Terry's Reviews
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Movie Reviews: |
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The
Hills Have Eyes Unrated – The Version to Die For 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment – 2006 Starring |
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| Brutal,
uncompromising and packing a punch, THE HILLS HAVE EYES is the latest Hollywood horror
film remake. The film has a nice visual style, atmospheric music and effective sound
effects, but lacks the texture and character of the original Wes Craven film. For those who don’t know, a family is traveling across the country when they end up taking a back road that’s been booby-trapped. Their RV gets wrecked, and they’re left stranded in the desert. This is when the film starts to get crazy. The father and the son-in-law go in separate directions to look for help, neither finding it. Instead, a society of victims of nuclear testing descends upon them with vicious intentions. Alexandra Aja is one of the most impressive young directors I’ve seen the past few years. An obvious fan of horror films, Aja focuses in on the intensity of every suspenseful situation and squeezes out every last possible drop of blood. Mysterious composers tomandandy create a western horror soundscape that gels beautifully with the film. In terms of the cast, Aaron Stanford really stands out starting as a meek, mild character, and when forced, fights for the survival of himself and those around him. 20th Century Fox has put together some cool special features. There’s an audio commentary with Alexandra Aja, art director/co-screenwriter Gregory Levasseur and producer Marianne Maddalena. These three discuss the film with a fairly equal balance of technical information as well as personal recollection. The 2nd audio commentary is by Wes Craven and Peter Locke. This one is less hands-on specific, but worthwhile nevertheless. Surviving the Hills: Making of THE HILLS HAVE EYES was an excellent documentary capturing photography, interviews and behind the scenes footage. Any fan of this type of thing would love it. The other extras include a production diary, which was interesting because it focuses on how the cast and crew worked and lived in Morocco. Music video "Leave the Broken Hearts" by the Finalists rounds out the extras. |
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