Review: High Tension 4K UHD
4K/Blu-ray Dual Edition Box set: High Tension (2003)
High Tension (also known as Switchblade Romance) directed by Alexandre Aja was one of the first films of ‘French extremity’ (most films by Aja and Gasper Noe).
It tells the gory story of Marie (Cécile de France) and Alex (Maiwenn, the big blue opera singer in the Fifth Element), who on staying at Alex’s family home, are victims of a home invasion by an ‘unknown’ man (who from certain angles looks like Ned Beatty in Deliverance).
While the family are butchered, Marie tries various ways of escaping and hiding and fighting back. And here I must stop writing about the plot, because if you haven’t seen High Tension, well… I’d ruin it.
Even trying to analyse the plot (some huge holes), the acting, or even the story itself, is sort of impossible, UNLESS you spill the beans.
So – This is a good thriller/horror but you must suspend all belief and ‘go with the flow’, it’s also a pretty nasty, gory, head exploding slasher.
The picture quality and sound are to the high standards we’ve come to expect from a Second Sight Films release, they go above and beyond with their quality control and as an added bonus always package their releases superbly too.
If you want to bury your fingernails into the arm of your couch while watching a movie, this is a great one to pick up before it sells out.
Special Features:
- Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs
- UHD presented in HDR10+ created by Second Sight Films and approved by Director Alexandre Aja
- New audio commentary by Dr Lindsay Hallam
- An Experiment in Suspense: a new interview with Alexandre Aja
- The Man in the Shadows: a new interview with Writer Grégory Levasseur
- The Darker the Better: an interview with Cinematographer Maxime Alexandre
- The Great French Massacre: an interview with Special Effects Artist Giannetto De Rossi
- Only the Brave: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on High Tension
- Archive ‘Making of’ featurette
- Archive Interview with Cécile De France
- Archive Interview with Maïwenn
- Archive Interview with Philippe Nahon
Limited Edition Contents:
- Rigid slipcase with new artwork by James Neal
- 70-page book with new essays by Anna Bogutskaya, Prince Jackson, Stacie Ponder and Zoë Rose Smith
- 6 collectors’ art cards
Released 22nd January and available to pre-order.
Review by Tina from a disc kindly supplied by Second Sight Films via Aim Publicity.
