The Hills Have Eyes
Disclaimer: While I do not give away any real spoilers in this post, if you are one of those people that hates to know anything about a movie before you see it (like me) and you plan on seeing ‘The Hills Have Eyes‘, then you might want to think twice about reading any further.
The hills do indeed have eyes. I saw this one on Saturday night, and man, I don’t think this horror-movie fan has ever seen a more disturbing film, evar! I liked Saw, Saw II, SE7EN, Hostel and all those other semi-grotesque freaky-deaky flicks, and most of them even made me cringe. But none of them hold a candle to how really terrifying the remake of Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes was.
I’m lucky that my girlfriend and I have similiar tastes in movies. Otherwise I might be stuck watching the next line of romantic comedy crap that Hollywood chunks out every year. So we were both pretty excited to see this film. Every time we saw the previews on TV we’d keep track of when the movie was actually coming out in theaters. My girlfriend really liked all of the above mentioned movies too, and even though both Saw movies made her cringe quite a bit, she still enjoyed watching them.
This was not the case with The Hills Have Eyes. It was pretty hard for me to sit all the way through, which means it was doubly hard for my girlfriend to sit all the way through. See, I don’t have a very weak stomach, and even though I might cringe a little at some of the scenes in horror movies, I don’t usually feel disgusted and disturbed to my core. This movie did that to me though.
“How is that possible? What kind of horror movie fan are you if it was that hard for you to sit through the whole movie?“
Well, there’s one very key difference to this movie that sets it apart from all of the other horror/freak-deaky movies that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. And that main difference: Not one of the victims deserves to die in the slightest, AND all of the victims are part of a marginally close family.
“Huh? What are you talking about? There are very few victims that deserve to die in horror movies, and some of them had family members that died in the movie too!“
Ahhh… partially correct on both counts. While most victims in horror flicks don’t really deserve to die, director’s always give some impression that they aren’t really innocent. For instance, most of the victims in the Friday the Thirteenth series died after they had sex. And all of the victims in the Saw movies had some dismal character flaw that made them at least the tiniest bit hate-able. None of the victims in The Hills Have Eyes had any of those flaws. And yes, some horror movies involve families or relatives becoming victims of violence. But The Hills takes it to the next level because its a whole extended family together on a trip across the American West, from retired-cop dad and housewife mom all the way down to the little baby of one of the daughters.
And the worst part about it all, is that once the violence starts, it doesn’t stop and its as brutal as any horror film has ever been. The sudden and random violence is about as gruesome as I can probably stand to see on screen.
Having said all that, the movie was actually very good. It was well-shot and well-acted. I could never say that this movie was bad. But because it was so disturbing, it’s also very hard for me to recommend that people go see it. Unless you know you have a very high-tolerance for real violence (and I’m not talking about Nightmare on Elm Street or The Ultimate Fighting Championship), I actually recommend that you don’t see it. The randomness of the violence is actually what’s so scary about it. It’s a little too close to how violence gets meeted out in the real world. The people that usually get hurt by it don’t deserve it at all.
I’m sure you sick fucks out there will hoot and holler about it after you see the movie, but those of us with a conscience are going to spend thousands of dollars in therapy bills trying to get over some of this shit.
I love horror movies - grew up on that shit. And after seeing the commercial for this one, I know I’m gonna dig it. Especially looking at that freaky deformed kid. Creeeepy.
Haha long time no chat! Ok was anyone here a big fan of dawn of the dead (2004)? When I saw that in theaters it scared the hell out of me, cause zombie movies just plain freak me out. Mr Mojo, is it along those lines, cause I’m in the mood for a good freak outing…..
P.S. In response to your simpsons article, I’m a huge simpsons fan also, and I think it comes in no small part that the show started its inevitable decline after our man conan left. Did I mention it went from being conservative to liberal and isn’t funny anymore? Ha! Just an observation……
-Kill my boss?! Do I dare live out the American dream?
I was curious to if that movie was really going to be a “horror” flick or what.
I love a good scary movie every now and again.
For the most part however they just bore me to death.
I mean really someone carring a chainsaw is going to run faster than me.
It’s not the violence that’s scary..it’s what they should leave to the imagination
JJ: That freaky deformed kid is actually the tamest part of the movie. You’re actually thankful you get to see something that’s semi-innocent.
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realitycheck: It’s definitely as scary/freaky-deaky as Dawn of the Dead, and probably a lot more so. It’s actually quite a bit scarier. And the Simpsons conservative?? What are you smokin’ son? Although it was definitely the funniest when Conan was writing for them.
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delite: This one definitely won’t bore you. They leave plenty to the imagination too… but it’s a little weird because they have so much that’s in your face. You just keep imagining what’s next and who’s gonna be the next victim.
Horror movies are great, but it sounds like “horror” doesn’t describe this movie. Maybe call it a “gruesome movie.” I remember the original, and it was disturbing. I like being scared, it’s great. But disturbed…that’s the kind of stuff that stays with you for a long time.
Phoenix: I agree. It’s more ‘horrifying’ and disturbing than anything else. They did it very well though. They knew what they were going for and they achieved it… the result just doesn’t fit very neatly into the horror-movie genre.
I think I’ll have to go see this to experience it. I never saw the first one, just a clip which was disturbing. I’ve been meaning to watch “The Devil’s Rejects” too. Has anyone here seen that movie?
Tara: I haven’t seen that one yet. It’s by Rob Zombie right?
A negative that I’ve heard about the movie is the “bad guys” weren’t developed at all. Just like the victims in most horror movies have a least a smug on their souls, the bad guys usually have a splinter of good or a secret pain that drove them to insanity, etc. I’m iffy on this one. I like thrillers, suspense, horror, but I’m turned off when the violence gets too drawn out and realistic. Final Destination violence is fine, but scenes like in Resevoir Dogs where they slice the guys ear off and poor gas on him make me not want to watch.
Robguy: Yeah, you’re right… they weren’t really developed at all. Just a small back story that led you to a bunch of assumptions. I know they did that mainly on purpose, so you wouldn’t really know what the source of all the terror was, but because the violoence was so Resevoir-Doggish then it makes it a little harder to watch.
I gleefully read this review since I have NO intention of ever seeing this film for the exact reasons you mentioned. I was once a horror fan but the gorefests they’re putting out these days are just way too much for me to take. I need that river of unreality to run between me and all the slashing going on in the film. If it’s too real it actually gets me MAD. I mean, it took me forever to get UNpissed at the remake of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
By the way, VERY nice review. Told me all I needed to know (except what happened).
Dammit, now I wanna know…!!!
mojotek said, Tara: I haven’t seen that one yet. It’s by Rob Zombie right?
Yup, Rob Zombie directed it and I think his wife is one of the rejects.
ngregory00: Well, at least I know it was useful now… And thanks for the compliment. I wanted to make sure I didn’t ruin it for anyone that was going to see, since that’s one of my biggest pet peeves about movie reviews.
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Anonymous: Hmmm… I can’t remember, is his wife hot? I mean before the latex makeup and all…
Then you DEFINITELY don’t want to see Hostel….
neena: I actually thought Hostel was much tamer than The Hills Have Eyes. Was it that bad for you?
I threw up in the movie theatre bathroom after watching Hostel.
There is a wooded section of road between the theatre and my house and I still get the heebie jeebies whenever I drive through it….. am I a wuss? LOL :)
neena: Wow! I guess it really did get to you… But I don’t think you’re a wuss for getting the heebie jeebie’s on a creepy section of road. I have an overactive imagination, and I can give myself the heebie jeebies in almost any dark environment.
The movie directors figure you are so unaffected that they have to shove as much violence and gore down your throat. I have stopped going to horror movies as they aren’t scary, they are just gore and violence. It amazes me that this crap get put out. But what amazes me more is that people actually go to these movies. It is total abuse to your pyche. At some point the whole thing will take a walk right into your real life.
This movie really disturbed me. My husband and I watch horror movies on a regular basis, and it is not unusual for me to dread what is going to happen next, but what they did to the two sisters really made me sick. I almost walked out of the room. Maybe it is because I am a woman and a mother, or maybe I have lost some of my stamina for these things, but I f elt that they went too far in the movie. I would recommend that no one watches this movie, or that there be a disclaimer of some sort.
I have to agree with you. I almost cried when I saw this family being murdered. My own boyfriend jumped and he is BIG on horror movies. That was actually good for revenge though. I never saw it in the theatres, we rented it. I’m sure it was scarier on the big screen. My boyfriend took me to the movie “See No Evil” and it scared me so much. I watched the guy ripped peoples eyes out with his fucking fingers and shoved a cell phone down some girls throat. I was so shaken after I saw that. It distrubed me and with the thigs I’ve seen as a child, it probably wasn’t the best idea for my boyfriend to literally DRAG me to see it. When we went back to his place, he went to talk to a friend, and I went down stairs(His place is like a cellar type apartment, actually more like a basement). I got about halfway down the stairs, heard some movement and hightailed it out of there. He had to come looking for me. So when he jumped at the goriness(is that even a word) of this movie. I couldn’t help but laugh. Now he knows how I felt and promised never to drag me to a movie like “See No Evil” EVER again! But after seeing “The hills have eyes” I’m still having nightmares! I don’t even want to go on our annual family trip. We take an RV out and everything. Thank god my mom got this new job, now we can’t go. And for that, I’m glad!!
the hills have eyes is like freaky.