Spotlight on Writer/Director Alexandre Aja

Posted by Movie_Maven

February 8, 2009 |

Ooh la la. I have another favorite horror movie maker: French writer/director Aja, with whom I gained familiarity after watching the 2003 film Haute Tension (High Tension.) As a fan of horror, I was thoroughly entertained by the film and by Aja’s directorial vision.

Aja, born in Paris in 1978, is a member of Hollywood’s unofficial “splat pack” with other such horror filmmakers as Darren Lynn Bousman, Eli Roth, James Wan, Leigh Wannell, Rob Zombie, Neil Marshall, and Greg Mclean.

In 2006, Aja remade the Wes Craven classic The Hills Have Eyes (with the blessing of Craven, I’ve heard.) Again, his truly twisted vision came across well in this film, as I enjoyed it as much (if not more - sorry Wes) than the original.

Recently, Mr_Movie_Maven and I rented P2 (2007) and Mirrors (2008).

Aja wrote P2, but it was directed, instead, by Franck Khalfoun (who played Jimmy in High Tension.) While the film had some cringe-worthy moments and did succeed in producing an air of tension (pun intended) within the film as a whole, I believe that Aja would likely have produced a better outcome. Granted, the limitations of the film did not enable the exercise of true artistic license, I still think that Aja would have taken the film to an entirely new level. Oh, and he undoubtedly would have made me jump more. From an acting Wes Bentley gave a truly creepy performance as the shall-we-say ”troubled” security guard, while Rachel Nichols was good in her role. I kept getting distracted by her overly perky breasts in the dress she was wearing and reminiscing back to the days when mine looked that way. But I digress (and probably gave you too much information.)

Mirrors, starring Kiefer Sutherland, had Aja written all over it. I gauge a horror movie by how many lights I need to turn on to go to the bathroom, and let’s say Mirrors will make my electric bill increase (not to mention I had to close my eyes while in there so I wouldn’t look in the mirrors, and had to take the mirrors off my bedroom ceiling…..KIDDING about the last one!) Anyway, while not a Kiefer fan, I thought he wasn’t completely revolting. The rest of the cast was adequate, nothing great. The ending was particularly well done, bringing to mind High Tension. But as is Aja’s trademark, at least in my opinion, his direction made for a very creepy experience.

Currently in production for Aja is Piranha 3-D (another remake). One can only wonder….and, in my case, be excited.