The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

The Hills Have Eyes is one of my favourite movies by Wes Craven, the film has the same style of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the family and cannibals the only difference is no one uses a Chainsaw.

The tone and music of this movie sends a chill down my spine, the acting is good although the constant screaming from the daughter did get on my nerves slightly but the cannibals are good to watch.

A great film to watch again and again and deserves to be called a cult classic 10/10. If you like this also check out The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Wes Craven's other best film is of course A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Fmovies: I saw this for the first time in the late 80s. Found it to b disturbing then. But when i saw the remake in 2006, i found this to b very mild. Jus revisited it again. The plot is about a family taking the wrong turn off the main road and finding themselves being hunted down by a cannibal family. Talking bout this original, some scenes i found to b comedic. Maybe if the remake didn't exist, this movie wud have still been disturbing. Well this movie does deserve some respect among horror fans. The dress of the mother of the cannibalistic looked as if she is some gypsy woman. One member wearing bear skin in a desert n most of em wearing necklaces made outta some teeth. The cannibalistic clans looked more like dirty hippies n Mexican bandits rather than ferals. The scene where the kids on the radio r asked about their defence strength n the reply they get..... was really comedic. Sitting ducks. Hahaha... The scene wher the old ex cop is roasted alive n his eyeballs r shown.... Comedic? This movie lacked the tension, atmosphere n suspense. It lacked the brutality. Remember Texas chainsaw massacre being brutal, atmospheric n tensed without blood n gore. Agree the remake by Aja is hands down much superior than this original but Craven shud b applauded for making this n Last house... in the 70s. Except for Berryman, the cannibalistic male members looked more like Mexican bandits who hasn't taken bath for months. Avoid the 1984 sequel like plague. The sequel contains unnecessary tremendous footage from the first part.

On a road-trip through the New Mexico desert, a family stranded in the area finds that a group of inbred, cannibalistic hillbillies have targeted the group and are set on killing them for food, forcing the family into a desperate race to stop them and get away alive.

This here was quite the fun if slightly flawed effort. When this one works, it's mainly due to the fact that there's quite an effective atmosphere here of being out alone in the wilderness. The film does an incredible job in the first half of depicting the desert of this one as creepy and chilling which really makes it so that being trapped on an open road in the middle of nowhere is a pretty terrifying ordeal and forces the ultimate traveling nightmare. The darkness that surrounds the family is terrifying, as anyone or anything can hide in there, and this film provides that fear in spades as tons of times we see or hear all these sights and sounds that would terrify any sane person. That gets exemplified best in the one scene of the characters run down the highway in the dark as these crazy laughs were heard echoing alongside him, a pretty terrifying ordeal, and it only gets better from there. That comes from the rather impressive event that kick-starts the film into overdrive which is the main assault on the van as the family gets into attacking the trapped members during an insanely fun ploy here, as the mounting tension plays into the initial first trap before the charge into the van and all the battles to confront them attempting to escape as well as one of the most horrendous acts ever committed to screen, and the audacity to pull it off and make it as striking as it is a huge testament to do something like that. By subjecting us to this scene, it works to keep the audience on the edge because now we don't know what else will be thrown at us and become anxious as the waiting game begins. The best part is the events that follow as the film is all action featuring plenty of solid action as the brutal encounters offer a lot of great moments. Also great is the family has a creepy air around them that makes us all become scared of them, and along with their great behavior patterns are the best parts. It doesn't have too many flaws here as the main issue is the illogical manner of getting them on the shortcut which really makes no sense and features plenty of stupid character decisions to move them along. There's also the manner of the rather sloppier effects for the gore and kills which does take away a bit of their effectiveness. Otherwise, this is quite an enjoyable effort.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, attempted rape, violence-against-animals and children-in-jeopardy.

The Hills Have Eyes fmovies. Wes Craven first directed a film back in 1972 called Last House on the Left. If you haven't seen it...do so...for it is quite an experience. It blends dementia, depravity, cruelty, and blood and guts with values and basic moral and philosophical questions(at a very base level). He next directed The Hills Have Eyes, which many feel might be his best work. It is a horror classic to be sure for a number of reasons. It has the struggle of an innocent typical American family with a gang of cannibalistic subhumans that live in the desert. This struggle is intense, and blurs the boundary between normal and abberant behaviour(just as Craven did in LHOTL). The basic story is one of survival, not just survival of life but a way of life. The cast does a fine job...some of the psychos are quite convincing, as are the "normal" characters rather good in their roles. The story builds rather slowly but crescendos after the first death and we are given one climactic event after another. The real stars of the film, however, are the dogs...which are integral to the plot, and the desert itself, which establishes a mood and atmosphere of bleekness, desolation, and futility. Craven did a fine job with his second feature, and I would have no problem saying it was one of his better films. I would even concede that technically it is vastly superior to Last House on the Left, however, for me at least, not as horrific or chilling. Just as with Last House, much of the subject matter of the film is decidedly outrageous, with an infant possibly being served up for Thanksgiving Dinner its high point(or low point if you prefer). Unlike Last House, Hills is not nearly as graphic in its action, leaving a bit more to the imagination.

Wes Craven's greatest B horror film was this harrowing low-budgeter that has gained quite a fan base over the years.

Charming, all-American family becomes stranded in the dessert wilderness and are preyed upon by a clan of savage hill-dwellers.

Violent, shocking, gory, and genuinely frightening, it's not hard to see why The Hills Have Eyes gained it's reputation as one of the most ruthless horror films of its decade. Craven's direction is well done, nicely exposing the raw and scenic filming locations. His story is also quite powerful. Craven gives us a taught, merciless tale of fear and survival that dares to break the audience's comfortable expectations! It has plenty of unexpected twists and a steely suspenseful climax. As with Craven's early film, Last House on the Left (1972), The Hills Have Eyes is a film about clean-cut,likable people who must become brutal animals to avenge themselves. It's solidly intense and very poetic.

The cast of unknowns turns in great performances. Lanier, Houston, Speer, Grieve, Wallace, and Vincent all make for a well identifiable American family. While Whitworth, Gordon, and Berryman make for perfectly scary monsters!

A startling and memorable thriller all around, The Hills Have Eyes remains one of Craven's greatest achievements and one truly relentless horror picture! Genre fans should not miss it.

**** out of ****

The Carter family are travelling through the desert on their way to California. Head of the family Bob (Russ Grieve), a retired police officer, decides to visit an inherited silver-mine on the way, and ignoring the advice of Fred (John Steadman), a local filling station owner, drives off the main road towards the hills. An accident leaves the family stranded and easy pickings for a family of cannibals lead by Jupiter (James Whitworth). Following a savage attack by this family, which leaves a number of the Carter's dead, the survivors realise that to continue surviving they too will have to become savages.

Wes Craven followed his controversial debut ‘The Last House on the Left' (1972) with this far greater arranged and compelling tale of family warfare. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is a movie with a raw brutality that has been unsurpassed in any of Craven's films to date, and is possibly the finest horror movie to be directed by Wes Craven. Despite not being as graphic as one would expect the movie never ceases to unnerve or alarm. The atmosphere, which bears a slight resemblance to ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974), maintains an unsettling air from beginning to end as the viewer is sucked into the nightmare that the Carter family is forced to endure. The desolation and hopelessness is portrayed beautifully by Craven, who utilises intelligent camerawork and a haunting soundtrack to fully create the feelings of terror. For everything that the screenplay lacks, Craven's direction more than makes up for and one wonders why Craven is no longer able to make such raw, gripping and emotional movies such as this. During the movie it becomes easy to identify with some of the characters and then feel fulfilled when they exact their retribution.

The acting, while not up to the standard of Craven's more recent offerings such as ‘Scream' (1996), is of a fairly high standard for a low budget 70's horror flick and certainly helps in aiding ‘The Hills Have Eyes' to accomplish a brutal, psychological edge. James Whitworth offers a fantastic performance as the despicable Jupiter and should probably be thought of higher as a horror film villain. His performance demands respect for its power and authority and is accompanied well by Michael Berryman and Lance Gordon. Producer Peter Locke even had a small role as Mercury, the watchdog for this contemptible family of savages. Interestingly the cannibal family come across as deranged hippies, which explains their planetary names. Virginia Vincent was the only performer that I really could not tolerate, but that could be because of the poor scripting for her religious-nut character Ethel. A very special mention has to go to Stryker the Alsatian, who `played' the part of Beast.

I highly recommend this for horror fans. Those people who think that the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street' series is the be all and end all of horror should certainly check this out. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is, in my opinon, Wes Craven's most thought out and gripping horror film to date which features some good performances, excellent camerawork, enthralling sequences and some first-rate special effects. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is an excellent example of classic Wes Craven and is one of his most creative movies. My rating for ‘The Hills Have Eyes' – 8/10.