Hillside Cannibals

Hillside Cannibals (2006)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The Asylum's rip-off of THE HILLS HAVE EYES has five friends going into the desert only to quickly have three of them dead. The cannibals take a fourth victim and it's up to his girlfriend (Heather Conforto) to go back into the hills and try to save him. I'm not sure if The Asylum had their reputation in place back when this film was originally released but viewing it today one will more than likely already know about the company and the type of movies they release. This one here isn't nearly the worst thing they've done but it's also very clear that it's a pretty bad movie that only has a couple things going for it. I think the biggest problem is the horrible cannibals. There's not a single frame where you actually believe you're looking at some mountain cannibals who have been around for ages living off the land and people who enter their land. Their cave pretty much has nothing except for fake looking skulls and bones lying around. Was this meant to scare of? The cannibals also talk some stupid language and it's clear that it's never meant to make any sort of sense. There's also elements of the film that rips Craven's version including the young family member who at first goes against their families wishes. The performances in the film really aren't anything to write home about and especially those playing the cannibals but I think the majority of the problem falls on the director for not giving them some better range to act in. The only thing that really keeps the film moving along is the fact that it does contain some pretty violent and gory scenes. As a horror fan I really hate watching bad movies like this one and there not being any gore so at least they gave us that. I also like the way the film ended but most people probably won't get to see it as they'll have already turned the picture off.