Looking Back at 'the Hills Have Eyes'

"Looking Back at the Hills Have Eyes" is a solid interview based retrospective look back at Wes Craven's "The Hills Have Eyes". Anchor Bay put it together as part of the Divimax Special Edition DVD package released in 2003. All those interviewed have fun antidotes and stories from the filming: from their working out in the middle of a scorching desert to the dangers of 6-foot rattlers. Their fond recollections are infectious and cause you to take a different look at the final product. Not as in-depth as I would like but Wes Craven is always interesting to see interviews. He's a smart guy with a passion for what he does. Many of his films confirm that.

Amusing doc about the making of Wes Craven's 1977 horror, The Hills Have Eyes, with newly filmed interviews with the original cast and crew. Stories of how the production first began, casting, and filming some of the more dangerous scenes are connected by the scenes themselves. We also get behind the scenes photographs, and toward the end, we are taken back to the filming locations in the then-present day ( 2003 )

I wish they would have talked more about the footage which had to be cut from the film to avoid an X-rating, or better yet, shown it.

Looking Back at 'The Hills Have Eyes' (2003)

**** (out of 4)

Excellent 50-minute documentary about the making of THE HILLS HAVE EYES features Wes Craven, Peter Locke, Dee Wallace, Suze Lanier, Janus Blythe, Robert Houston, Eric Saarinen and Michael Berryman. If you're a fan of the film then you're certainly going to enjoy this documentary, which starts off with Craven talking about what he was doing around this time in his life and how being broke was the main influence to make this movie.

From here we learn about the pre-production including trying to find all the locations to shoot on. There are some pretty funny stories about the cast trying to deal with the heat. From here we learn about the casting and then of course the actual shooting of the movie. Everything tells some extremely good stories and especially Wallace who shares a story of how she finally cracked one day and screamed at the crew. Another great story deals with a rattlesnake that broke free during lunch one day. There's also some talk about its run-in with the MPAA, which hit it with a X-rating, although sadly there's no talk about exactly what was cut. Either way, fans of the film are certainly going to want to watch this film as it's a fun look back at a now classic.