The Hills Have Eyes – Unrated Edition

R4 DVD

Fox 2006

Released in a 2 DVD set with The Hills have Eyes 2.

The original “The Hills Have Eyes” was released in 1977 and directed by Wes Craven. It was a bizarre and violent film, made on a limited budget and focused on the clash between inbred country folk with a penchant for human flesh and urban city dwellers. Over the years it has become a cult classic, helped along by its dark sense of humour and Craven’s superb visual sense of cinema. In this remake Wes Craven returns, this time as producer with the celebrated Alexandre Aja as director. Aja already illustrated what he could with “Haute Tension”, a terrifying film which matched a paranoid and twisted plot with breathtaking brutality and violence, just what was needed for a reworking of this classic film. While many fans of the original will steadfastly refuse to watch this remake, I think this is a mistake, while there are many dismal remakes of classic horror films, this remake shows immense creativity and offers quite a stunning reworking of the original film in terms of both plot and cinematography.

The introduction to the main tale is quite breathtaking. We see footage of the New Mexico atomic tests intermixed with images of deformed children, all to an upbeat Fifties sound track. It is confronting and leaves you quite disturbed. The music changes to a harsh sound as each deformity is shown, prior to this we are shown an information scene outlining when and where the tests were undertaken and the fact that the US government has never accepted responsibility for any possible ill effects.

This use of the nuclear tests and the deformities it causes is the backbone of the film and adds a truly disturbing layer to the plot. As the story unfolds we learn that the town where the tests were undertaken was originally a mining settlement and refusing to leave the miners simply went underground. The government ignored their plight and went ahead with the tests anyway and what resulted was shocking indeed. While most of the miners some survived and as their community continued the deformities that resulted were horrific. The graphic imagery of deformed and twisted faces and limbs is testament to the effectiveness of special effects. As the effected miners try to survive and their fury at the “outsider world” increases, they capture travellers going through their territory and live off their wealth, property and.... flesh.

This background story may create a certain level of sympathy for the miners but not for long, the sheer brutality of their attacks and the rape, torture and violence that occurs during the clash between them and the family which is central to the film is brutal, to say the least.

The plot itself centres around Big Bob, a retired detective who has decided to take his family on a trip through the New Mexico desert before taking his new job in a private security firm. The family includes the overtly religious wife Ethel, the married daughter Lynne and her husband Doug, who sell mobile phones and their infant daughter Caroline. There are also the two teenagers, Brenda and Bobby. Along for the ride are two gorgeous German Shepherds, Beauty and Beast.

The family are travelling in a large American caravan loaded with food and goods for the trip. After stopping at a service station, Ethel notices a bag of jewels and other goods in the back office. While she doesn’t say anything, the owner of the station notes her attention and gives them a short cut to California. It seems he receives these goods as “gifts” from his inbred children in the desert and he will do what he can to protect them. Big Bob ignoring good sense decides to take the scenic short cut and drives the family off into the desert.

As the family drive along the winding dirt road, the car suddenly spins out of control and crashes, it is write off. What they do not realize is that the accident was caused by a “tribe” of cannibal mutants, who live and bred in the shadow of the atomic war site. Doug and Bob set off for help, while the others set up a meal in “holiday mode” - little do they know what they are in for.

The cinematography of the film is quite superb, it is a visual feast of colour, textures and symbols, all reinforcing the brutal battle between the two families – the urban family on their way to a better life and the desert family struggling to survive. There are certainly poignant moments which make one reflect on how this struggle began, especially when “Big Bob” is taken down into the mines. The imagery of the atomic test site populated by test dummies and the icons of Fifties wealth juxtaposed with the deformities of the people living among them is profound. However, the cannibals have degenerated so far that there is only a dim memory of humanity left and the clash is brutal, violent and cruel.

This is an extreme film, the scenes of violence are very realistic and at times very confronting, the “primal” scene when the daughter is raped, the mother killed and baby stolen is truly shocking, it is all the more powerful in that it is the first time you really get to see the enemy close up. At times it could be said that the violence becomes too outlandish and even bit “comic book” - it becomes just so over the top you turn off. I found this especially occurred during the final battle between Doug, who had transformed from mobile phone geek to “Warrior”, and the mutant who has his child.

However, that being said, this is a visceral, confronting yet haunting film and while many remakes fail to hit the mark, this one is certainly successful. The combination of Craven and Aja has produced a brutal and confronting experience which many may not stomach, for those willing to take a journey to the darker side of human nature, this is well worth the price of admission.