'The Hills' are alive with the sound of screams

March 17, 2006

Emily de Ravin stars in 'The Hills Have Eyes.' www.movies.yahoo.com

As far as horror remakes go, they’re either excellent, okay or a crap-fest. Thankfully, director Alexandre Aja’s 2006 remake of the 1977 Wes Craven-helmed “The Hills Have Eyes” falls into the “excellent” category. 

The basic story from the original stays intact. A family traveling through the New Mexico desert to California decides to take a detour through the hills. But a Griswold family vacation this ain’t. Instead, the family is hunted down by a pack of cannibalistic, irradiated mutants. These mutants were created from years of nuclear testing in the middle of the desert.

One reason this remake works so well is that its source material isn’t perfect. Craven’s original film, while becoming a sort of cult-classic over the years, had some major flaws. Mostly, it wasn’t as scary as it could’ve been.  In this case, it’s time for a remake. 

Fast-forward to 2006 and the recent trend in re-treading popular horror films. Aja, who directed the gruesomely awesome “High Tension” last year, was personally chosen by Craven to write and direct a new adaptation of “Hills.” 

Through the significantly increased budget and acting power, Aja has crafted a film that not only had me glued to my seat during it’s one hour and 45-minute run-time, but it turns out to be much better than its predecessor. Somehow, he turns it into a true horror movie, complete with a score that would make Ennio Morricone proud. 

One thing most reviews have said is that “Hills” takes far too long to get moving. The film takes 40-minutes to get to the attack on the family, but everything that comes before allows the viewer to connect to the characters and care for them once they begin to get picked off. 

Horror movies tend to skimp on the acting part of film, but “Hills” turns out some fantastic performances from its cast. , of the TV series “Lost,” is amazing as the youngest daughter of this doomed tribe. Aaron Stanford, Pyro from the “X-Men” movies, is equally good as Doug, the pacifist who’s forced to do something drastic in order to save his family.

With all this said, if gore is not your thing then stay far away from this film. Aja and the wonderful KNB Effects studio provide every gore-hound in the world with a flowing cornucopia of the red stuff. If movies like “Saw” or “The Devil’s Rejects” turned your head away, then just skip this movie all together. 

If you’re in the mood for a frighteningly good time, then lay down the eight bucks at the box-office in order to see this truly horrifying modern masterpiece.