The Hills Have Eyes

A remake of Wes Craven's 1977 version, 'The Hills Have Eyes' left me feeling utterly unimpressed and, while I have not seen the original, if it is anything like this then I wonder why they even bothered . The plot revolves around a family lost in the desert and end up being picked off one-by-one by mutants, and it was basically one huge disappointment with only a few half-hearted scares, instead relying on excessive violence, blood, and gore to gain a reaction from the audience. In fact, the only real chill I got was in the ten minutes of trailers in the beginning when more intriguing flicks such as 'The Omen', 'The Dark' and 'An American Haunting' were advertised.

I am no conservative when it comes to violence in horror/action films since most sensible people understand it is just fiction yet nevertheless this film just left a bad taste in my mouth. Rather than using a sharp plot and clever camera work to deliver the chills, this was just a case of 'look how many gory ways we can kill people! Look at how we can splash blood around'. There was even a gratuitous rape scene that left me sickened, rather than terrified, that the scriptwriter could stoop to such depths to try to shock us. And there was even the typical predictable ending to gear us up for a possible sequel (though hopefully no Hollywood studio will sanction that).

The result was a flick that is clearly just intended to appeal to lads in their late teens and twenties who still get a kick out of seeing blood and guts flying around. For real horror fans, I'd advise waiting for the more promising horror/chiller flicks to be released through the year. Or, if you are really desperate for the mutants, check out 'The X-Files' episode 'Home', which does the whole concept in a more intelligent, frightening manner.

I haven't seen the original, but I now want to because this movie rocked. The movie starts as a slow-boil suspense/horror movie, provides some decent jump-scares (at least in the theater) and spends some time building up character. The movie then switches gears and turns into a gritty, brutal horror movie more the likes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and further switches to gears to a action/revenge movie, but still with horror elements. It's scary, sick, nearly uncompromising (the unrated cut will undoubtedly be so) and disturbing, but also adrenaline-filled and riveting. Certainly NOT for the weak-stomached person. People were leaving the theater, and the IMDb boards are rife with people damning the movie for it's 'lack of moral substance' and 'taste'. This movie isn't for the average movie-goer. It's for the horror buffs. Alexendre Aja should be proud, and is 2-for-2 in my book having done this and High Tension.

What made early Wes Craven movies so special were these eary and daunting atmospheres he was so good in creating ; And this is what Hills Have Eyes 2006 totally lacked. Firstly the music through out the movie was awful and totally cliché and unfortunately diminished any depth that HHE was trying to show. I did like the nuclear mutant idea , but then seeing them reminded me on how the original HHE villains had way more presence on the screen and they had no make up !!

Now I did like the actors , they played their respective roles well The effects were good + I did like how they twisted the original script and added some new ideas instead a complete knock off of the original So my final word not a bad movie , but lacked atmosphere/suspense , which is so important in horror/slasher movies , shame !

The movie is thrilling, with great monster moments of terror. I felt uncomfortable, but that was intended. A great re-invention of Wes Cravens 80s flick. Not sure it would be PC in 2021, but still a fun watch.

The Hills Have Eyes? More like the hills have some deformed degenerates who like to call you "Daddy" in the middle of the night!

Jokes aside, this came as a surprise! To tell you the truth, I never had high regard for campy horrors; to me, they are just okay for passing time, nothing more. Therefore, it goes without saying; that I didn't have many expectations, to begin with. Yet here I'm, mulling over what I just saw and also feeling quite ecstatic following my time with the film.

Unlike some of its contemporaries, there is a palpable tension here that they were able to uphold until the end credits started rolling! And trust me, it gets pretty dark in the middle, not to mention, the usage of practical effects and prosthetics took it to a whole new level! Well, all the performances do indeed come off, as you might predict, a bit cheesy, but I have to say I freaking cherished how they handled the character arc of "Doug" (Aaron Stanford).

P. S. That scene towards the ending; when the Camera tries to focus on Doug (Through the campfire) who's coming back to the RV, with blood all over his body and his face, and with him holding his little girl with one hand and the dog leash with the other; that shot, I thought was a great way to ascertain the badassery he had shown earlier!

Doug, my man! I will remember you!