The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

I must admit when I heard that this was being remade, I wasn’t pleased.  See as a horror fan, Hills is my favorite Wes Craven movie.  I know I know, the collective gasps as I didn’t say it was Last House on the Left or Nightmare on Elm Street.  I love how the original Hills was gritty, different, and it worked on several different levels.  So when I heard this was getting remade, I was instantly soured at the idea of a bunch of pretty actors running around with bad makeup and a script that would be garbage.  Then I heard who was directing it.  Alexandre Aja.  Now for those of you unfamiliar with the name he is the same director who brought us High Tension (aka Haute Tension/Switchblade Romance depending on what country you’re talking about), which is a film that I highly recommend if you are in the mood for one hell of a slasher flick.  Then I saw the list of actors that were cast in the role’s of the infamous cannibal family.  I saw the names of great veteran horror actors like Robert Joy (Land of the Dead, Amityville 3-D)and Billy Drago (Charmed, Masters of Horror – Imprint).  Also I was thrilled to see Ted Levine (Silence of the Lambs) cast as Big Bob, the Dad of the family.  Everything was in place and when I went to see this film in theatre’s I was literally blown away.   In an age of either terrible remakes (The Fog, When A Stranger Calls) or alright ones (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn of the Dead) I finally felt like the remake of Hills was what a remake should be.  It doesn’t blatantly use a classic films title just to get by.  It had more to offer and stayed true enough to the original to be a damn good horror film.  Last night I sat down to watch the unrated version for the first time and I must say…..great job.  I really enjoyed the extended cut as there wasn’t a TON of stuff put back in, but the added pieces of gore really did help out.  This movie is pretty graphic and I must say that as usual, KNB effects comes through again with awesome gore, and great looking family member.  The Unrated DVD is loaded up with all kinds of goodies like 2 commentary tracks (one with Aja, the writer of the Hills remake Gregory Levasseur, and producer Marianne Maddalena and the other with Wes Craven and the original producter peter Locke) trailers, and a Making of documentary.  In case you were wondering what the movie was about in general, you apparently need to do yourself a favor and checkout the original if you already haven’t.  It’s about a family going on a vacation while driving in an RV.  They cut through the desert and decide to take a shortcut in doing so.  They end up stranded on a back road after an accident and the film starts from there.  Great performances in this film by Levine, Joy, and newcomer Daniel Byrd.  Considering that Byrd is a 20 year old actor with a few film credits under his belt and two of those directors are horror legends Tobe Hooper (Mortuary) and Aja (Hills).  I think we’ll be seeing more of him to come in horror flicks unless mainstream Hollywood pulls him away.  I wish I could say that we saw a great performance from Billy Drago but he barely gets to show what he’s got as his screen time is severely short.  But Hills is a damn fine horror flick that stands on it’s own two feet and doesn’t depend on the legacy of the original film to put it over in the minds of fans.  Hell, if the family would have been given more personality (like they were in the original), I would have easily liked the 2005 Hills better than the original. Rating – ***1/2
-Ed Demko

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