Another Letdown from Director Alexandre Aja

Rating: Null/10 (10 July 2006)

*1/2 out of ****
When I saw HIGH TENSION, I was completely disappointed. The film was terrible and unbelievable, and yet it was well acted, sounded great, and looked cool. However, the storyline stretched out into a terrible film in which a lesbian woman completely screws up all of her easy chances of saving her and her friend so many times that the film turned into a big joke. Many people had complained about the ending of the film being terrible, but it was my favorite part of the movie because it confirmed that it was all actually a big joke.
Now there were a few little moments in HIGH TENSION that I thought were excellent scare quirks. Two good examples were an early scene in the film where the killer has oral sex with a severed head. And another scene when a tiny little musical device dances on a woman's desk gave the film a creepy mood, but when the thirty minute mark of the film was hit, the film instantly became horrendous. The film was my #1 most hated film of 2003, but I knew that the director of the film could make a good horror film with the right stuff though.
Now director Alexandre Aja has made another film. A remake of an early Wes Craven film that is now considered to be one of the best cult classics of horror. THE HILLS HAVE EYES. In it, a whole family is forced to do battle with weird inbred freaks with a cannibalistic urge. This man's remake changes a couple things. First, instead of being weird inbred people, they are now mutated creatures that were the result of a nuclear reactor exploding and melting them. And the family seems to have many more members. Did I think that this film was the good horror film that I have been waiting for? Well I'll tell you...
The look of this film is beautiful and ugly, just the way it should be. The characters do seem quite realistic in there own little ways. The mutants are scary and grotesque, and the music is appropriately eerie enough to create the right amount of tension and suspense, and yet it is a terrible film. The reason why has nothing to do with the film being made poorly in any particular area, and I am well aware that a horror film doesn't have to be entertaining or thought provoking to be good(just look at THE Texas CHAIN SAW MASSACRE). And I normally have no real complaints about shock value. But this film is just plain disgusting and horribly overdone.
Again, this normally wouldn't be a problem at all, but in this case it is. Don't think that I hate shock and gore and disturbing stuff. Some of my favorite films are PINK FLAMINGOS, OLDBOY, BRAINDEAD, ICHI THE KILLER, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, and IRREVERSIBLE. The film is overdone to excess. The real scares are drowned out by the buckets of gruesome images and events. There is exploding heads, crucifying, burnings, dismemberment, mutilation, cannibalism, and even a couple quasi-rape scenes. The film just isn't worth the time to sit through in my opinion. The film is boring in its excess of flesh and torture and yet somehow gives the impression that it is a serious movie. There is so much gruesome, disgusting, and violent content that the film stopped being scary and because the equivalent of a freak show. It would have worked if it were low budget, but for a theatrical project, it was boring and stupid.
The audience in the theater were pretty freaked out. Many girls were crying and screaming, and many boys were jumping at the jump scenes and being shocked by the scenes of violence. The theater was pretty packed when I saw it opening day. This film obviously was an unpleasant experience for them. The number of people who walked out was a little surprising because I honestly was far more grossed out by sAW2 than this. It didn't help that I was watching this with three of my cousins who were all horror film fans. After we all came out when the film was over, all of my cousins said that they hated it, but I didn't hate it. I was just wished that it was done a lot better.
I still do not doubt that Alexandre Aja can make a really good horror film, and I know that for a fact now. This film was close, but he overdid it. The original film was bad, yes, but it didn't really matter that it was bad because it tried to be bad. It tried to be trashy and stupid and excessive. This film sucks because it didn't try to be bad. It tried to be good and it had spirit, but it didn't have a heart. The film was too "in your face". It was to resilient. It was too unforgiving. A good horror film doesn't have to be any of these things. A good horror film has to have a good story, good characters, and a heart. This had a good story and good characters, but no heart. Oh well. Maybe next time it will be perfect. It was better than HIGH TENSION, but it was still stupid.
Rated R for strong gruesome violence and terror throughout, and for language.