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The Hills Have Eyes

Before watching a horror film, like most people, you anticipate being scared. For me personally, I anticipate being doubly scared simply because I try to avoid horror films at all cost. After watching the remake of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes (directed by Alexandre Aja) Unrated DVD, I am most certain I will never set foot on a deserted desert.

Call me superstitious, but that's how scary this film was to me. Watching the film was like getting a sneak peak at what might happen to you in hell.

From the very beginning, the tone of the film was very eerie. It all started with the nuclear weapons test that took place in New Mexico back in the 1950's. The government had sent the US army to test nuclear war weapons. Homes were evacuated, leaving some residents hesitant. The hills of New Mexico had been abandoned ever since.

We then get acquainted with the main characters of the film, the Carters (played by Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, Dan Byrd, Emilie de Ravin, Aaron Stanford, Vinessa Shaw and Maisie Camilleri Preziosia), a wholesome Midwest family who were one of many to come across the desolate, deserted hills of New Mexico on their way to California.

However, after making a wrong turn onto a dirt road, the Carters eventually found themselves trapped on deserted land. One by one, they each encountered life outside their family members. Not just any people"”mutant people. A family vacation had inadvertently brought these two groups together. To stay alive, the Carter family was forced to work together in order to survive their worst nightmare.

There was a lot of mystery involved in this film. Even though the characters weren't fully fleshed out, the plot made up for it. Anytime you have a story that takes place on a barren desert, you know something freaky is going to happen.

I'm usually in denial about my fear of horror films, but this movie was not kidding. As a moviegoer it was frustrating knowing what was about to happen and not being able to do anything about it. In other words, it was torture to sit through torture being done to others. To the Carter family, the mutants had come out of nowhere. If I were them, I would have crapped my pants just by the sight of the mutants.

The mutants were some of the most freakishly scary creatures I had ever seen. Cannibals at best, they looked so hideous and seemed so real, they reminded me of Sloth from The Goonies. Even their actions were more villainous than normal humans. To the movie's credit, I was the most impressed by their special effects make-up and facial prosthetics.

Whether it was

the special effects make-up, prosthetics or the CGI effects, every aspect of the film was intricate in its own right. As detailed in the special features, the filmmakers really wanted to do this film justice. It took nearly 3 years to produce the remake.

All nerves aside, I thought The Hills Have Eyes Unrated DVD was suspenseful, horrifying and clarifying all at the same time. I say this because in a lot of ways the movie offered an interesting perspective on our current world. Similarly, the producers of the film, Wes Craven, Grégory Levasseur along with Aja, wanted to shed light on how the mutants were affected by what occurred in the 1950's. As a result, the mutants were simply doing unto others what was done to them. They were ostracized from society and had no choice but to revolt. A major lesson that can be taken from this film is that there are always consequences to every action.

The Hills Have Eyes Unrated DVD is the version to die for.

Movie Grade: A-

DVD Grade: B-

Overall Grade: B