The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Shot on 16mm, tiny budget, inexperienced crew - these are the limitations that make people creative, and this is no exception. It's standard family stranded in the middle of nowhere hunted down by crazies plot but Craven does a great job seeing as this was only his second movie. The only reservation after all these years is that the actors playing the cannibals seem quite tame and cultured with the exception of the son "Mars" who looks totally inbred. I'd prefer to duke it out against these guys rather than the ones in the remake or the characters from wrong turn. but even so, this is from a day when things were basic, simple, and so much better

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 film is worse than I remembered it to be, I just skimmed though it again. Rather lame, stereotypical horror slasher film - standard stuff. Car will either breakdown or refuses to start, in this case it breaks down, and will leave some people stranded so they will be killed. YAWN! This one has no element of suspense or an air of mystery to keep it interesting enough to keep my attention for more that 5 whole minutes - then it's time for me to move on - next film! Yes it is true, the film is nothing more than: talk-talk-talk, talk-talk-talk, stab-stab-stab. The End. If that is your style of horror then I highly recommend this film for you. If not then you should look else where for a good horror film.Dee Wallace well liked among horror fans, including me but this film does not do it for me at all. I have no idea why this one has such a strong, loyal fan following.1/10

The Hills Have Eyes (1977) **** (out of 4) Raw terror at its finest as a family from Ohio are traveling to California but they decide to go down a closed road in the deserts hoping to find a mine. They eventually end up wrecking their car and soon a group of cannibals from the hills are attacking them.Wes Craven's THE HILLS HAVE EYES is to me one of the greatest horror films of the decade and also one of the rawest. Craven had previously made THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and when you compare the two films it's easy to see a certain vision on the screen. Craven's ability to make both film seem real and make both of them so raw and powerful really speaks to his talent and especially when you consider the budgets that he was working on. LAST HOUSE is a real mixed film as far as I'm concerned but everything came out perfectly with HILLS and that's why it remains so powerful no matter how many times you see it.There are a few sequences here that are so full of terror that you can't help but get curled up or be on the edge of your seat. The first time is when the attack finally happens on the family. When you really sit back and think about this sequence it's really amazing how much stuff is going on and how well the editing brings it all together. You've got stuff going on outside the trailer as well as inside the trailer. In both cases multiple things are happening and with so much going on it just keeps building the tension level.The second sequence happens during the extended ending where the family must fight for their lives. Again, multiple things are going on at once and the way Craven plays this sequence and the earlier one just makes things so suspenseful that you can't help but feel the terror.Of course, the terror only works if you care for the people you're watching. There's quite a bit of character development here as the start of the film gives you plenty of time to get to know this family, care for them and want to see them survive. Caring about the family really helps once they come under attack. It also helps that the performances are so good. Dee Wallace, Susan Lanier, John Steadman, Robert Houston are all extremely good as are the "other" family played by James Whitworth, Michael Berryman and Janus Blythe. It also doesn't hurt that we're given some realistic cinematography that puts you right there in all the action and the music score is one of the best out there for a horror movie.THE HILLS HAVE EYES is in my opinion Craven's masterpiece. Yes, there are a few flaws here and there but the power of the film is unquestionable and it's this terror that makes the film so memorable.