October Horror (31 Days Of Horror Movie Reviews) Day Ten: The Hills Have Eyes (2006) Yeah, I know: here I am, about to recommend a remake. It feels a little bit like a sin, doesn’t it? But here’s the thing: this is one of those extremely rare remakes that (in my opinion, at least) actually improves upon the original. Directed with a savage and relentless sensibility by Alexandre Aja, this version takes Wes Craven’s 1977 original and pushes both the violence and the creepiness to new extremes. Even the opening credits get under your skin and give you a sense that what’s coming your way will be far from pleasant. The skeleton of the story is still the same: The Carter family, traveling through the barren countryside, is set upon by a family of mutated cannibals that attacks them again and again, without mercy, and the Carters must find the savageness within themselves if they hope to survive. In this sense, the theme stays very close to that of Cravens’ first movie, Last House On The Left, but here it is given a much wider scope and the claustrophobic interiors of Last House are traded for the isolation of this middle-of-nowhere landscape. What’s TRULY frightening in this version, however, is that we get to see the place that the mutants call home. Not only is it a great reveal and a very original twist, but the idea of what they’ve become because of the area they inhabit adds a chilling sense of madness to these characters. The violence is fairly brutal, and there is serious carnage and bloodshed, so if you’re squeamish about such things, I’d advise you to tread carefully with this one. All that being said, however, it’s VERY good film, tightly written, the acting is believable, and its filmed with an urgency that so many other films of this type seem to lack. Highly recommended. youtube/watch?v=O76m3kpgPTQ
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 14:52:10 +0000