Two college girlfriends, Marie (Cecile de France) and Alex (The Fifth Element's Maiwenn), vacation at Alex's family house in the country, but their rural idyll is soon shattered by the appearance of a hulking delivery man (Irreversible's Phillippe Nahon) with a taste for serial murder. The two women are thrust into the woods for a night of hell.

Though clearly not for the squeamish, High Tension has much more to offer than just (admittedly entertaining) fountains of gore. Gorgeously filmed in widescreen, Aja's film generates suspense with great precision, right down to a controversial climax. The winner of Best Director, Actress (de France), and Effects in the prestigious Sitges festival devoted to genre cinema (the film also received the Melies award for the year's best horror film), this was called by one of that festival's jurors, "The most ferociously tense terror ride in twenty odd years... the most unrelentingly terrifying experience since Halloween." Miss this one at your own peril.

(French with English subtitles)