The Hills Have Eyes (2006) Review

Written by: DerbyDemon   

I must say I went to see Alexandre Aja's latest film with many reservations:  first of all, I absolutely despised his "High Tension", and secondly, I thought the original of the movie was just fine.  Since Hollywood seems to have run out of original ideas years ago, we get another remake, i.e. "The Hills Have Eyes", or in this case, it should have been entitled, "Boy, Are these People Dumb."

In the remake mom and pop, with kiddies and a son-in-law (that has the personality of a fencepost) [played by Aaron Stanford] to boot, are on their way to San Diego, via "the scenic route".  They run low on gas and then stop at the "last place for the next 200 miles" to fill up.  Why anyone in their right mind would want to take a scenic route through such a desolate place still escapes me, but I'll let that detail go for the moment.  The attendant gives them the old short-cut story, and they're off!  After an accident, which strands all of them, it's time for the "let's-all-split-up-and-die" part of the movie.  That's as far as I'm going to go for any details.  If you've seen the original, it's pretty much the same as the remake except that the budget is bigger so the effects are better.

I didn't dislike this movie.  It portrayed very adequately that when anyone is put in a situation of choosing between living and dying, we all will do whatever it is to survive.  Alexandre Aja did a decent job in keeping an atmosphere of creepiness throughout.  He and Gregory Levasseur co-wrote the story, and Wes Craven, Peter Locke, and Marianne Maddalena were executive producers.  Each actor put  a lot of thought into their respective character; however, the "eyes" of the hills here reminded me of the monsters in "Wrong Turn", and the ending is what make me give this a lower overall score that I originally would.  The movie is rated R for violence and simulated rape.  This isn't a bad movie; it's just not a great one either.