The Hills Have Eyes

Year: 2006
Director: Alexandre Aja
Cast: Aaron Stanford, Emilie de Ravin, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw, Ted Levine, Dan Byrd, Robert Joy, Tom Bower

In the movies, violence can be fun if it's done right. Violence is kinda like horror's best friend, they always seem to go hand in hand. Some may abhor it, but others who just love to be scared would just enjoy the violence they see on screen. It can be fun, as long as it stays on screen of course.

OK, enough beating around the bush. The Hills Have Eyes was originally done by Wes Craven back in 1977 and now remade by Alexandre Aja. The story focuses on the Carter family, who are travelling across the New Mexico desert via motor home towards San Diego. They take a little detour through an unknown road, thanks to a shady gas station man and end up getting waylaid by a group of cannibalistic freaks.

These freaks apparently originated from a group of miners who refused to leave their homes when their village was used as a nuclear testing site by the US government. Now transformed and mutated by the radiation, they prey on any hapless people who cross into their territory. The Carter family, made up of parents Big Bob (Levine) and Ethel (Quinlan), daughters Lynn (Shaw) and Brenda (de Ravin), son Bobby (Byrd), son-in-law Doug (Stanford) and grandchild Catherine, and two dogs (Beauty and Beast) are now the next victims. When the freaks massacre half the family and kidnap the baby, the remaining family members must band together and become as violent as their attackers to survive.

I haven't seen the original, so I can't make comparisons. But I can tell you that this is one fun movie. If you're not the squeamish type, you'll enjoy the horror and violence depicted on screen. Director Alexandre Aja does an excellent job in almost every department, from the pacing to the casting to the music score to the production design. He uses classical 50s music during the opening and closing credits, giving an eerie feel to his film. He filmed in Morocco, using their vast desert landscape to great effect.

The cast, from the actors playing the Carters to the ones playing the freaks do a splendid job indeed. They bring out the best and worst of their characters, making it a very believable experience. Byrd, de Ravin, Stanford and Joy, who plays the freak Lizard, stand out best.

It's admirable to watch a normal American suburban family suddenly thrust into a life threatening situation turn the tables on their tormentors, with deadly force. It shows what some of us would do when backed into a corner with no way out, and having to resort to ruthlessness to stay alive.

A great and memorable horror flick. Just don't watch the sequel to this. (4.5/5)