The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Although The Hills Have Eyes is a remake of a nearly 30-year-old Wes Craven film — and one that's been imitated many times over — this version, under the cleaver sharp command of French auteur Alexandre Aja, feels as fresh as rotten meat. (That's a good thing for fans of creepy cannibal horror!)

Aja's gory 2004 freakfest, High Tension, (despite some complaints about the ending) was a hit and there's a reason why: the man understands what makes horror work. Unlike the high-minded helmers of recent bloodless remakes (I'm talking to you, Rupert Wainwright of The Fog, and to you, Simon West of When A Stranger Calls) who think they're too cool to bother with the source material, Aja is a real fan. He obviously has a knowledge and reverence for the original film, but he brings the story seamlessly into the 21st century.

The story opens in the vast, hot, merciless desert. Plunk in the middle of nowhere is a typical family headed for California to celebrate mom and dad's Silver Anniversary (a tip of the hat to the silver mine the family was looking for, in the original film). Bob (Ted Levine) and Ethel (Kathleen Quinlan), wed for 25 years, have their three children along for the ride — bickering younger siblings Bobby Jr. (Dan Byrd) and Brenda (Emilie de Ravin), and newlywed Lynn (Vinessa Shaw). Lynn's husband Doug (Aaron Stanford), their infant daughter Catherine (Maisie Camilleri Preziosi), and two dogs, Beauty and Beast, round out the family portrait.

They stop for gas, and are given directions by the way-too-creepy attendant for a shortcut through the desert. Needless to say, it's a trap and the family is soon at the mercy of the ultimate nuclear family. Big Brain (Desmond Askew) and Ruby (Laura Ortiz) are not physically violent, but they are quite disfigured and will no doubt become fodder for nightmares in the years to come. The most dangerous of the distorted cannibals (if, indeed, there are varying degrees of such) are Lizard (Robert Joy), Pluto (Michael Bailey Smith), Jupiter (Billy Drago), and Goggle (Ezra Buzzington).

While the story is set in present day, it maintains a timeless look and feel. The soundtrack, cinematography and costumes don't stand out in such a way that they "date" the film. The actors, many of them from series television (Levine is currently in Monk; Ravin is in Lost; and Bryd was a regular on Clubhouse), are competent in their roles, and unlike the mutants in the 1977 film, these creeps are not overly cartoony (thanks, surely, in large part to the artistic vision of K.N.B FX).

Thankfully, The Hills Have Eyes spits in the face of the trend of watering-down remakes of horror from the 70s — there's rape, doggy death, close-range shotgun blasts, stabbings, and babies for breakfast. The movie very narrowly escaped an NC-17 rating, and it does push the bounds of its hard-R. However, it's not just gore-nography. There's more to the movie than that, which says a lot for Aja's talents as a filmmaker. Without being sentimental or schmaltzy, he humanizes the villains in some ways, and he conveys the real pain a family would feel having to witness the atrocious deaths of their loved ones. In addition to the bloody brutality, there is also genuine suspense (anyone who's seen High Tension knows Aja's aptitude in this arena).

The Hills Have Eyes is hardly the Memento of genre movies — it's insanely easy to follow, and when all is said and done there's not much of a plot. It's basically a ruthless, mean, and grueling experience. It's right in line with the recent trend of torture, joining the ranks of Wolf Creek, Hostel, and the Saw movies. Personally, I prefer supernatural horror that's fake and fun (even The Devil's Rejects was very cinematic, with its quotable characters and phony-family dynamic), but for what it is, The Hills Have Eyes is unadulterated evil excellence.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson

(Review originally published 2/10/06)