Steve Hutchison reviews 100 amazing horror films from the 2000’s. Each film is analyzed and discussed with a synopsis and a rating. The movies are ranked from best to worst. How many have you seen?
The Hills Have Eyes
A family's car breaks down in an land inhabited by violent savages.
United States1977
Feature Film
Realism:
Plausible
Character Focus:
Cannibal Film
Insects:
Spider
Sadist:
Rigger
Torturer
Stalker:
Hunter
Sneaker
Thief
Trespasser
Relative:
Mother
Father
Related
Sibling
Trickster:
Lurer
Prankster
Infected:
Irradiated
Fun and games, then somebody loses an eye...
Ambiance
Photography
Performances
The Hills Have Eyes is an exploitation horror film that pulls no punches. It's about an otherwise peaceful family stuck on the wrong road and stalked by strange locals. It is unclear, until late in the film, what we really are up against. The sometimes underplayed characters are exposed in length, in the meantime, making us care for them and relate to their bad luck.
After the halfway mark, the threat becomes gradually clearer, revealing odd looking bad guys. Part of the mystery that made the earlier moments so tense dissipates, leaving room for fully exposed exploitation material borrowed from torture, rape and home invasion films of the decade. Eventually, a hero steps forward. As it turns out the savior may not be human...
The Hills Have Eyes is rough around the edges on all cinematographic levels, but it redeems itself by thinking outside the box and pushing the audacity as far, for example, as making a dog the main protagonist for nearly a whole act. While daylight shooting brings the movie down towards the end, when it should be its scariest, it succeeds in depicting plausible drama in a surreal situation.
