The climate of the horror film has changed. During the 80s and 90s, scary movies relied on a witty banter, stupid teenagers, and a man in a mask with a knife and a motive, but lacked psychological tension or sheer brutality that made the horror genre of the 70s and early 80s so wildly popular before kids at summer camps started falling prey to knife wielding dream monsters or deranged goalies with a machete. This genre of horror film has been put to bed recently with the advent of psychological scares like “Saw,” “The Ring” and M. Night Shyamalan’s various movies. The ultra-violent horror movie has also made a comeback with Rob Zombie’s movies (“House of 1000 Corpses” and “The Devil’s Rejects”).
“The Hills Have Eyes” takes the ultra-violent horror movie to a new level not seen since the original (directed by Wes Craven) came out back in the late 70s. The story centers on a suburban family on vacation when they are stranded in the middle of the desert. By the way, this just so happens to be where the government once did nuclear experiments. The family is quickly confronted by a mutant family who are dead set on killing this family in the most brutal ways possible.
Once the movie gets going, it doesn’t stop. There are your typical “he is behind the corner” surprises, but what sets this movie apart is the lack of a camera cutting away. In a typical horror movie when the innocent is captured by the villain, the camera cuts” away and the innocent’s demise is hinted at or implied, but not in The Hills Have Eyes.” The makers of the movie show you every gut wrenching, eye covering second of the gore and violence.
The movie also benefits from excellent cinematography (this means the movie looks good) and above average acting (for a horror, slasher flick).
The script is pretty good and true to the original. They don’t mess with the tone by having too many quirky one-liners, and there are not any characters that are so annoying that you are rooting for them to die.
As I read on a web site, “The movie has a Deliverance factor: you see it once, you’re glad you saw it, but it’s so disgusting you’re pretty sure you don’t want to experience that again.”
So leave the little siblings and kids at home, pick up your best bud or your main squeeze, and prepare to be scared, disgusted, and left emotionally damaged, but ultimately entertained.