The Hills Have Eyes(06)

The original The Hills Have Eyes fascinated my dad Duke so he was pretty pumped when the remake was announced. I’m happy to say without Batman Begins and the Hills remake, I don’t think I’d still be trying to write my damn book and that’s honestly one of the best things I can possibly say for it.

During the mid 40’s to the early 60’s the US government tested atomic bombs in the remote parts of the desert. They thought the land was barren but it wasn’t. Families bred, mutated and deformed living in the many caves and ruins of test houses of the desert surviving off of blood and flesh. The Carter family drove through the desert, lost on there way to California much like the original but what we would get is a much more atmospheric, emotional, and brutal tale of revenge…

Already from the beginning of the film with a gruesome set of opening kills and opening credits consisting of old test footage, bits of the deformities we’re about to see, and a great 50’s country song to put it in perspective we know it’s going to be a different beast than the first. The narrative feels much more complete for starters; we spend more time with the Carter family so when they start dying and violated, you really do feel for them. The movie has a great sense of isolation but also feels claustrophobic in all the right spots- in the vastness of the desert you never are really alone. The mutants are a huge improvement over the classic cannibals in that by the time you get a feel for there world, I got a extra layer of pathos to them. The effects on them were great and pretty damn realistic. The does damn good at being a bloody, intense horror movie but’s also a dark badass western. The fights during the second half are some of my favorites, harrowing but never feel like they jump the shark. The music is creepy but also epic, a good fit. The last seconds are sequel bait but also work as a good oh shit ending too. In the end, I loved this movie and I definitely recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Author: torstenvblog

Writer of the strange and everything; lover of horror, literature, comics, and the alien is my spirit animal View all posts by torstenvblog