Gore disciples rejoice: Alexandre Aja's remake of The Hills Have Eyes hits like a hot blood baptism.
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:134
Fresh:66
Rotten:68
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: Faster paced for today's audiences, this Hills remake ratchets up the gore for the hardcore horror fans, but will turn away casual audiences.
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
US Box Office: $41,685,824
Synopsis: In the annals of modern fear, few films have had as deep an impact as Wes Craven's 1977 cult classic THE HILLS HAVE EYES. With its gritty, ferocious and relentlessly suspenseful tale of a... In the annals of modern fear, few films have had as deep an impact as Wes Craven's 1977 cult classic THE HILLS HAVE EYES. With its gritty, ferocious and relentlessly suspenseful tale of a vacationing family who suddenly face a desperate battle for survival, the low-low-budget but no-holds-barred film was resonant with both intriguing themes and outrageous shocks to the nervous system. Now, inspired by the wild imagination of suspense-master Craven – who serves as producer along with Marianne Maddalena and Peter Locke – comes a contemporary reinterpretation of THE HILL HAVE EYES from the cutting-edge young filmmakers, Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur, whose recent hit HIGH TENSION won acclaim and controversy for raising the bar on horror films again with its graphic, white-knuckle take on psychological terror. Aja and Levasseur bring this chilling horror story of ever-intensifying dread hurtling into the 21st century, refashioning it with a raw, gut-wrenching realism and hard-driving visual style to terrify a whole new generation of filmgoers. It all begins with a typically dysfunctional cross-country family road trip. It's the wedding anniversary of rugged Cleveland police detective "Big Bob" Carter (TED LEVINE) and his chatty wife Ethel (Academy Award® nominee KATHLEEN QUINLAN) and to celebrate, Bob's asked his extended family to cruise to California with them, hoping the joys of the open road might help fuse their frayed connections. No one is particularly happy about it. Eldest daughter, Lynn, (VINESSA SHAW) worries about her new baby's safety and comfort while her husband, mild-mannered tech geek, Doug (AARON STANFORD), worries about close encounters with his father-in-law. Meanwhile teen daughter, Brenda, (EMILIE DE RAVIN) detests the idea of leaving her friends for a family bonding trip, while young prankster Bobby, (DAN BYRD) is anxious to entertain the family's two German Shepherds, Beauty and Beast. Nevertheless, the entire clan piles into a weathered Suburban pulling Bob's beloved '88 Airstream trailer and heads west. Then, Big Bob takes a detour. Suddenly, the Carter family finds themselves in a desolate stretch of desert, with nothing seemingly alive for miles. When they run into a little unexpected vehicle trouble, they realize they are in dire straits, far from help, with a relentlessly sweltering desert sun overhead. But even as they fight to survive the deadly desert, a far greater threat emerges. Now the Carters become aware that they are not quite as alone as they first thought. There is another group of survivors in the hills surrounding the desert: a genetically mutated, insatiably hungry, blood-thirsty clan – the terrifying offspring of miners left behind in the days when atomic tests spread radioactive fallout across the desert – who will stop at nothing to prey on the Carters one by one. Facing the very depths of savagery, the Carter family must pull together if they are to find any hope of returning to civilized life again…alive. --© Fox Searchlight [More]
Starring: Emilie de Ravin, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw
Starring: Emilie de Ravin, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw
Director: Alexandre Aja
Director: Alexandre Aja
Screenwriter: Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseur
Producer: Wes Craven, Peter Locke, Marianne Maddalena
Composer: Tomandandy
Producer: Wesley Earl Craven
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Reviews for The Hills Have Eyes
The Hills Have Eyes, a remake of a 30-year-old shocker, is concerned with the impact of violence. It shows how grief-stricken the survivors are, and it's interested in where violent impulses come from.
Using considerable creative intelligence and millions of dollars with no purpose other than profit by inspiring bloodlust is monstrous.
The story is more focused on a kind of meat-market smorgasbord mixed with political the-government-did-this-to-us overtones. It doesn't really work.
[A] deep-down disturbing and surprisingly poignant riff on abandonment, inhuman isolation, and creepy desolation...
[A] deep-down disturbing and surprisingly poignant riff on abandonment, inhuman isolation, and creepy desolation...
When Aja does get going, he subtly and surprisingly elevates the tension like someone who knows what he's doing.
Utterly trumps its source material on a technical level ... but that coveted nightmare vibe remains elusive.
A rather pointless exercise that reinforces the age-old adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t remake it’.
It's fair to say that this is one of the better horror films in recent months but that's more a comment on the weak field than it is a statement of unqualified praise.
An extremely well made horror flick that’s definitely worth seeing, if you’ve got the stomach for it.
...if this is what you're looking for, you'll do just fine; but there's nothing fresh or mandatory here.
Intense, stylish, unspeakably gruesome, and at least marginally evocative of the beyond-low-budget zeitgeist of the original.
A bloody good time...Increases the gore level substantially, but thankfully director Aja stays close to the original's blueprint and keeps the suspense quotient high.
Aja also comes out squarely against nuclear testing. How brave. What good is a wallow in sicko sadism if you take all the fun out of it?
If it’s hard out there for a pimp, it’s even more difficult for a whore.
Latest News for The Hills Have Eyes
October 10, 2008:
Exclusive: Alexandre Aja talks Mirrors and Piranha 3D
We caught up with Aja for his only UK interview to learn more about the movie as well as his latest project, a 3D remake of Joe Dante's classic Piranha. More...
October 04, 2007:
Trailer Exclusive: Parking Lot Thrills, Chills in P2
RT's got the first trailer for November's horror-thriller P2, from the people who brought you High Tension! More...
April 21, 2007:
Craven to Produce "People Under the Stairs" Remake
Under his new deal with Rogue Pictures, Wes Craven is going to continue producing remakes of his own movies like "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Last House on the... More...
March 22, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Six New Films Try to Shoot Down Spartans From #1 Spot
A half-dozen new soldiers enter the marketplace this weekend trying to topple the kingdom of "300" which has reigned supreme at the box office for the past two weeks. More...
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