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THE HILLS HAVE EYES (2006) Director: Alexandre Aja. Hacktors: Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw, Robert Joy. Rating/5: The lowdown: I've always liked Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes, released in the summer of 1977. Like Alexandre Aja, I remember gazing at the video rental sleeve as a kid, reading the synopsis and thinking I'd never be allowed to watch it. And if I got the chance, would I dare? The tag-line 'The lucky ones die first' is one of the all-time greats and has been retained for this superb remake. The story remains the same, but with a nuclear twist, which explains the antagonists' origin (don't worry, this isn't a spoiler - the nuclear element is hammered home from the first scene onwards).     The Carters, a typical American nuclear family (arf arf) head out across the New Mexico desert on a seriously misguided vacation. Doug (Stanford) is the only extended family member, being married to Lynn (Shaw) - the pair also have a cute l'il baby girl. Then you've got the parents, homely ex-hippie Ethel Carter (Quinlan) and Republican-votin', gun-totin' Bob Carter (Levine), plus Lynn's younger sister Brenda and their brother Bobby. And a couple of dogs, named Beauty and Beast, just as in Craven's flick. Cue a bunch of mutated, homicidal freaks to f**k their holiday up, good and proper. Good points: Oh, rest assured there are many. Director/writer Aja and co-writer Levasseur have really nailed the original's strengths, while creating an even more intensely visceral and emotionally affecting experience. Yes: emotionally affecting. Not something you expect from the average gorefest (and there's plenty of red stuff here). I'm not sure if my two-hours' sleep the previous night was to blame, but at certain points during the new Hills I felt myself welling up. Good God! It also had me ducking and dodging imaginary swinging blades, like it was the world's most convincing 3D movie...     See, The Hills Have Eyes - whether you're talking original or remake - is a different kind of horror movie for one very good reason: it carves a bloody swathe through a family, as opposed to just a group of close, but unrelated teenage pals. The unthinkably savage cannibals are not only mindlessly stomping over the closest bonds human beings can know, but they're threatening a whole three generations of family. Imagine your own kinfolk under siege in a caravan in the back of beyond and it's not difficult to feel the fear.     The film's first act, and much of the second, sees the suspense expertly coiled by Aja. Then, when the going gets rough, it gets rough. There's no holding back here: this is genuinely shocking stuff, on the level of The Devil's Rejects. Perhaps more so, in some ways. As Aja keeps the stuff from the original that worked and gleefully toys with the remainder, making us wonder who'll live and who'll die horribly, this is a genuinely exciting horror movie experience. It's also bloody as all hell, with all manner of sharp objects rammed through flesh. Faces are blown off, body parts pop up all over the place and... well, you'll just have to wait and see. It's also worth noting that the acting is top-drawer throughout. Particularly impressive, for such a young actor, is Dan Byrd, as brother Bobby, who really manages to emote in a realistic fashion, given the arc his character traverses in a very short time. Bad points: The Hills Have Eyes' remake is brilliant enough to warrant Slasherama's full rating, but like all movies, it's not 100 per cent perfect. There are a couple of plot points that don't ring true: for instance, how a walkie-talkie ends up in the Carters' possession. There's also a scene towards the end in which two family members lure a mutant into the campsite which doesn't entirely convince and is the film's weakest scene. If we're getting picky, too, the nuclear stuff wasn't entirely necessary and even seems a mite old-fashioned: and would nuclear fall-out really make people so evil and sadistic? But, hey. That's about it for the bad stuff. Overall: This is a film for horror fans: not the widest possible audience. It's also one of the all-time greatest horror remakes and a wonderfully nerve-dicing experience full-stop. Taken into context with his and Lavasseur's previous gem Switchblade Romance (UK title)/Haute Tension (French title)/High Tension (US title), Alexandre is shaping up as one of the very finest fright directors of his generation. Release Date: March 10, 2006. [Win Hills merchandise] [See exclusive clip and trailer] [Alexandre Aja interview] [Reviews Menu] [Home] © Copyright Slasherama 2002-present