High Tension (2003)

The looming specter of violence and unrelenting low-grade fear in everyday existence lead to depression and a tendency to view the future with fatigue, but splash liberal dashes of style upon the daily dread, amplify the quotidian danger factor to terrifying levels that continuously surge against and intermittently transgress the absurd, and add a large dose of hipster fatalist humor, and the existential discomfort of High Tension (2003) is transformed into an electrifying entertainment that is cathartic, empowering, and bloody good fun. If only such results could be expected every time a pair of cherubic schoolgirls cloisters themselves in a secluded farmhouse intent upon cramming for final exams. Who’s that madman knocking at the door? Old master death himself has arrived and lurks upon the threshold. Prepare to laugh in his face as he scares off your pants.