What actually happens
A study weekend interrupted by a doorbell
Best friends Marie and Alex drive to Alex's parents' house for a weekend of studying. Alex gives Marie a tour, they have dinner, and everyone goes to bed. Late that night the doorbell rings, and Alex's father Daniel goes to open the door. A man cuts Daniel's face with a straight razor, wedges him between two staircase spindles, and pushes a bookcase into his head. He then goes after Alex's mother. Marie hears the screams, rearranges the guest room to look empty, and hides under the bed while the man looks around the room. She finds Alex chained up in her bedroom, promises to get help, and later watches from a closet as the man cuts Alex's mother's throat. Alex's younger brother Tom runs out into the cornfield with the man behind him, and Marie sees him killed from a window. She takes a butcher knife from the kitchen. When the man drags Alex into his truck, Marie climbs in and hides next to her, and the man locks them both in and drives away.
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The gas station has a security camera and Marie has a problem
When the truck stops at a gas station, Marie hands Alex the knife and goes in to look for help. She watches the clerk get killed with an axe, calls the police, and hangs up because she cannot say where she is. She takes the clerk's keys and follows the truck in his car until the man rams her off the road. Badly hurt, Marie runs into the forest, and eventually she hits him with a fence post wrapped in barbed wire. When he grabs her throat, she smothers him with a plastic sheet. Back at the truck, Alex looks terrified of Marie. At the gas station, the police watch security footage that shows Marie killing the clerk. The film then reveals that Marie is delusional, obsessed with Alex, and responsible for every murder in the movie.
The concrete saw and the crowbar
Near the end, Marie unties Alex at the truck, and Alex immediately threatens her with the knife and accuses her of killing her family. Alex cuts Marie's face, stabs her in the stomach, and runs into the woods. Marie follows with a concrete saw. Alex flags down a car on a road, and as she climbs in, Marie arrives and cuts open the driver. That is the scene people dread most: the driver is cut open by the saw as Alex climbs in. Flying glass cuts Alex's Achilles tendon, so she takes a crowbar from the car and crawls along the road. Marie catches up and makes Alex say that she loves her, then kisses her. While they are kissing, Alex drives the crowbar into Marie's chest.
The ending, explained
Alex drives the crowbar into Marie's upper chest while Marie tells her that nobody will ever come between them. Some time later, Marie is in a psychiatric hospital, chained to her bed. Alex watches her through a one-way mirror, and Marie grins and reaches toward her, seemingly aware that Alex is behind it. Alex survives, but her parents and her brother are dead, along with the gas station clerk and the driver of the car.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: not fine, and we're sorry.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is High Tension scary?
Yes, High Tension is a 7 out of 10 with high dread. It has jump scares and gore all the way through, and the fear is a single night of being hunted without a break.
How does High Tension end?
Alex stabs Marie with a crowbar, and Marie ends up chained to a bed in a psychiatric hospital. Marie was responsible for all of the murders, and Alex survives.
Does the dog die in High Tension?
Yes, the dog dies in High Tension. The family dog goes for someone, and the death is quick and not drawn out.
Is there a post-credits scene in High Tension?
No. High Tension has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is the killer in High Tension?
Marie is. She is delusional and obsessed with her friend Alex, and the film shows that she is responsible for all of the murders, including the ones that look like the work of the man in the truck.
