That first night, as she rests in the upstairs bedroom of the barn-turned-house in the middle of nowhere, a killer enters the house, kidnaps Alexia and kills her family. We live the experience through Marie as she narrowly avoids the killer and tries to rescue her friend.
The film, though more bloody than my personal tastes, has some exceptional suspenseful moments. However, as the film enters the third act, something very odd happens.
**Spoiler Warning**
It turns out that Marie IS the killer and we've been watching her version of the story unfold through her twisted mind. This plot twist is pretty extraordinary for two reasons... one, it is very unexpected, but, secondly, it means that every suspenseful moment we've lived with where Marie is avoiding the killer is a complete fabrication. They never happened. I've been watching a lie. How can she be the killer and be narrowly avoiding him at the same time? So, I concurrently felt both shocked and disappointed.
The other things this does is completely ruin any chance of rewatching the film. The great thing about Hitchcock's flicks is that you can watch them over and over again because the experience of the suspense never loses it's edge. Hitchcock creates suspense by letting the audience know more than the main character and with repeated viewings, nothing is lost.However the writers and director of High Tension destroyed the reviewing experience because now we know that every suspenseful moment in the film does not truly happen. So, why watch it?
Dressed to Kill, by Brian DePalma, could have had this issue, however the protagonist and the antagonist are not the same person. So, his suspense holds up. In High Tension, I may rewatch the film to study the way they crafted their suspense scenes, but I will never again actually be in suspense when watching it.
A very odd choice by the writers and director. It made for a great surprise, but made the majority of the film a lie.
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