The Hills have Eyes (1977)

Director: Wes Craven
Stars: Susan Lanier, Robert Houston, John Steadman


Review:

A family was passing by a desert to California Los Angeles. They were lost and had an car accident, which made them stuck in the middle of nowhere, surrounding by rocky mountains. They thought this was a picnic but spotted by a weirdo family who were starving and could eat about anything.

This is the rare case that the 2006 remake scored higher in IMDB than this original 1977 classic. I have seen the remake beforehand and basically they followed the same plot, excep the remake adds an explaination on the weirdos. This may have ruined the experience of watching this movie for me since I have seen something like this, and in terms of special effects and production values, I have to say the remake looks better. But I have to give credit to the original disturbing idea of raping a woman besides a baby.

In term of exploitation value it does not go far either. There are gunshots, stabbing, biting and dog guts but nothing really stands out. Compared to Wes Craven's own previous work The Last House on the Left (1972) this looks much tamed. Though I am interested in watching a dog get its revenge after knowing it's partner, another dog, was killed and eaten. It threw somebody over the mountain, biting deep on one's feet, and killed a guy by tearing open his throat. Dogs are intellect and I absolutely adore them.

Wes Craven may have become the most successful, money-making horror movie director, after creating the Nightmare on Elm Street series and Scream series, but along the way he's getting tamed. More movies he make, more toned down is the violence in the movies. At the point he got to Scream (1996), it had become a commercial film. Though it opened the door for me on horror movies, horror movie fans demand daring films that do things others could not accept. That is horror.

I would consider The Hills Have Eyes a minor classic, and even for a guy like me who generally hate remakes, the 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes may entertain you more if you do not care about originality.