The Hills Have Eyes

Wes Craven's second film is well-crafted and frightening to say the least. LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was more realistic (almost too much), but this perfect drive-in movie leaves you wanting more. It must have been an unbearable shoot. Check out the 2-disc DVD.

A definite 7 out of 10 with Michael Berryman giving the best performance. Perfect locale in these California mountains that is scarier than the Bates Motel. Great cast with all unknowns. Dee Wallace was quite touching as the young mother and the old Grandpa Fred in the beginning was authentic to the max! Even if you're not a big horror fan, you should check this out late at night. Wes Craven has a good eye and feel for blood relations!

The Carter family are travelling through the desert on their way to California. Head of the family Bob (Russ Grieve), a retired police officer, decides to visit an inherited silver-mine on the way, and ignoring the advice of Fred (John Steadman), a local filling station owner, drives off the main road towards the hills. An accident leaves the family stranded and easy pickings for a family of cannibals lead by Jupiter (James Whitworth). Following a savage attack by this family, which leaves a number of the Carter's dead, the survivors realise that to continue surviving they too will have to become savages.

Wes Craven followed his controversial debut ‘The Last House on the Left' (1972) with this far greater arranged and compelling tale of family warfare. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is a movie with a raw brutality that has been unsurpassed in any of Craven's films to date, and is possibly the finest horror movie to be directed by Wes Craven. Despite not being as graphic as one would expect the movie never ceases to unnerve or alarm. The atmosphere, which bears a slight resemblance to ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974), maintains an unsettling air from beginning to end as the viewer is sucked into the nightmare that the Carter family is forced to endure. The desolation and hopelessness is portrayed beautifully by Craven, who utilises intelligent camerawork and a haunting soundtrack to fully create the feelings of terror. For everything that the screenplay lacks, Craven's direction more than makes up for and one wonders why Craven is no longer able to make such raw, gripping and emotional movies such as this. During the movie it becomes easy to identify with some of the characters and then feel fulfilled when they exact their retribution.

The acting, while not up to the standard of Craven's more recent offerings such as ‘Scream' (1996), is of a fairly high standard for a low budget 70's horror flick and certainly helps in aiding ‘The Hills Have Eyes' to accomplish a brutal, psychological edge. James Whitworth offers a fantastic performance as the despicable Jupiter and should probably be thought of higher as a horror film villain. His performance demands respect for its power and authority and is accompanied well by Michael Berryman and Lance Gordon. Producer Peter Locke even had a small role as Mercury, the watchdog for this contemptible family of savages. Interestingly the cannibal family come across as deranged hippies, which explains their planetary names. Virginia Vincent was the only performer that I really could not tolerate, but that could be because of the poor scripting for her religious-nut character Ethel. A very special mention has to go to Stryker the Alsatian, who `played' the part of Beast.

I highly recommend this for horror fans. Those people who think that the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street' series is the be all and end all of horror should certainly check this out. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is, in my opinon, Wes Craven's most thought out and gripping horror film to date which features some good performances, excellent camerawork, enthralling sequences and some first-rate special effects. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is an excellent example of classic Wes Craven and is one of his most creative movies. My rating for ‘The Hills Have Eyes' – 8/10.

Unusually, this is one film that I ended up watching long after I've already seen the remake; I always try to see the original films first but this Wes Craven chiller slipped me by. Sadly, I was left feeling disappointed and let down once it was over, mainly because the remake is, surprisingly, superior in every way: the actors are better, the gore better, the direction better, and the music better. The remake also sticks VERY closely to the plot of this film, so all of the surprises and twists were well choreographed in advance and there was little to intrigue me here.

For a '70s horror film, it's not a bad effort: there are some good chills and the film makes a horror star out of Michael Berryman, the bald bad guy who traded on his appearance here for the rest of his career. The problem is that the low budget hurts the proceedings somewhat, with the rest of the cannibal family resembling hippies rather than mutants. Despite the savagery of their actions, they end up laughable instead of frightening. Another problem is Craven's direction – it feels insipid rather than inspired and in light of Alexandre Aja's excellent job on the remake, I can't help but feel it's lacking. Some of the cast don't help, with Susan Lanier standing out as one of the most irritating screamers in horror history (the dog's great, though). Back in the day, THE HILLS HAVE EYES was a shocking and depraved horror flick; today it's a dated intrigue that doesn't stand up alongside fellow '70s movies like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It's okay but I'd recommend the remake over this any day.

Despite being close to thirty years old, Wes Craven's "The Hills Have Eyes" maintains a distinct raw intensity - far surpassing the level of terror seen in horror films today. The plot in a nutshell; a family on vacation ventures from the main road, ends up stranded in the desert, and falls prey to a malevolent clan of inbred cannibals. Though the story idea may be far from original - it is the atmosphere, directorial style, and acting that raise the overall credibility of the film. The low budget and claustrophobic desert setting creates a sense of dread permeating throughout the entire film; while the grainy look of the print adds a sense of realism to the unfolding events. With a brisk running time of only 89 minutes the film doesn't waste a moment in setting the mood - then when all hell breaks loose it is unrelenting until the final scene. The actors portraying the Carter family bring sufficient emotional range to their characterizations, making it clearly evident that this a normal family being tested beyond the boundaries of civilized nature. It is also worth noting the performances by the actors who play Pluto and Mars (two of the baddies) - these characters are portrayed as both sadistic and devoid of any sympathy. Although the DVD print is grainy (as mentioned above), it is THE definitive version of the film and is thousands of times an improvement over the quality of the video release; quite amazing for a low budget film of this nature. Grim, violent, and symbolic; it is an amazing piece of 70's exploitation horror. "The Hills Have Eyes" is a classic in every sense of the word, and receives an 8/10.

On a road-trip through the New Mexico desert, a family stranded in the area finds that a group of inbred, cannibalistic hillbillies have targeted the group and are set on killing them for food, forcing the family into a desperate race to stop them and get away alive.

This here was quite the fun if slightly flawed effort. When this one works, it's mainly due to the fact that there's quite an effective atmosphere here of being out alone in the wilderness. The film does an incredible job in the first half of depicting the desert of this one as creepy and chilling which really makes it so that being trapped on an open road in the middle of nowhere is a pretty terrifying ordeal and forces the ultimate traveling nightmare. The darkness that surrounds the family is terrifying, as anyone or anything can hide in there, and this film provides that fear in spades as tons of times we see or hear all these sights and sounds that would terrify any sane person. That gets exemplified best in the one scene of the characters run down the highway in the dark as these crazy laughs were heard echoing alongside him, a pretty terrifying ordeal, and it only gets better from there. That comes from the rather impressive event that kick-starts the film into overdrive which is the main assault on the van as the family gets into attacking the trapped members during an insanely fun ploy here, as the mounting tension plays into the initial first trap before the charge into the van and all the battles to confront them attempting to escape as well as one of the most horrendous acts ever committed to screen, and the audacity to pull it off and make it as striking as it is a huge testament to do something like that. By subjecting us to this scene, it works to keep the audience on the edge because now we don't know what else will be thrown at us and become anxious as the waiting game begins. The best part is the events that follow as the film is all action featuring plenty of solid action as the brutal encounters offer a lot of great moments. Also great is the family has a creepy air around them that makes us all become scared of them, and along with their great behavior patterns are the best parts. It doesn't have too many flaws here as the main issue is the illogical manner of getting them on the shortcut which really makes no sense and features plenty of stupid character decisions to move them along. There's also the manner of the rather sloppier effects for the gore and kills which does take away a bit of their effectiveness. Otherwise, this is quite an enjoyable effort.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, attempted rape, violence-against-animals and children-in-jeopardy.