The Hills Have Eyes (2006) Review

Movie: The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
By: DVH
Date: May 9, 2011

The lucky ones die first

Originally written and directed by suspense master Wes Craven in 1977, 2006 brought us Alexandre Aja’s gruesome remake of the movie “The Hills Have Eyes”. Is this remake really “the version to die for” as the cover of the movie promises? Okay, let me first start off by saying that I have never seen the original version of this movie, so I can not go into details about the differences and similarities or how true Alexandre Aja stayed to Wes Craven’s version.

The Hills Have Eyes is a movie about a family going on a trip, who deliberately get wrong turn directions from a grungy gas station owner and “by accident” their camper crashes against a rock in the middle of nowhere in the New Mexico desert. Soon after their crash they find out that they are not alone, they’re being watched and at night they get attacked by a group of violent, deformed mutants, remnants of the nuclear tests conducted by USA from 1945 to 1962 in that spot of the desert. Absolutely trapped by the psychotics, the family has to fight to survive.

The Hills Have Eyes is a movie about a family going on a trip, who deliberately get wrong turn directions from a grungy gas station owner and “by accident” their camper crashes against a rock in the middle of nowhere in the New Mexico desert. Soon after their crash they find out that they are not alone, they’re being watched and at night they get attacked by a group of violent, deformed mutants, remnants of the nuclear tests conducted by USA from 1945 to 1962 in that spot of the desert. Absolutely trapped by the psychotics, the family has to fight to survive.

The Hills Have Eyes is a great horror movie in my opinion. It does was it needs to do, for a horror movie this one definitely serves its purpose. It really has lots of moments of thrilling suspense, intense violence, some gruesome and realistic make-up and CGI-effects, a very cool looking nuclear bombing test village facility set, shots of beautiful though eerie desert scenery, great scares and even some character development later in the movie. I remember seeing this movie at the local cinema and some scenes were pretty hard to watch seeing it for the first time. There’s an awkward rape scene, a scene of someone getting burned alive and some other scenes of pretty nasty, horrific gore (fingers chopped off, exploding heads, body parts being impaled etc.).

Another thing that stands out is the atmosphere in the movie, which is very good. The scenes of the stretched out desert portray an eerie vibe which contributes to the feeling of total helplessness and (later in the movie) you feel for the victimized family, hoping that they’ll survive the onslaught that overcomes them. Another thing that adds to the atmosphere is the use of intense, scary music when something horrible is about to happen. And the intro is pretty dark and ominous and sets the tone for the movie, using real footage of nuclear test bombing and showing photos of real, horrible deformations caused by nuclear fallout (Tjernobyl disaster, Hiroshima bombing etc.)

Another thing that stands out is the atmosphere in the movie, which is very good. The scenes of the stretched out desert portray an eerie vibe which contributes to the feeling of total helplessness and (later in the movie) you feel for the victimized family, hoping that they’ll survive the onslaught that overcomes them. Another thing that adds to the atmosphere is the use of intense, scary music when something horrible is about to happen. And the intro is pretty dark and ominous and sets the tone for the movie, using real footage of nuclear test bombing and showing photos of real, horrible deformations caused by nuclear fallout (Tjernobyl disaster, Hiroshima bombing etc.)

Just as every other movie, The Hills Have Eyes is not without its flaws. In the first half or so of the movie, the typical American family can be a little annoying. They don’t really seem to get along with each other, but they do pray and hug together, something that is a bit strange to see in a horror movie nowadays. There also are a lot of small faults / goofs to be found throughout the whole movie, that the alert viewer might notice, but it’s nothing too serious to negatively affect the experience.

Alexandre Aja’s The Hills Have Eyes is inarguably one of the best horror movie remakes produced in the the last couple of years and it’s definitely a recommendation for fans of the horror genre, even though it has a few minor flaws. It’s a good watch for sure.