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MOVIE REVIEWS
The Hills Have Eyes
March 12, 2006
Based on Wes Craven's 1977 film of the same name, The Hills Have Eyes was directed by French director Alexandre Aja, who co-wrote the film with his writing partner Gregory Levasseur. Although Aja saw his 2005 five horror film, the vastly underrated High Tension, bite the dust at the box office last June, this film surely will not. Now with Wes Craven himself as a producer, this remake is sure to be a box office success.
The Carters are on vacation. Big Bob (Ted Levine) and Ethel (Kathleen Quinlan) are taking the entire family, including eldest daughter Lynne (Vinessa Shaw) her husband Doug (Aaron Stanford) and their baby daughter Catherine, along with their teenaged son and daughter, seventeen year old Brenda (Emilie de Ravin) and fifteen year old Bobby (Dan Byrd) and two German Shepards, Beauty and Beast, on a road trip to California to celebrate their silver anniversary. Nobody is very thrilled about this, least of all Doug, who is despised by Big Bob, and who would rather have taken a plane. . After making a wrong turn, the family crashes their car in the middle of the New Mexico desert, two hundred miles from anyone. Watching the Carters from afar is a clan of cannibalistic mutant miners who have suffered fifty years of radiation, and are now living in a government atomic zone. The Carters set up their old-fashioned Airstream trailer, and settle down for the night. That night, the mutants attack the trailer, killing off members of the Carter family, and leaving others battered and bruised. Now it's up to the Carters to fight back or risk being killed by the clan.
This movie was excellent. I don't think I have ever watched a remake that surpassed the original, but this one does it with flying colors. It amps up the suspense, the gore, the acting, and the stars. The cast is excellent, and standout performances go out to Dan Byrd, Emilie de Ravin, and especially Aaron Stanford as the distraught Doug. The film was also beautifully shot by cinematographer Maxime Alexandre, who worked with Aja on High Tension, and had an excellent score by tomandandy. This film is utterly recommendable to any hardcore horror buffs, and I suggest you see it right away.
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