t the only one who didn’t like it. People some, you know, horror fans immediately noticed major similarities between this and one of Dean Koontz’s novels, Intensity. I’ve read a lot of Dean Koontz, but I haven’t read Intensity, so I I can’t make the connection. But apparently, their plots and the twist are strikingly similar, and admitted that he had read the book, was familiar with it, was familiar with the plot, and, never really said, oh, yes. I directly plagiarized this, but really kind of didn’t deny it either. But Dean Koontz refused to sue because he didn’t want Todd he didn’t want his name associated with the movie at all.  He thought that it was awful and vile and crass and and disgusting.

Todd:  Morally bankrupt, he said. Yeah.

Craig:  Yeah. Morally bankrupt. And he didn’t wanna have anything to do with it. He didn’t even, you know, if it was plagiarized, he didn’t care. He didn’t want his name attached to it in any way. So, it’s definitely had its critics, but I swear to Todd, I read online all the time when people are talking about, you know, great horror movies. This one comes up all the time.

Todd:  When I first watched it, it was a great I mean, I remember being on the edge of my seat through this movie. And I do also remember and this was 2003, so we’re we’re kind of getting into the Saw area era here. So the kind of just unbelievable brutality that you see in this movie was still fresh and new. Right. You know, we weren’t really seeing this level, of violence yet, unabashedly. And so it did have a certain thrill in that way. So I do remember, again, my first time through this movie, even after the twist, thinking, okay. Well, you know, it didn’t make a lot of sense, but it was it was that was a fun ride.  But on repeat viewings, it’s it just it’s kind of annoying. Yeah. Upon a repeat viewing, it does seem a little more senseless, you know. And maybe even through that lens, it also seems even more exploitative. We just wanted an excuse to show you a ton of violence, and then we we don’t even have the courage to be able to come up with a good reason for it, you know? Yeah. Well, I think justification.

Craig:  Yeah. And I think you’re right. I think that it hasn’t aged particularly well just because I think that we’re not as sensitive to the kind of brutality and violence that you that was here. Like you said, in 2003, it was kind of fresh and new. By today’s standards, it’s kind of, you know, whatever. We’ve seen we see that all the time. You know, we see that kind of blood gushing and extreme brutality. We see that in horror all the time anymore.  So, it doesn’t seem particularly innovative anymore. One I I guess, you know, kind of the last interesting thing that I read about it was that initially the plan was to have the only revelation of, the the twist was going to be somehow at the very, very end, Marie was going to end up, like, in a interrogation room. And the cops were going to wheel in a video camera, and they were gonna show her the surveillance footage from the convenience store and just say, are you sure you don’t wanna change your story? And then that was just gonna be it. And then we were supposed to see the actual events of the movie in an entirely different feature film. But So weird. I know. But somebody convinced I don’t know who it was. I don’t know if it was producers or or or who it was, but somebody convinced him, no.  We need to because I guess that would have been even more confusing. They were like, no, we need to give them a little more. We need to show them a little more. So they did and they never went forward with that, you know, alternate version or whatever. But I don’t know. The concept is interesting. We we’re being really critical of it. You know, as far as, cinematography is concerned, acting is Todd.  You know, the filmmaking is good.

Todd:  Oh, it’s it is. It’s top notch. And and and there’s I mean, it is tense. I mean, as a slasher film without the twist, it is a tense, intense scene. The killer’s really scary, and I think the fact that he is, so relentless and brutal is pretty terrifying as well. When he first goes into the house, and Marie has, you know, cleverly, like you said, done up her bedroom to make it look like nobody was in there, she even thinks to go into the bathroom and wipe down the sink so there’s no water in the sink or anything like that. And when this guy comes through here and she’s hiding under the bed and he is slowly and methodically going around the room, He is actually checking all these things.

Craig:  Mhmm.

Todd:  Like he’s putting his hand in the sink, and he even puts his finger under the tap, which is something she didn’t think to check. And as he puts his finger up under the tap and reaches up in there a little bit, he he comes out and there’s a drop of water on there. And you’re like, man, this guy is not gonna let anything slip by him.

Craig:  Right.

Todd:  You know? And so it really adds to the tension of the film. You know, that again, coupled with the scene of him just brutally murdering that guy in in a random convenience store. So and and like you said, there’s there’s, there’s a clearly a definite look to the film. It’s got a very gritty, grimy kind of look.

Craig:  Mhmm.

Todd:  It does it is a little reminiscent of Saw that way even though I don’t think Saw was out yet, or maybe it was. It has a green, kind of a green pallet cast to it, especially and only really after the action starts going. And I I wanna say that that either when the guy is present or when she, you know, begins her masturbation and from then on, it gets that green look to it. And there was a part of me, again, watching this movie, being able to think about these things because I knew the twist. I wondered if he wasn’t trying to impose, like, a a subconscious idea that green is envy.

Craig:  Mhmm. Maybe. You know,

Todd:  and that she was envious and that was kind of, you know, coloring her all of the actions. But, yeah, it’s it’s a good look, and the violence is good. Actually, the, the guy who did all the special effects for this film, yeah, he was Fulci’s makeup special effects, you know, gore person. And, you know, at one point he was considered like, here’s the guy you go for for go to for gore, and so they go they went to him for this, you know? And and it’s impressive, like, the facts, if if not just extremely over the top. Yeah. But yeah. So, I mean, it has its merits as a film. It does.  And the movie kick kicked off what at the time was dubbed the new French extreme new French Extremity Movement. I mean, there were books written about it and stuff like that, of this series of films that came out around this time that were coming from France. One of which was Martyrs, and that might have been one of the last, you know, a few years later. I don’t think it was a movement that lasted too long. Mhmm. But it was a time in which when French filmmakers were experimenting with doing this extreme stuff. And, you know, I don’t know. I I it doesn’t really appeal to me.  I I hated Martyrs. I mean, that movie, I really have mixed feelings about. I’m sure we’re gonna do it eventually. Eventually. Yeah. But, you know, this movie’s I feel similarly about. You know, I have very mixed feelings about it.

Craig:  Yeah. I mean, I guess I do too. I I don’t wanna be too down on it. I I know there are a lot of fans out there. And if you’re a fan and you’re listening and we have had any misperceptions or we’ve missed something and, you know, fill us in. We’d love to know. Like I said, when I saw it the first time, I thought it was good. Watching it again, I could appreciate it for what it was, but I probably won’t ever watch it again.  There’s I just don’t I just don’t feel any desire to ever see it again. But that’s not to say it’s a bad film. And if you’re a fan, I I think I can understand why. But, Twice was probably one too many times for me.

Todd:  Yeah. Yeah. I’m I’m with you on this. Well, thank you again for listening to another episode. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with a friend. We’re on Google Play, iTunes, Stitcher, anywhere that you can find podcasts, we are there. We also have a Facebook page where you can like us, share us, and also let us know what movies you’d like to do in the future and discuss these films. Let us know where we’re completely off base and high tension is, you know, high cinema.  Until, next time. I’m Todd. And I’m Craig. With 2 Guys and a Chainsaw.