The Hills Have Eyes (Film)

The last movie I saw at my favorite local theater was The Hills Have Eyes, it's a remake. The original was made in 1977 and directed by Wes Craven (also directed Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream trilogy). They seem to be doing that a lot these days, remaking horror films for a new generation. A remake of the Friday the 13th films is currently in the planning stages.

The main reason I saw this particular film was based on a review on the Ain't It Cool site.

Moriarty's Review

Sometimes, even though I sometimes scare quite easily, I'm in the mood for a good scary movie. The operative good being good. A good scary film properly demonstrates the visceral power the cinema can have. It's a primal feeling to be scared. It really gets the heart pumping in a way no other film can do. But. And this is a big butt, it really throws me out of the loop when characters start acting dumb. This is especially true in a scary movie. It sucks when the film's terror is dependent on the stupidity of the people in the film.

For example, I saw the remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A really nice looking movie, but the female lead is being hunted down by the chainsaw welding Leatherface. He drops his chainsaw multiple times near the end of the movie. Instead of her picking up the chainsaw and going after him, she instead runs away screaming. I don't like how typical horror films are in their treatment of female characters. I like it when they flip the script and go in the opposite direction.

One of my favorite horror films, maybe my most favorite, is the Ring, itself a remake of a Japanese film. The lead does everything I would have done. I don't she makes a single misstep. It was a while prior to seeing this film that I last saw a scary movie, might have been the Scream films. Ring was a rental for me and after seeing that movie, I was troubled enough not to keep it in the house. I placed it in the garage. Even that felt too close to home, So I decided to return it to Blockbuster that night. I had trouble looking in the rearview mirror, thinking I might see something that shouldn't be there. It was actually a little fun feeling that scared. It's what made me see the Chainsaw remake. Bad move. I even ended up seeing the sequel, Ring 2. Naomi Watts started acting stupid and the film lost it's power on me.

I think it's good to be scared once in a while. Which bring us to this movie, The Hills Have Eyes. I also wished it had a mouth and could speak for itself. My sister saw the original and the biggest difference I can discern is the origin for the people in the hills. In the original, the people are the result of inbreeding. Loving your family can bear rotten fruit. In the new spiffy version, the people are miners mutated by the fallout radiation resulting from nuclear testing in the 40's and 50's out in the desert. Otherwise the films are remarkably similar. I think it would have been much more interesting if the mutants were not white people, but Native Americans. These mutants are understandably upset at the long mistreatment by the white man and now want to get revenge. I'd make it more political and have these mutants much more articulate about their current plight and the rage they feel. Perhaps even go so far as to have them leave a ethnic family alone. Could be interesting. As for this movie, it was just *shrugs shoulder*. Haven't seen it? Didn't miss much. It's a rental at best.

Hiding behind a seat and sitting in the aisle.