The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

Release Date: March 17, 2006

Cast: Dan Byrd, Emilie De Ravin, Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan, Ted Levine, Vinessa Shaw, Robert Joy, Billy Drago, Tom Bower, Ezra Buzzington

Director: Alexandre Aja (High Tension)

Premise: A hapless family makes a detour to a desolated desert to visit a silver mine they've inherited where they are preyed upon by a disturbing clan. Based on the 1977 Wes Craven film.

[matt35mm]

If the movie doesn't feature the same style of editing as the trailer (which is a rip off of the Texas Chainsaw remake trailer with some of that freeze frame or slowing down of the film towards the end), this could be good.  Nothing new, but it could generate some real creepiness.  We'll see.  I like that it's a very direct story, with no need for twists, and no need to not show the killer's face.  Hell, maybe the killers will have some personality for once in a long while.  Creepy mutants are going to kill everybody, simple and clean.  That's all I need.

At least it'll be better than When A Stranger Calls.

[mutinyco]

Where's Michael Berryman, damnit?!...

[edison]

New Poster


and a gory spoiler short clip http://theluckyonesdiefirst.com/

[hedwig]

At least the actress doesn't look hilariously un-scared like in the first poster. Except now she looks like Princess Superstar.



I guess I'll rent the original one of these days. I might be crazy, but I liked "Haute Tension" both as a horror movie (minus the ending) and as an over-the-top allegory on repressed sexuality (ending intact). 

[godardian]

I'm not much of a Wes Craven/horror nut (I think The Shining is a great "horror" film like I think 2001 is a great "sci-fi" film, whereas I don't get at all excited over the Friday the 13th or Star Wars series--I guess if Kubrick doesn't rescue it from genre convention, I'm not very interested), but I've always heard great things about the '77 version, and it really sounds like something that transcends genre. I think Peter Travers once mentioned it in the same breath as an old Neil Jordan little red riding hood-based horror film. . . . Has anyone seen the original? Comments?

[MacGuffin]

Has anyone seen the original? Comments?

The original still holds up today. Very tense and scary. Like the original Texas Chainsaw or Halloween or Evil Dead, etc., it's the limitations of the budget that bring the creativity forward to find the horror in the filmmaking; like in the photography and editing.

[godardian]

Has anyone seen the original? Comments?

The original still holds up today. Very tense and scary. Like the original Texas Chainsaw or Halloween or Evil Dead, etc., it's the limitations of the budget that bring the creativity forward to find the horror in the filmmaking; like in the photography and editing.

...yes, I remenber now liking the first Halloween, too. And I think Carrie is great, too, if not really a "horror" film. Anyway, I'll have to see if I can check out the original Hills.

I looked on IMDB, and the Neil Jordan scary movie is The Company of Wolves. And it's got Angela Lansbury!  Have you seen that?

[polkablues]

I looked on IMDB, and the Neil Jordan scary movie is The Company of Wolves. And it's got Angela Lansbury!  Have you seen that?

The Company of Wolves is amazing.  Probably the best example of a grown-up fairy tale that's ever been put on film.  Loaded to the brim with sexual allegory.

[The Red Vine]

the original Hills Have Eyes is good. not up there with Texas Chainsaw Massacre but worth seeing. get the 2-disc edition if you buy the DVD. it's loaded with great extras.

[Just Withnail]

I looked on IMDB, and the Neil Jordan scary movie is The Company of Wolves. And it's got Angela Lansbury!  Have you seen that?

The Company of Wolves is amazing.  Probably the best example of a grown-up fairy tale that's ever been put on film.  Loaded to the brim with sexual allegory.

Seconding that without hesitation. Like polka says, sexual allegory galore(y). With Riding Hood I guess it was just a question of finding it, and amplifying it in the right places, but this treatment that definitely should be given to more fairy tales We're all walking around with these practially universal images of the same stuff; interpretations of fairy tales. So someone - especially someone as competent as Jordan - visualising them without resorting to juvenilia, but instead re-inforcing those "primary" images with what they always lacked (but which always seemed to be in there somewhere, hiding behind all those other grown up aspects like oft-extreme violence) - sexuality, is bound to hit those strange strings (the stuff that touches deep and scary places). Doubtlessly a fiilm to revisit and refresh.

[Alethia]

the original Hills Have Eyes is good. not up there with Texas Chainsaw Massacre but worth seeing. get the 2-disc edition if you buy the DVD. it's loaded with great extras.

yeah craven's got a few good early ones, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was unexpectedly terrifying at a couple of parts for me.  this was real good too, as i remember, i saw it back when i was like 11 or something.  i had a very brief but heavy horror phase in sixth grade.

[modage]

the original is WAY better than Last House On The Left.  i'm going to try to see the new one on thurs for free and then i can alleviate my guilt about wanting to see ANOTHER remake.

[edison]

http://www.filmfocus.co.uk/newsdetail.asp?NewsID=648

This is an article about the cuts made to the movie

**Spoilers**

Now having seen it, I can't imagine it being any gorier that what it already is. I really enjoyed this one all the way through. It is extremely brutal and some parts really hit you in the gut (trailer siege, fight in the house, fight in the hills). I am really looking forward to seeing Aja's future work. I posed a link to a clip a few posts up and for those who have seen the movie now, you should check the clip out because it is a little bit longer (like 5 sec) than what you will see in the theater.

I really can't believe that Pyro is the same guy in this, totally unrecognizable, and he is the best character in this even though he has the most screen time. I believe I read somewhere a reference to Straw Dogs, the glasses are a big reference, but whatever the case, I can understand the reference. He goes from being a wimpy no balls husband to a covered in blood survivalist trying to save the remainder of his married-in-to family. Good stuff. I would say that the little brother is my next fave. Really liked the set up he made for the trailer. Really hate it when people run with a gun and shoot behind them at the same time.

There is one part when the camera is following the little girl and it totally reminded me of Sutherland following the red coat in Don't Look Now.

[The Red Vine]

this was a lame remake. I'd love to write a letter to every horror genre filmmaker saying GORIER DOES NOT MEAN SCARIER OR BETTER. this makes the original seem like Disney. but the original was smarter and I think much better. the remake has some good stuff in it and Aja is a very good filmmaker. the opening credits were the most creative part of the whole thing. but this is just nasty and unnecessary.