The Hills Have Eyes Review Country : USA Year: 2006 Genre: Horror / Cannibalism Format: Cinema Running Time: t/b/a Distributor: Fox Searchlight A macabre fate awaits a family stranded in the desert and beset upon by cannibalistic mutants in this eagerly-anticipated remake of Wes Craven's 1977 classic.... Credits Directed by Alexandra Aja. Written by Alexandra Aja, Wes Craven and Gregory Levasseur. Starring Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw, Dan Byrd, Emilie de Ravin, Ezra Buzzington and Michael Bailey Smith. If you've read my reviews up to now, you'd know that I am not, by any means, a fan of remakes or Alexandre Aja. In fact, I really hated High Tension. I remember my review and how completely and utterly angry I was at the movie....but isn't that what a horror movie is supposed to do? I guess so. How can you make a tasteful horror film anyways? Well, Aja has done it! He has redeemed himself in my eyes by writing and directing a brilliant remake of the classic Wes Craven film The Hills Have Eyes. In the new Hills, the song remains the same - A family road trip goes terrifyingly awry when the travelers become stranded in a government atomic zone. Miles from nowhere, the Carter's soon realize the seemingly uninhabited wasteland is actually the breeding ground of a blood-thirsty mutant family....and they are the prey. The Carter family consists of two young guys, two young girls, a baby, a Christian mother, two dogs and the cop father. Little do they know thar' be cannibals up in them thar' hills, waiting to take a bite out of all of them. In the original (which I loved), the major letdown was that I fully expected, in a movie about cannibals, to see some good old feasting on human flesh. Well, no dice. In Aja's remake, there is plenty of flesh eating, gut chomping, dog slashing, throat ripping, axes in skull, axes in eyeballs, etc....get the point? Yes, this film is brutal and totally relentless. Aja never lets up for one second, and the fact that a baby girl is involved just makes it that much worse. I said earlier this year that Hostel was the most brutal film I'd ever seen at the theatre... well, move over Hostel. The Hills takes the cake. Especially in the opening scene. Holy shit!!!! Missing from the remake are some great characters and lines from the original....the 'Pappa Jupe' character is almost non-existent, if played well by Billy Drago, but I think he only comes out with two scenes. 'Mercury' is gone and replaced with Ezra Buzzington's 'Goggle,' 'Pluto' is a bumbling retard that reminded me of Sloth from 'The Goonies'....but Michael (Monster Man) Bailey Smith makes Michael Berryman's 'Pluto' look like a tour guide at Disney Land. He is big, scary looking, and brutal as hell. The main baddie is a mutant called 'Lizard' played by Robert (Land of the Dead) Joy who does a fine job making you hate him. The Carter family was cast very well. Ted (Silence of the Lambs) Levine as Big Bob Carter, Dan (Salem's Lot '04) Byrd as little Bobby, Emilie (Lost) de Ravin as Brenda, Vinessa Shaw as Lynne, and Kathleen Quinlan as Mamma Ethel Carter. All put in great performances, but Aaron (X2) Stanford as Doug really puts in the best of the best here. This guy makes you believe he is just as scared as anyone, but will do anything to stay alive and get his daughter back. There is one key scene where you think he is down for the count and he looks at his wedding ring, gets up, and kicks some serious ass. Clearly the best scene in the film and a fine example of excellence in film making. Hats off the Stanford and Aja for those goosebumps I got. One of the other mutants that was not in the original is 'Big Brain' played by Desmond Askew....and trust me on this one, you won't forget him. Ruby is still part of the hills clan, but this time played by an empathetic Laura Ortiz and very well I might add. I guess if you took both films and combined them, the result would be the perfect horror film. Craven did things that Aja didn't do and vice-versa. I think both films compliment each other quite well, which is rare for a remake. The Hills Have Eyes sees director Alexandre Aja at his raw best. The original was raw back in 1977 where it tried to take violence to the extreme and it is still shocking by some standards. The new Hills is stylized and at times excessive. It is an example of fantastic writing, stylish directing and brave acting all melding exquisitely together to create something very special. Something very special that has, after 29 years not been equalled until now. While the film is not perfect, it will be a movie that transcends generations and a movie that should be watched by everybody at least once. OFFICIAL SITE DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMS MICHAEL BAILEY SMITH INTERVIEW EZRA BUZZINGTON INTERVIEW Review by John Gray, for Pitofhorror.com