I think it stays on the right side of liberty taking on the part of the writer/director; there will always be plotholes for the cynics who want to denounce films like this, but on the other hand they do not present too much of a problem for the more open-minded viewer, where visual metaphors and cinematic imagination/representation are not seen so much as cheats or impossible, actual situations.

i don't entirely disagree - but - i think all the visual acuity fails if the film fails to fulfill its obligation. i'm willing to suspend my disbelief for anything (i mean, really, anything) but the film also has a narrative responsibility to reward my suspension. (now, in fairness, i'm thinking of 'narrative' films - not art films like some of David Lynch's stuff that seems more meant to be a creative experience than actually provide a coherent narrative).

i don't think this makes me 'closed-minded' but a demanding viewer.

Perhaps the "schizoid-film" is still in its experimential stage, then.

Decades ago, plotting and narrative were simpler... more obvious, more straightforward. This pleased the people of these times.

Today's audiences seem ready for anything - but are they really? Maybe the visual suggestions in the likes of Haute Tension that do not take "reality" for granted are ahead of their time, even though they could reflect an increasingly unstable population as we struggle to control our brains and cope with modern life. Maybe this style is the shape of films to come as "reality" becomes less and less meaningful?

Speaking of David Lynch, what's Lost Highway about - (5000 word max.)?

:D

its a good point - i think of films like Jacob's Ladder and can't actually say what it was about (many threads that don't provide a single coherent point) - but i loved that film. the experience worked for me. a film like high tension, which i liked in ways, left me feeling, for want of a better term, 'cheated.' but i don't really know why?

I appreciate many open-ended films - like American Psycho (which i thought was very smart) - but not HT. i guess i'm still trying to figure out why.

no problem - i can do it in 1 - "stuff"

LOL

i got this as a coming home gift from my horror crew buddies and i loved it...those scitsofrenic movies always amaze me...never get old...its worth your money.

Films LIKE Haute Tension, maybe, but not Haute Tension its self. The "oh, the skinny blonde girl and the fat killer guy were the same person" thing felt completely tacked on, like the writer just pulled something out of his ass at the last second and made it seem like it was deep or something. It wasn't at all effective, and just because it was unpredictable doesn't mean it was good. For the schizophrenic gimmick to actually work, it has to make sense within the context of the movie as a whole, not just get stuck on the end of the movie.

i agree completely (although, after watching the DVD making-of bit, it seems the ending was always planned - but that they chopped away the pieces in the film that might have suggested it, which i think was a big mistake.

BTW, i loved Jorgen's Perfect Human and the 5 Obstructions is one of my absolute favorite films.

I remember reading a Dean Koontz book a few years ago (I can't remember the title), and the storyline in High Tension is almost identical, dare I say even ripped off straight from the book. Did anyone else read this or remember the book?

The Koontz book is Intensity - read it and judge, but remember many of the most exciting films have plagarised (some more blatantly than others).

This is a very considered and insightful review of Haute Tension:-

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/491/491016p1.html