The Hills Have Eyes [2005]

Tag Line : The Lucky ones died first..

The Hills Have Eyes [2005]It goes without saying, that remakes are nothing new (pardon the pun). But following the box office success of 2003's "Texas Chainsaw" remake and 2004's "Dawn of the Dead", Wes Craven and the producers at New Line Cinema decided to revisit one of their earlier successes, with a view to giving it a modern day makeover.

Helmed this time by director Alexandra Aja (Haute Tension/Switchblade Romance) the film pretty much follows the original storyline, in which a holidaying family foolishly decide to leave the desert highway and subsequently break down on a lonely dirt-track miles from anywhere.

Similarly to the original, the father, Bob Carter (Ted Levine) goes off in search of help, but as night falls the remainder of the family find themselves fighting for survival against a bunch of blood thirsty, retarded cannibal folk who've been watching them from the hills. If you've seen the original you'll know what to expect, as they all meet similar grisly demises as before.

But despite the similarities, the film does pull out some neat twists, in which we find that there exists not just a family of cannibals, but an entire community inhabiting a former nuclear weapons test range in the desert. The radiation from which having had an adverse affect on them.

Also starring horror veteran Billy Drago as the head of the cannibalistic clan, whilst this version proves to be gorier and more violent, I felt the original was arguably the more brutal, strange as that may sound. I also felt it lacked the atmosphere the original held. Teens will probably love it, but fans of the original will probably prefer that version to this. No Michael Berryman this time either.

One final passing thought, anyone else think that Pluto in this film looked decidedly similar to Jason from Friday the 13th parts 3-4?

Overall Marks : 5/10.

Terrifying Trivia.

  • The photos of mutations that play during the opening credits are not of atomic mutation, but birth defects caused by the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam.

  • The films budget was $14 million.

  • Ted Levine, who plays the father Big Bob Carter, also played serial killer Buffalo Bill in "Silence of the Lambs".

  • Set in New Mexico, the film was actually shot in Morocco.

  • Billy Drago is a prominent actor in horror B-movies. His credits include "Sci-Fighters", "Cyborg 2", "Tremors 4", "Demon Hunter" and the infamous 'Masters of Horror' episode "Imprint".

  • Kathleen Quinlan, who plays Ethel Carter, also played Peters in "Event Horizon".

  • Big Brain was played by British actor Desmond Askew, who played Brody in the US TV show Roswell High. One of his earlier roles was in the popular UK kids show "Grange Hill" in which he played 'Richard' back in the early 90's.

  • All death scenes, and the rape sequence, were shortened at the insistence of the US ratings board, the MPAA. It was this cut version that was released to cinemas internationally, however the original extended/unrated version was later released on DVD. Just be sure if you buy the US version you go for the "unrated" version.

Extra Info.

Cast & Crew.

Cover Gallery.

 
Buy Online.

Buy the UK DVD (extended cut).

Buy the UK BD (Pts 1-2)

Buy it at Amazon.Com.

Buy the US DVD (extended cut).

Buy the US BD (extended cut).

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