“The lucky ones die first” is the tagline for the new thriller “The Hills Have Eyes,” and for a good reason.
“The Hills Have Eyes,” directed by Alexandre Aja and produced by Wes Craven, is a remake of Craven’s 1977 movie with the same title.
Although the newer version contains more gore and disturbing images, the plotline stays pretty much the same.
A suburban American family, the Carters, travel across the New Mexico desert when a short cut causes them to have an accident and brings them to a dead end.
They soon learn that they are stranded in an area where the government tests nuclear bombs, and that the area is not as deserted as the group thinks.
People who had refused to leave the area during the nuclear testing have become deformed and have turned into blood-thirsty cannibals.
The cannibals then attack the family with full force.
It is almost too late before the family – or what’s left of it – realizes that members need to work together in order to survive.
The star-studded cast includes Dan Byrd (A Cinderella story, 28 Days, Salem’s Lot), Aaron Stanford (X-Men: The Last Stand), Emilie de Ravin (Roswell, Lost), Ted Levine (Monk, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Fast and the Furious), Kathleen Quinlan (Wild Thing, Apollo 13, Independence Day), and Vinessa Shaw (Hocus Pocus, Eyes Wide Shut, 40 Days and 40 Nights).
These actors are very convincing in their roles and there is the right amount of character development to build sympathy from the audience, especially when the mutants first attack.
The movie is very fast-paced and does not give the audience a chance to take a break from all of the suspense.
Therefore, the whole film is extremely unsettling.
The music is what creates the suspense and keeps the movie-goers on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what’s going to happen next.
It seems as though the filmmakers relied heavily on the sudden and loud background noises to startle the audience, which definitely served their purpose.
Overall, the gruesome violence is excessive and makes the film exhausting to watch.
Horror fans may find themselves more disgusted than scared during parts of the film.
