Them hills may have eyes, but they're missing a few other vital parts.
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:134
Fresh:66
Rotten:68
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: Faster paced for today's audiences, this Hills remake ratchets up the gore for the hardcore horror fans, but will turn away casual audiences.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong gruesome violence and terror throughout, and for language.
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:Mar 10, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $41,685,824
Synopsis: In the annals of modern fear, few films have had as deep an impact as Wes Craven's 1977 cult classic THE HILLS HAVE EYES. With its gritty, ferocious and relentlessly suspenseful tale of a... In the annals of modern fear, few films have had as deep an impact as Wes Craven's 1977 cult classic THE HILLS HAVE EYES. With its gritty, ferocious and relentlessly suspenseful tale of a vacationing family who suddenly face a desperate battle for survival, the low-low-budget but no-holds-barred film was resonant with both intriguing themes and outrageous shocks to the nervous system. Now, inspired by the wild imagination of suspense-master Craven – who serves as producer along with Marianne Maddalena and Peter Locke – comes a contemporary reinterpretation of THE HILL HAVE EYES from the cutting-edge young filmmakers, Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur, whose recent hit HIGH TENSION won acclaim and controversy for raising the bar on horror films again with its graphic, white-knuckle take on psychological terror. Aja and Levasseur bring this chilling horror story of ever-intensifying dread hurtling into the 21st century, refashioning it with a raw, gut-wrenching realism and hard-driving visual style to terrify a whole new generation of filmgoers. It all begins with a typically dysfunctional cross-country family road trip. It's the wedding anniversary of rugged Cleveland police detective "Big Bob" Carter (TED LEVINE) and his chatty wife Ethel (Academy Award® nominee KATHLEEN QUINLAN) and to celebrate, Bob's asked his extended family to cruise to California with them, hoping the joys of the open road might help fuse their frayed connections. No one is particularly happy about it. Eldest daughter, Lynn, (VINESSA SHAW) worries about her new baby's safety and comfort while her husband, mild-mannered tech geek, Doug (AARON STANFORD), worries about close encounters with his father-in-law. Meanwhile teen daughter, Brenda, (EMILIE DE RAVIN) detests the idea of leaving her friends for a family bonding trip, while young prankster Bobby, (DAN BYRD) is anxious to entertain the family's two German Shepherds, Beauty and Beast. Nevertheless, the entire clan piles into a weathered Suburban pulling Bob's beloved '88 Airstream trailer and heads west. Then, Big Bob takes a detour. Suddenly, the Carter family finds themselves in a desolate stretch of desert, with nothing seemingly alive for miles. When they run into a little unexpected vehicle trouble, they realize they are in dire straits, far from help, with a relentlessly sweltering desert sun overhead. But even as they fight to survive the deadly desert, a far greater threat emerges. Now the Carters become aware that they are not quite as alone as they first thought. There is another group of survivors in the hills surrounding the desert: a genetically mutated, insatiably hungry, blood-thirsty clan – the terrifying offspring of miners left behind in the days when atomic tests spread radioactive fallout across the desert – who will stop at nothing to prey on the Carters one by one. Facing the very depths of savagery, the Carter family must pull together if they are to find any hope of returning to civilized life again…alive. --© Fox Searchlight [More]
Starring: Emilie de Ravin, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw
Starring: Emilie de Ravin, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw
Director: Alexandre Aja
Director: Alexandre Aja
Screenwriter: Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseur
Producer: Wes Craven, Peter Locke, Marianne Maddalena
Composer: Tomandandy
Producer: Wesley Earl Craven
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
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Reviews for The Hills Have Eyes
Utterly trumps its source material on a technical level ... but that coveted nightmare vibe remains elusive.
"The Hills Have Eyes" combines psychological tension with visceral scenes of gore and the odd laugh or two.
The story is more focused on a kind of meat-market smorgasbord mixed with political the-government-did-this-to-us overtones. It doesn't really work.
Hyper-violent, mean, and more interesting in what it does wrong than what it does right
For me, life is too short for a movie that makes death inexorably long. I would say that it is unendurable. I endured it so you don't have to.
If you like your horror movies with a high creep factor and more blood than scares, head for the Hills, if you don't fit in that category head for a different theater!
A rather pointless exercise that reinforces the age-old adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t remake it’.
Where is the fun in a movie like this? There are no jolts, no flashes of humor, no camp aspect, no winking at the audience--just bloodletting that crosses the line. Those who want this sort of thing can have it.
There is a strange lack of tension and no real jolts of fear in this remake of the 1977 Wes Craven film.
Using considerable creative intelligence and millions of dollars with no purpose other than profit by inspiring bloodlust is monstrous.
The tagline for the new "Hills" is "The lucky ones die first." Actually, the lucky ones skip this exploitative remake and either watch the original or just read a good book.
As grim, grisly and gratuitous as the original movie, this remake serves about as little purpose.
...given its source material, there was much room for improvement. It's just too bad that the only things Aja could improve on were the makeup and gore.
As for Aja's future in horror he better find some original material because hitching a ride on other people's glories will always be the other's glory.
If you relish gore-fests, rest assured that Aja has concocted a savvy remake that should satisfy your blood-lust; if not, you're likely to find it overkill on a massive scale.
Neither sickly brilliant nor twistedly clever... At least the message is family bonding leads to tragedy and prayers are useless.
The whole thing has the detached air of an intellectual or artistic exercise ...
When its makers, director Alexandre Aja and his co-writer Gregory Levasseur, apply the fresh gloss to the old grit, they remember to apply the thinnest layer possible without skimping on the roughhouse humor.
Latest News for The Hills Have Eyes
October 10, 2008:
Exclusive: Alexandre Aja talks Mirrors and Piranha 3D
We caught up with Aja for his only UK interview to learn more about the movie as well as his latest project, a 3D remake of Joe Dante's classic Piranha. More...
October 04, 2007:
Trailer Exclusive: Parking Lot Thrills, Chills in P2
RT's got the first trailer for November's horror-thriller P2, from the people who brought you High Tension! More...
April 21, 2007:
Craven to Produce "People Under the Stairs" Remake
Under his new deal with Rogue Pictures, Wes Craven is going to continue producing remakes of his own movies like "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Last House on the... More...
March 22, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Six New Films Try to Shoot Down Spartans From #1 Spot
A half-dozen new soldiers enter the marketplace this weekend trying to topple the kingdom of "300" which has reigned supreme at the box office for the past two weeks. More...
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