Over the Hills: horror film adds to list of bad remakes

posted March 14, 2006

by Philip Havlik of Campanile

Being stuck in the middle of the New Mexico desert, miles from any form of civilization, is not the way any family wants to spend their vacation. Add cannibalistic mutants lusting for human flesh, and you've got a family vacation worse than a trip to EuroDisney.

This, along with plenty of blood and gore, makes the new horror movie, <i>The Hills Have Eyes</i>, a flick that will have moviegoers on the edge of their seats, and stomachs close to turning.

In the film, The Carter Family goes on a road trip to San Diego, but takes a misinformed "shortcut" through an abandoned nuclear bomb test site on their way to California. After getting stuck on the road, the family's father (Ted Levine) and his son-in-law (Aaron Stanford) search for much-needed help.

The family's chatty mother (Kathleen Quinn), the vaguely bratty daughter (Emile De Ravin), son (Dan Byrd) and eldest daughter (Vinessa Shaw), are left inside their trailer as there parents look around. The blood-thirsty mutants watch and wait. As darkness falls over the isolated desert landscape, the deformed beasts commence their savage hunt for human flesh.

<i>The Hills Have Eyes</i> is a remake of Wes Craven's 1977 classic horror movie. As producer, the horror expert Craven guides French director/writer Alexandre Aja (High Tension) in an attempt to revive the once popular film from obscurity.

The barren landscape, mysterious metallic objects in the dark red hills and labored breathing of the mutants contribute to the constant feeling of suspense of this film. Even the action in the movie is quick and intense, causing the movie to frequently change direction abruptly.

Scenes in the movie are gory and could make some audience members turn away in disgust – unless they like people being burned alive on a tree, or a hopeless teen being molested by a gang of radioactively deformed human beings. The film was originally even more violent and gory, but was edited to avoid the box-office-killing NC-17 rating. However, there is still plenty of unneccesary gore that seem to channel thoughts of a deranged serial killer.

<i>The Hills Have Eyes</i> is a movie for those who can digest blood and gore while being bombarded by constant surprises.