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Did 'High Tension' Rip Off Dean Koontz's 'Intensity'?
June 21, 2016
Thousands of horror fans — whether lovers of New French Extremity, gore, or simply fast-paced thrillers — adore High Tension. Released in France as Haute Tension in 2003 and in the UK as Switchblade Romance in 2004, the movie combined a great cast and talented young director Alexandre Aja to create one of the most exciting, blood-spattered horror movies since 2000.
However, apart from the usual detractors and haters of movie violence — this was yet another marvelous horror movie that Roger Ebert despised — there’s always been one more interesting criticism leveled at High Tension:
Is High Tension a rip-off of Dean Koontz’s Intensity?
Eight years before Aja released High Tension, horror novelist Dean Koontz published Intensity, which has a very similar storyline. But is it a rip-off? I haven’t been able to find any official word from either Aja or Koontz regarding the matter, although the likely unreliable Wikipedia does note that ”the film is an unauthorized reinterpretation of the novel Intensity by Dean Koontz.”
Read the full article @ MoviePilot.com.
Well, it looks pretty close to a rip off up until the point where they reach the gas station, at least according to Wikipedia. Interesting to know if Mr. Koontz would want to do something about, which I guess he won’t, or if he actually could, given the fact that the movie was made in France …