High Tension
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: June 10, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
42
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
16
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Film ThreatJeremy Knox
A movie that wants you to squirm in your seat and judged by that standard, it works brilliantly. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The film revels in blood and gore, but this is not just a run-of-the-mill splatter film. There's a lot of intelligence in both the script and in Alexandre Aja's direction. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Like all horror films, High Tension builds to a final, sobering flash of chaos that settles all scores. Some viewers will hate Aja's movie for its end-game reveal; others will love it for the very same reason. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
But purely as an exercise in style, this movie has its moments. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
A chainsaw-cut above recent entries in the genre: a pure, unapologetic, unironic homage to the likes of "Friday the 13th" that respectfully salutes all the old shtick. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
I was annoyed by Levasseur and Aja's desertion of their tense, simple plot in favor of tedious "plot twists" that could, frankly, use a rest. It's a waste of a good first half. (Grade: A- for first hour, C- thereafter.) Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Even if you don't buy the ending, however, High Tension makes for ghoulish, sick fun, and Aja, who is already at work on a remake of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes, clearly takes this horror stuff very seriously. The genre can always use a few more like him. Read full review
60
VarietyLisa Nesselson
Deftly juggles gore and suspense, and punchline holds an intellectual frisson or two for fans of gender-role speculation, but basically this is one more horror pic on the distinguished road already trodden by "Texas Chain Saw Massacre," "Maniac" and the like. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMark Holcomb
Manages--before faltering under the weight of its own pretensions--to be pretty scary. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
While the acting is fine and the direction accomplished, the real stars of the film are editor Baxter and cinematographer Maxime Alexandre. Forfeiting a gold star is whoever haphazardly dubbed the film, simply giving up about halfway through. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The first two thirds of the screenplay by Aja and cowriter Gregory Levasseur is a relentless exercise in bare-bones nastiness. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Though staged with technical skill and unflinching brutality, it's an awfully familiar-looking slaughter filled with moments on loan from other movies. Read full review
50
PremierePeter Debruge
Borderline reprehensible, High Tension is a living nightmare, but then, why else would you see it? Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
For much of its duration the film is a case of intense fare done with an undeniable effectiveness and ingenuity -- until it lurches into a deplorable surprise twist. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
By turns unnerving and numbing. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
For all this, there is one unalloyed good thing to be said for High Tension. When all is said and done, it really does live up to its title. In every other way it's trash, but that truth-in-advertising aspect is a major weight to throw into the mix. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Horror fans should see this, at least in geeky admiration for what it pulls off, but in the long run it's no more than a crisp footnote to genre history. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The latest reshuffling of "Chainsaw" tropes. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
This film is satisfied merely to wallow in women in peril, cinematic sadism and the spectacle of violent death and dismemberment. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
High Tension often feels like a ’70s exploitation movie in the best sense; unfortunately, the ending is so bad that it mars everything that comes before. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
That outrageous third-act reveal proves to be a major deal-breaker. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Stylistically thrilling but ultimately tedious French import. Read full review
40
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It can only be said that if you like this sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you like. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
One of the ugliest movies I've ever seen. Even though it occurs mostly in the dark, the open flesh wounds are both graphic and implausible. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The horrible anticipation he [Aja] builds is derailed by a gimmick that makes the twist in, say, ''Fight Club" seem perfectly logical. To say more would be to ruin the movie, and why should I do that when its own makers have done it for you? Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
If old-fashioned jolts are what you're after, this nasty piece of merchandise delivers. But so does electroshock. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Serial killing and other insanity in the French countryside, with ineptly dubbed English dialogue. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The philosopher Thomas Hobbes tells us life can be "poor, nasty, brutish and short." So is this movie. Read full review
10
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Such a bizarre movie that it has completely occupied my thinking for days. Not because it's a good movie, mind you. It's more like the equivalent of a botched tooth extraction with a coat hanger. Some bloody shard remains stuck in an inflamed, fleshy part of my psyche, and it's going to take some serious tugging and tearing to root it out. Read full review
0
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The movie is a model of multinational incompetence. Read full review
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