La colline a des yeux

While traveling in a trailer through the desert to California, the retired detective Big Bob Carter (Russ Grieve) stops in an isolated gas station with his family for fueling and rest. Bob is traveling with his wife Ethel (Virginia Vincent), his son Bobby (Robert Houston), his daughters Brenda (Susan Lanier) and Lynn (Dee Wallace) and his son-in-law and Lynn's husband Doug (Martin Speer) and their daughter baby Katy (Brenda Marinoff). When they leave the gas station, the owner advises Bob to stay in the main road. However, the stubborn driver takes a shortcut through a nuclear testing site and wrecks his station wagon. With the family stranded in the middle of nowhere, Bob and Doug walk on the road trying to find some help. Bob is captured by an insane and sadistic member of a deranged evil family that lives nearby the spot. Doug returns to the trailer, and along the night the Carter family is attacked by a group of psychotic cannibal criminals. Absolutely trapped by the murderers, they have to fight to survive.

The 1977 "The Hills Have Eyes" is still an impressive movie thirty years after the release date. I have never had the chance to see this low-budget movie, which has not been released on DVD in Brazil, and the VHS is rare. The violent, crude and claustrophobic story has not been dated; on the contrary, I believe it is more credible in the present days, when we can see violence everyday on the news, than in 1977. This movie is certainly one of the best in the filmography of Wes Craven. The cast is pure emotion and fear on the side of the Carter family, and evilness and sadism on the side of Jupiter's family. Ruby, performed by Janus Blythe, is probably the most interesting and ambiguous character, living with a dysfunctional family but still acting like a human being. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Quadrilha de Sádicos" ("Sadistic Gang")

Note: On 30 December 2014, I saw this movie again.

Note: On 09 July 2020, I saw this film again on DVD.

The Carter family are travelling through the desert on their way to California. Head of the family Bob (Russ Grieve), a retired police officer, decides to visit an inherited silver-mine on the way, and ignoring the advice of Fred (John Steadman), a local filling station owner, drives off the main road towards the hills. An accident leaves the family stranded and easy pickings for a family of cannibals lead by Jupiter (James Whitworth). Following a savage attack by this family, which leaves a number of the Carter's dead, the survivors realise that to continue surviving they too will have to become savages.

Wes Craven followed his controversial debut ‘The Last House on the Left' (1972) with this far greater arranged and compelling tale of family warfare. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is a movie with a raw brutality that has been unsurpassed in any of Craven's films to date, and is possibly the finest horror movie to be directed by Wes Craven. Despite not being as graphic as one would expect the movie never ceases to unnerve or alarm. The atmosphere, which bears a slight resemblance to ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974), maintains an unsettling air from beginning to end as the viewer is sucked into the nightmare that the Carter family is forced to endure. The desolation and hopelessness is portrayed beautifully by Craven, who utilises intelligent camerawork and a haunting soundtrack to fully create the feelings of terror. For everything that the screenplay lacks, Craven's direction more than makes up for and one wonders why Craven is no longer able to make such raw, gripping and emotional movies such as this. During the movie it becomes easy to identify with some of the characters and then feel fulfilled when they exact their retribution.

The acting, while not up to the standard of Craven's more recent offerings such as ‘Scream' (1996), is of a fairly high standard for a low budget 70's horror flick and certainly helps in aiding ‘The Hills Have Eyes' to accomplish a brutal, psychological edge. James Whitworth offers a fantastic performance as the despicable Jupiter and should probably be thought of higher as a horror film villain. His performance demands respect for its power and authority and is accompanied well by Michael Berryman and Lance Gordon. Producer Peter Locke even had a small role as Mercury, the watchdog for this contemptible family of savages. Interestingly the cannibal family come across as deranged hippies, which explains their planetary names. Virginia Vincent was the only performer that I really could not tolerate, but that could be because of the poor scripting for her religious-nut character Ethel. A very special mention has to go to Stryker the Alsatian, who `played' the part of Beast.

I highly recommend this for horror fans. Those people who think that the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street' series is the be all and end all of horror should certainly check this out. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is, in my opinon, Wes Craven's most thought out and gripping horror film to date which features some good performances, excellent camerawork, enthralling sequences and some first-rate special effects. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is an excellent example of classic Wes Craven and is one of his most creative movies. My rating for ‘The Hills Have Eyes' – 8/10.

Unusually, this is one film that I ended up watching long after I've already seen the remake; I always try to see the original films first but this Wes Craven chiller slipped me by. Sadly, I was left feeling disappointed and let down once it was over, mainly because the remake is, surprisingly, superior in every way: the actors are better, the gore better, the direction better, and the music better. The remake also sticks VERY closely to the plot of this film, so all of the surprises and twists were well choreographed in advance and there was little to intrigue me here.

For a '70s horror film, it's not a bad effort: there are some good chills and the film makes a horror star out of Michael Berryman, the bald bad guy who traded on his appearance here for the rest of his career. The problem is that the low budget hurts the proceedings somewhat, with the rest of the cannibal family resembling hippies rather than mutants. Despite the savagery of their actions, they end up laughable instead of frightening. Another problem is Craven's direction – it feels insipid rather than inspired and in light of Alexandre Aja's excellent job on the remake, I can't help but feel it's lacking. Some of the cast don't help, with Susan Lanier standing out as one of the most irritating screamers in horror history (the dog's great, though). Back in the day, THE HILLS HAVE EYES was a shocking and depraved horror flick; today it's a dated intrigue that doesn't stand up alongside fellow '70s movies like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It's okay but I'd recommend the remake over this any day.

Wes Craven first directed a film back in 1972 called Last House on the Left. If you haven't seen it...do so...for it is quite an experience. It blends dementia, depravity, cruelty, and blood and guts with values and basic moral and philosophical questions(at a very base level). He next directed The Hills Have Eyes, which many feel might be his best work. It is a horror classic to be sure for a number of reasons. It has the struggle of an innocent typical American family with a gang of cannibalistic subhumans that live in the desert. This struggle is intense, and blurs the boundary between normal and abberant behaviour(just as Craven did in LHOTL). The basic story is one of survival, not just survival of life but a way of life. The cast does a fine job...some of the psychos are quite convincing, as are the "normal" characters rather good in their roles. The story builds rather slowly but crescendos after the first death and we are given one climactic event after another. The real stars of the film, however, are the dogs...which are integral to the plot, and the desert itself, which establishes a mood and atmosphere of bleekness, desolation, and futility. Craven did a fine job with his second feature, and I would have no problem saying it was one of his better films. I would even concede that technically it is vastly superior to Last House on the Left, however, for me at least, not as horrific or chilling. Just as with Last House, much of the subject matter of the film is decidedly outrageous, with an infant possibly being served up for Thanksgiving Dinner its high point(or low point if you prefer). Unlike Last House, Hills is not nearly as graphic in its action, leaving a bit more to the imagination.

"The Hills Have Eyes" is personally one of my favorite horror films of the '70s era, I'd say this one is just below Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". I love the whole atmosphere the film gives off, and how brutal the film is. "The Hills Have Eyes" follows a normal American family on a camping trip who accidentally crash their station wagon and trailer in the middle of the California desert. The gang consists of Bob and Ethel, and their teenage children Bobby and Brenda, and their adult daughter Lynne and her husband and infant. Their father goes out for help, while the rest of them wait at the trailer, but they are unknowingly being watched by a family of cannibalistic mountain people that are hungry for flesh. As night falls, the clan of mountain-dwelling cannibals close in on the family, attacking their little safe-haven Airstream trailer, and begin to brutally slaughter each of them as they fight to save their lives.

One of the more memorable exploitation films from the 1970s, this gruesome little chiller is a nice addition to the list. Wes Craven, writer and director of this movie, does a great job at setting a mood, atmosphere, and having plenty of scary moments throughout. The desert in the film is eerie itself, it's such an empty and genuinely creepy landscape for a horror film to be set in. Along with this is the brutality factor - this is a harrowing little movie. The violence is shocking and strangely realistic, and it makes it more unsettling than it could have been. I can see why Mr. Craven has gone on to direct so many other successful horror films, such as "Scream" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street", because he's good at what he does.

The acting here isn't bad, we have Dee Wallace Stone ("E.T.", "Cujo"), but most of the other actors are unknowns, who give decent performances. Some of the acting was admittedly over the top and a little laughable at times, but what could you expect from a low-budget '70s horror flick? This film comes to a close in a rather odd way, fading out into a red screen. The ending was surely abrupt and I'm sure there were other, better ways to conclude the story. But, again, the rough abruptness is another addition to the movie's raw atmosphere and visceral quality. This isn't a pleasant movie, and I think anyone who has seen it can agree on that.

Bottom line - "The Hills Have Eyes" is one of the best horror/exploitation films to come from the '70s era. Not the best, but it is definitely close to it. It's brutal, raw, unsettling, and it made me uncomfortable. Any movie that has the power to do that must really have something going for it. Definitely worth a watch, it's a classic midnight-movie. One of my many personal favorites. If you like this, I'd also recommend Craven's debut picture, "Last House On The Left", which is also a visceral exploitation B-movie classic. 9/10.