Movie Review High Tension

High Tension (2005) 

Directed by Alexandre Aja

Written by Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseur

Starring Cecile De France, Maiween, Phillippe Nahon

Release Date June 10th, 2005

Published June 10th, 2005 

I must say I was quite impressed with Lions Gate Films' commitment to High Tension. Often, when a studio acquires a foreign picture, it's treated like a low-budget product--rolled out slowly and oftentimes drops onto video before anyone outside of New York or Los Angeles even knows it exists. So for that, I give LGF credit; they have shown a great deal of courage pushing High Tension as a major release.

However, I must question, why this film? Why did this little French horror pic earn the faith of the studio when superior products have, in the past, languished? (Anyone remember the brilliant May?) The fact is that while LGF has shown great faith in this flick, it's not really worthy of that faith. A B-movie exploitation flick at best, High Tension is of the rare breed of bad foreign films. Rare because, usually, bad foreign films don't even make it to the U.S.

College friends Marie (Cécile De France) and Alex (Maiwenn La Besco) are spending the summer at Alex's parents' newly-purchased French farm, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The place is kind of creepy, surrounded on all sides by cornfields and with no unnatural light anywhere. It's the perfect place for an insane killer to wreak unpoliced havoc.

And wouldn't you know it, there happens to be a nutcase patrolling the area in search of new victims. Phillippe Nahon plays the stalking killer whose method is pretty straightforward: invade a home; and kill, kill, kill. His violence is more brutal than your average American movie killer. Much more blood and gore than we've seen from the recently neutered genre that, in America, has succumbed to the monetary menace of the PG-13 rating.

Marie manages to hide herself away as her friends' family is brutalized and Alex herself is held till last and finally taken prisoner. This is where things begin to get goofy, with one of the all-time most nonsensical twists ever put to film. I have been debating whether or not to delve into spoilers here, as I think they could be quite constructive to reviewing the film. However, I will not, mostly because I just can't figure out what the spoilers are.

The film tips its hand with about forty minutes left, but then persists with scenes that fly in the face of that very twist. When the twist does come, it's predictable but incomprehensible--as if the film were directed two different ways and then combined in a blender.

Director Alexandre Aja has a flair for horrific violence and disturbing imagery. Watch for the killer's introduction, as it's one of the few memorable moments in the film. Aja, unfortunately, doesn't seem as interested in directing a horror film so much as an exploitation film of the Joe Bob Briggs, late-night-theater variety. A good example is Maria's masturbation scene intercut with the violence of the killer's arrival. Good scene for an exploitation film; however, Aja is not fully committed to exploitation either.

The film is bereft of the cheap thrills that make exploitation sickly entertaining. The masturbation scene is fully clothed and there is only a brief bit of nudity. The film was rumored to have been cut extensively to get down to the more audience-friendly R-Rating from the box office kiss-of-death that is NC-17. On the bright side, that could mean a heck of a Director's Cut DVD.

One might wonder if the cutting room floor is the resting place for the footage that helps High Tension make any sense at all. Maybe the scenes that tie together the utterly incomprehensible twist are all so disgustingly lascivious, they had to be cut. Whatever the explanation, High Tension remains a dopey, nonsensical horror film with violent potential unrealized by poor editing and a ludicrous story.

Movie Review P2

P2 (2007) 

Directed by Franck Khalfoun 

Written by Alexandre Aja, Franck Khalfoun, Gregory Levasseur

Starring Wes Bentley, Rachel Nichols

Release Date November 9th, 2007

Published November 8th, 2007

Alexandre Aja has been undistinguished in two outings as a writer-director, High Tension and The Hills Have Eyes. Still, Aja does show a sense of how to work in this genre and that shows in his work as a producer and co-writer of the new horror thriller P2. Handing the directorial reigns to talented newcomer Franck Khalfoun, Aja's hands off approach works and the best instincts of his work show through.

Angela (Rachel Nichols) never thought staying late at work was a bad thing, even on a holiday. Sure, her whole family was waiting for her but she had numbers to crunch and no boyfriend waiting to go with her. She could afford a few more minutes, or so she thought. On this night, Christmas Eve, staying late was the worst idea possible. The last to leave among her office mates, Angela will have to walk through the creepy parking garage all by herself, save for that one parking attendant with far away stare. 

That parking attendant is named Thomas (Wes Bentley), and unbeknownst to Angela, he has had a secret crush on. Moreover, Thomas has decided that tonight is the night he will reveal his feelings. Did he buy her flowers? Candy? Make her a mixtape? No,Thomas is something of a social misfit. His idea of courtship involves a chloroform soaked rag and some handcuffs. Whether Angela likes it or not she is joining Thomas for a holiday meal.

What director Frank Khalfoun does in P2 is take strong advantage of the one unique thing about this plot, the setting. Parking garages are inherently creepy places, all dark corners and echoes. Khalfoun makes this underground garage into an underground maze of darkness and disturbing noises. Also, the garage setting turns the classic cliche of a cellphone with no signal into a necessary plot point as opposed to a merely convenient one.

The holiday setting, the movie takes place on Christmas Eve, is also a clever trick. It closes the parking garage and gives our main characters plenty of uninterrupted room to run and play hide and seek. The film also makes great use of Elvis' Blue Christmas turning the hacky holiday classic into a creepy, funny running gag.

We haven't seen Wes Bentley much since he exploded on to the scene with his touchingly oddball performance in American Beauty. He failed to take advantage of the buzz following that film and has since picked up his highest profile paycheck as the lame bad guy in Ghost Rider. Strange to say, this is the best performance of Bentley's career since American Beauty. What Bentley gives Thomas is this odd sort of cornpone romantic crossed with a Johnny Depp style antic psychopath.

He's also quite funny. Keep an ear out for one of the best lines of the year when Thomas whines about not wanting to lose his job. Rachel Nichols, heretofore unknown to me, isn't given much to play but give her credit for not making all of the cliched choices of a victim in this situation. Her Angela is smart but she's not McGyver, she doesn't adapt to this situation as if it were second nature. She is no match for Thomas's brand of crazy but she has luck on her side.

The closer of P2 features yet another funny line featuring that one thing a man should never say to a woman. The ending is all too typical, but I never said the film broke the mold. This is just a director and cast that takes on genre conventions and simply performs them slightly more entertainingly than the several thousand genre clones before it. Franck Khalfoun doesn't remake the genre he just makes good use of his genre tools. P2 is just a little smarter. The film has a bit more polish than the dozen or so directors who have worked with the same genre material. P2 is an exceptional thriller/horror genre movie.

Movie Review Mirrors

Mirrors (2008) 

Directed by Alexandre Aja 

Written by Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseure

Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Amy Smart

Release Date August 15th, 2008 

Published August 14th, 2008 

The fact is, Kiefer Sutherland is forever his 24 character Jack Bauer. Blessing or curse? That is for Sutherland himself to decide. Regardless, Jack Bauer is a pop culture icon and sitting down to watch Kiefer Sutherland pretend not to be Jack Bauer in the new horror flick Mirrors, I got just what I expected, a Kiefer/Jack head down, eyes forward badass with a purpose This works for Jack Bauer, not so much for Ben Carter the protagonist of Mirrors whose Jackism prevents him from connecting emotionally in the ways necessary to deepen the puddle deep ambitions director Alexandre Aja brings to Mirrors.

Based on a 2003 Korean original, Mirrors stars Kiefer Sutherland as the new night watchman at a burnt out old department store where only the mirrors seem to have survived the blaze that killed 40 some people, some years earlier. It is not long after accepting the job that Ben begins to notice something strange about all of those oddly pristine mirrors

The mirrors in fact not only reflect reality but have a reality of their own for anyone looking at them. On one of his first nights in the store, Ben nearly burns to death as a mirror shows him covered in flames. There are no flames but the pain feels real. Of course it could have something to do with the pills Ben is taking to overcome a drinking problem. Is psychosis a side effect?

As all of this is happening at work, Ben is trying to win back the love of his wife Amy (Paula Patton) who threw him out of their home because of his drinking. The couple has two kids that Ben still see's but Amy is resistant to him returning, especially after he starts babbling about the mirrors coming to life and trying to kill him.

That is a determinedly vague description of the plot of Mirrors. Even though I didn't like the movie, I don't want to ruin it for those inclined to see it. The thing is, this isn't that bad a movie, just not very original and not even a good rendering of a formula. More derivative than dramatic, more pushy than thrilling, Mirrors is yet another of those horror movies where things leap and make noise off screen for effect.

Birds flap their wings at ear snapping volumes, doors creak and slam louder in this creepy department store than they do anywhere else. Then there is the score which builds to obvious and unoriginal orchestral spikes meant to quicken the pulse. They do, but the payoffs are more often cheap and irritating than edge of your seat exciting.

The main reason I didn't enjoy Mirrors has much to do with the skill-less direction of Alexandre Aja. This horror movie hack with a real taste for the ugly sides of humanity, directs Mirrors with little care for developing the plot beyond mirrors being bad and Kiefer Sutherland fights them. The director of The Hills Have Eyes remake and the trashy High Tension, directs Mirrors minus any plausible explanations, rules or guidelines for his killer of title.

Why do the Mirrors kill? Why do they kill who they kill? A movie doesn't need to explain everything, but Aja is so deliberately vague that it becomes obvious even the director has no idea what drives the evil of the plot. Instead, Aja sits back and waits for the plot to reveal itself. It never does. Mirrors, like The Grudge, The Ring, The Eye and Shutter before it; is just another lame teenagers in danger movie ripped from a likely superior Korean version. Even if you love Sutherland as badass Jack Bauer, you aren't likely to be moved by his listless head strong imitation Jack Bauer in Mirrors.

Movie Review Piranha 3D

Piranha 3D (2010) 

Directed by Alexandre Aja 

Written by Peter Goldfinger, Josh Stolberg 

Starring Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Adam Scott, Jessica Szohr, Jerry O'Connell 

Release Date August 20th, 2010 

Published August 20th, 2010 

I don't understand the appeal of a 3D penis destroyed by flesh chomping fish. Call me a buzzkill if you wish but I cannot understand why this is funny. As for it being frightening, it's certainly frighteningly poor taste but not frightening as presented in “Piranha 3D” which is, I'm assuming, supposed to be some kind of comic send up.

I assume this is comedy because the audience I watched it with were laughing far more than they were covering their eyes or ducking their heads to the shoulder of their dates. This audience cackled at the penis eating scene and roared approval during the underwater, nude, lesbian synchronized swimming scene. They roared again during the centerpiece gore-athon in the lake when the Piranha's swarmed the spring breakers leaving behind boney carcasses. I was left perplexed and a little depressed.

A lake that is home to a Sodom and Gomorrah of Spring Break debauchery is hit with a massive earthquake just before the partygoers arrive. The quake opens a crevasse that had been sealed for millions of years. Inside is a fully evolved and deadly species of Piranha seeking to quench a million years worth of bloodlust.

On land Sheriff Julie Forrester (Elisabeth Shue) and her top deputy Fallon (Ving Rhames) are readying for the arrival of drunken revelers when they get a call about a missing fisherman (Richard Dreyfuss). As we have seen in the film's opening minutes, the fisherman was the first victim of the piranhas and when the cops find him well, they catch on quicker than your usual movie cops.

Opting to try and close the lake, they also call in a team of scientists lead by Novak (Adam Scott). The scientists are the ones who find the piranhas, but not before two of them are turned into piranha food. The closing of the lake meanwhile isn't happening as the tiny police force are no match for the drunken partiers about to become Piranha meat.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Julie's son Jake (Steven R. McQueen) takes a job as an assistant to Derrick Jones (Jerry O'Connell) the creator of Wild Wild Girls. Derrick plans on filming girls taking their tops off and even tries to recruit Jake's crush Kelly (Jessica Szohr) to star alongside his protégé Danni (Kelly Brook) in his latest video, much to Jake's consternation. Naturally, all will end up face to face with piranhas, who survives and who has their penis torn off I will leave you to discover.

It's supposed to be camp right? Kitschy, over the top, Herschel Gordon Lewis, Roger Corman stuff right? I get that, I do. But, as directed by Alexandre Aja with a surprising amount of skill and directorial touch, I found “Piranha 3D” more in poor taste than campy and fun. I know, it's supposed to be in poor taste and I understand that appeals to some but I have a hard time enjoying this type of bad taste.

There is something nihilistic about the approach to the gore of “Piranha 3D.” Directors like Alexandre Aja and his protégé Eli Roth, who has a cameo in “Piranha 3D” as a wet T-shirt contest host, enjoy their violence and gore so much that the humans lose their value. Aja has the wrong kind of rooting interest at heart in each of his films. Rather than placing a good person in peril and asking the audience to root for their survival, Aja crafts awful human beings for the purpose of watching them be comically destroyed. It's ugly and brutal and I fear for those who find this kind of thing appeal. 

This is an ugly, inhuman perspective that I find impossible to get behind. I find the approach depressing and the enjoyment that so many seem to take in the destruction of their fellow man, no matter how fake or outsized it may be, just makes me sad. Say what you will about the quality of movies like “Halloween” or the original “Nightmare on Elm Street,” the characters mattered in each of those films, especially those played by Jamie Lee Curtis and Heather Langenkamp who always had our sympathies and were held above the evil they faced. 

When those films became hits and “Friday the 13th” started showing off Jason, things began to turn. When Freddy, Michael Myers and Jason became the stars, horror began to change and the rooting interests turned ugly. That leads us to where we are today with people cheering for human suffering, rooting for the gore and delighting in the degradation.

Yes, it's just an over the top horror film. Yes, it's not at all realistic. If that’s enough excuse for you to delight in watching people shredded limb from limb then enjoy. Just don’t ask me to join you. I’m going to find a movie where characters are held above their use as gory props and sex toys. By the way, if this is your kind of movie, I don’t think you and I should hang out. Just saying.