Movie Reviews

The Hills Have Eyes

Rated R, 1:45 (2006)

Starring: Aaron Stanford, Dan Byrd, Emilie de Ravin, Kathleen Quinlan, Ted Levine, Vanessa Shaw

Direction: Alexandre Aja

Production: Wes Craven, Peter Locke, Marianne Maddalena

Screenplay: Alexandre Aja & Grégory Lavasseur, based on the 1977 screenplay by Wes Craven

by Vincent St. James

The Lowdown:

At first, a little slow...then, unbelievably disturbing.

Disturbing indeed.

The Hills Have Eyes didn't have to do much to outdo it's closest competitors of recent past in the horror genre. With producer Wes Craven involved and High Tension's Alexandre Aja directing, there is no surprise that this movie surpasses much of what has plagued this genre in recent memory. This movie has it's flaws, but if you're looking to get creeped out on a Saturday Night, this is the movie to see.

It starts off rather conventional. Your "typical" American family is going on vacation, and one stupid idea after another (e.g, taking advice from a rather shady gas man) and voila, welcome to Hell. Ted Levine plays Bob, the father who is presumably responsible for deciding through the desert to get to San Diego. Obviously, this is not the best of thrills for little Bobby and Brenda, played by Dan Byrd and Emilie de Ravin, respectively. The eldest sibling, Lynn, played by Vanessa Shaw, is with her newborn and her husband, Doug, played by Aaron Stanford. Father Bob's wife, Ethel, played by Kathleen Quinlan, is also there for the ride.

I wasn't expecting too much from this type of film. I was expecting your usual thrills and chills and from the trailers was able to deduce an anti-government testing undertone. That is a factor in the movie, though it's a small one. What surprised me most, is the way this story evolved. It makes it quite different from most other scary movies in that usually, you get a cheap thrill at the beginning, some more cheap thrills, bit characters die, and our hero wins. The hero is obvious, in most cases.

Here, we get a heavy dose of anticipation, an increase in tension, just how Alexandre Aja likes to do it. In the process, we become familiar with the characters and start making our own judgments, conclusions and predictions about them. However, the film creeps to the inevitable ever so cautiously, not rushing into things, until finally the main sequence arrives, featuring our repulsive friends, the freakshows who live in the hills.