The Hills Have Blogs
Man, today was a long day. When all the varying things I did today are combined with the silliness of the day, it actually reminded me of my college days. This afternoon, I went with my buddy Mo to pick up some concert tickets for him and someone he knows (the tickets are to see country singer Miranda Lambert, for those of you who care), then caught the second half of Kentucky's come-from-behind win against Alabama in the SEC tournament. Wrapping up the day, myself, Mo, and some people he works with stopped by the Wendy's in Bardstown before catching the 10:00 showing of The Hills Have Eyes. I just got home fifteen minutes ago, so it was a long night too.
For those of you wondering how I felt about The Hills Have Eyes, I'll tell you. The movie is very violent, very demented, and very insane. I've only seen bits and pieces of Wes Craven's original 1977 version of The Hills Have Eyes, but this remake is unrelentingly vicious. If all the violence I saw made it into the R-rated theatrical version, I'm sure that the unrated version that will no doubt be released on DVD is even more brutal. There's two rapes (or something very bizarre that looks a lot like it, anyway), violence involving guns, an axe, a baseball bat, and fire, violence committed by and against animals, and the horrifically disfigured cannibalistic villains threating to eat a baby. Yeah, this movie is totally classy. The movie is nothing short of unsettling and borderline disturbing, and it's sporting a mean streak all the way down to its black core. So in short, those of you with weak constitutions or an aversion to depravity in horror cinema, you might want to skip it.
However, the movie is also convincingly acted, and the effects by KNB EFX are outstanding. It's also brilliantly directed by French auteur Alexandre Aja, who previously directed High Tension and makes his American feature film debut with this movie. If any compliment can be given to The Hills Have Eyes, it's that Aja is a masterful director, and if the movie is a hit, it could open the door for him to become - and this is a pretty big statement - the next Wes Craven. While he utilizes a somewhat annoying, quickly edited "shaky cam" format of filmmaking in one key scene, everything else is well done. And because it is both well made and outright freaky, I'll give The Hills Have Eyes three and a half stars, pushing towards four.
For those of you wondering how I felt about The Hills Have Eyes, I'll tell you. The movie is very violent, very demented, and very insane. I've only seen bits and pieces of Wes Craven's original 1977 version of The Hills Have Eyes, but this remake is unrelentingly vicious. If all the violence I saw made it into the R-rated theatrical version, I'm sure that the unrated version that will no doubt be released on DVD is even more brutal. There's two rapes (or something very bizarre that looks a lot like it, anyway), violence involving guns, an axe, a baseball bat, and fire, violence committed by and against animals, and the horrifically disfigured cannibalistic villains threating to eat a baby. Yeah, this movie is totally classy. The movie is nothing short of unsettling and borderline disturbing, and it's sporting a mean streak all the way down to its black core. So in short, those of you with weak constitutions or an aversion to depravity in horror cinema, you might want to skip it.
However, the movie is also convincingly acted, and the effects by KNB EFX are outstanding. It's also brilliantly directed by French auteur Alexandre Aja, who previously directed High Tension and makes his American feature film debut with this movie. If any compliment can be given to The Hills Have Eyes, it's that Aja is a masterful director, and if the movie is a hit, it could open the door for him to become - and this is a pretty big statement - the next Wes Craven. While he utilizes a somewhat annoying, quickly edited "shaky cam" format of filmmaking in one key scene, everything else is well done. And because it is both well made and outright freaky, I'll give The Hills Have Eyes three and a half stars, pushing towards four.
posted by Matt Sutton at
1:43 AM
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