Buzz:High Tension(Haute Tension)

Director:Alexandre Aja
Writers:Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur
Cast:Cecile de France.Maiwenn,Phillpe Nahon
Acting:A
Entertainment:A
Rewatchabilty:B+
Overall:A


High Tension also know as Haute Tension and Switchblade Romance is the movie in which now well known horror -genre writers Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur made names for themselves.

Think the Texas Chainsaw Massacre,the Hills have Eyes,Halloween and even Maniac,High Tension clearly models itself after films like this where the tension builds up to unbearable levels and gets the audience really unsettled and uncomfortable before finally hitting us square between the eyes with a knockout blow.The tension and suspense at play here seems to be missing from many horror films of present day.

The Plot:College friends Alex and Marie travel to Alex's families farm in the country for some peaceful study time.The peaceful time soon turns into a nightmare as a sadistic killer enters the house and slaughters Alex's family and kidnaps Alex in his old beat up pick-up truck.Marie however sneaks aboard and tries to save Alex from this insane killer.The action shifts from the truck to an isolated gas station to finally the woods.Can Marie save Alex??

High Tension as I mentioned earlier is a film where tension keeps building and building and building.The music and cinematography which really helps add to this as well.We the viewer are constantly on edge as our nerves are tested.There are a couple of scenes where we are left wondering if they will ever end as the killer carefully searches and stalks around endlessly for hidden prey.Aja pays tribute to Maniac's subway bathroom scene here as well which was Clearly one of the most suspenseful scenes ever seen in the horror genre.The pacing Aja uses here in which the killer knocks of Alex's family are methodical as if they are in slow motion thus leaving us even more disturbed and scared.


The scene in the gas station is also one of my favorite scenes as here Aja pays tribute to another of my favorite movies,the shining as the killer plunges an ax into the attendants chest.

Aja ratchets up the gore as well as some graphic images.We see the killer getting head from a severed head..yes,that is correct.We almost see a child shot and we see a decapitation by the way of a cabinet.The gore and special effects are phenomenal as well

The acting is impressive here too,Cecile de France is quite likable and Phillipe Nahon as the killer is scary and intimidating.

Aja doesn't stop there as he pulls one big twist on us at the end that some of us may or may not have seen coming.I for one did not see it coming and felt it was really well done and made the film that much more interesting.For many horror fans though it seems they either love it or hated it.

Spoilers!--------------------------------------
Most horror fans have seen this and so here is my take on the twist
I have heard some people say that certain scenes don't make sense and couldn't happen if Marie was the killer.However we have to remember that Marie is insane,crazy,psychotic and this is her story and her version of what happened so of course everything isn't going to add up.
And some people told me they saw it coming from the get-go,I did not.I did clearly see that Marie had a thing for Alex but I wouldn't have ever guessed she was this obsessed with her.

Closing:High Tension is downright scary and tension filled flick with some truly disturbing scenes and an interesting plot twist.Aja mixes tension,scares and gore here with great success.

Buzz:Piranha(2010)

Director:Alexandre Aja

Writers:Pete Goldfinger,Josh Stolberg

Cast:Elisabeth Shue,Jerry O'Connell,Ving Rhames, Kelly Brook,Riley Steele, Steven R McQueen

Cameos:Richard Dreyfuss,Christopher Lloyd, Eli Roth,Greg Nicotero, Gianna Michaels,Ashlynn Brooke

Acting:A

Enetrainment:A+
Rewatchability:A

Overall:A

Piranha!I think everyone who saw the trailers for this movie knew what they would be getting.An old-school B movie 80's exploitation flick.Blood,bikini's and Boobs,the three B's,And this film doesn't let you down.

Obviously a remake of Joe Dante's Piranha,though very ,very loosely as Aja Piranha takes things to a whole nother level.One that I can't believe got passed as a R rated flick by the MPAA.But I'm damn happy it did.

Instead of the militarized Piranha in Dante's film,here in Aja's we have a prehistoric breed of the killer fish which ultimately have been set loose due to chain reaction underwater seismic event.And this time they are set to cause carnage and destruction on the town of Lake Victoria,which is a huge hot-spot every year for Spring breakers.

Forced to deal with this are Sheriff Julie Forester(Elisabeth Shue),and her deputy(Ving Rhames)and a visiting marine paleontologist(Adam Scott).

Meanwhile Sheriff Foresters son Jake is suppose to babysit his brother and sister but instead ditches them to take set with a Joe Francis like sleazy adult film maker named Derrick Jones played brilliantly by Jerry O'Connell and his two bodacious stars Danni and Crystal,played to a t by Kelly Brook and porn-star Riley Steele.Talk about eye candy for us guys.Things don't go too well as Jake's brother and sister manage to get stranded on a little island in the middle of the Lake and soon after the prehistoric Piranha decide its time to feast on slutty big boobed and drunk spring breakers indulging in wet t-shirt contests and everything else that takes place during this wild time of year.

So there isn't that much of a plot here in Piranha but so what,this is a throwback to 80's slashers and exploitation flicks that featured tons of gore,gruesome killing's and lots of boobies and sex.Aja nails it here.The gore is just insane here,I don't think I've ever seen a movie with so much.Spring breakers are torn apart limb from limb,boobs are torn off,implants torn out,a penis bit off,and that's just some of the standouts I can remember,the one attack scene in particular which should go down in history has so much carnage that you could prolly write a book on all the stuff that happened to these poor saps as they desperately try to escape the demon fish's wrath.Look for a cameo by special effect designer and icon Greg Nicotero.Speaking of Nicotero,his work and Howard Burger's is amazing.

Onto the boobies and gratuitous nudity. Once again it's really amazing what this film got away with.Yes all you guys will be in heaven as we are treated to boobies and lots of them.We are treated to an amazing underwater make-out session/ballet between naked Kelly Brook and Riley Steele(whose body I could stare at ll day along),which is in the film for nothing more than titillation..But hey I got no problem with that whatsoever,though I doubt many ladies will find this amusing or entertaining,well go watch Sex and the City then.We even have boobie cameo's from more porn-stars,most notably,Gianna Michaels and Ashlynn Brooke.

So what else stands out?Well the acting is surprisingly good especially from Jerry O'Connell who really let loose as the sleazy adult film maker type.He really looked like he was enjoying it,and some of his line's were just flat out hilarious." It's not cheating if it's with another girl! "

Elisabeth Shue was also quite likable and charming as the Sheriff,her and Jake played by Steven R McQueen had good chemistry as well.Adam Scott was pretty funny as well.

The cameo's:Richard Dreyfuss as an old broke down Hooper and Christoper Lloyd as a crazy pet-store owner added some credibility to the flick even if their screen time was limited. Lloyd in particular looked like he just stepped out of the Delorean from Back to the Future.

Onto the cgi:Yes the cgi piranha are bad at certain points but there is also something cool about how vicious they look(I loved the closeup of the one piranha's face after missing potential prey) and how they dart around.Anyways,who really cares if they don't look real,this isn't Avatar.

Closing:Piranha is exactly what it should have been.A B-Movie creature feature flick with cheesy dialogue,over the top kills and hammy acting..Oh and of course with lots and lots of boobies.

P.s-Riley Steele..OMG