Movie Review - The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

The Hills Have Eyes

(1977)

Blood Relations Co. : Anchor Bay Entertainment / Vestron Video

6 / 10

In the 1950's science fiction used people's uncertainty and fear over nuclear power to bring them mutations that ran wild and wrought havoc on the populace.  In the 1970's writer and director, Wes Craven brought this vision to a new height when the radiation created a race of mutated humans.

Because of this mutation, they were shunned by their family and banished from their home to live in the nuclear wastelands of the Nevada desert.  This harsh life made them savages and when they couldn't barter for food and supplies they had to live off the land and eat what they caught, which sometimes included lost tourists.

Enter our lost tourists, the Carter family, who are looking for a silver mine that was owned by their family.  Not listening to the Gas Station owner to stay on the main road and forget about the mine, they proceed to take a dirt road, which doesn't lead them to the mine but to a fight for their lives.

This was Craven's third writer and director project and it shows,  When they did the remake in 2006, had they let Craven direct I think it would have been a much different film with a darker feel.

What we have here is a survival film.  On one side you have the mutants trying to survive by any means necessary.  In this instance by stealing from the tourists, even if it means killing them.  The tourists are trying to survive the desert and the attacks from the mutants until they escalate into carnage.  I've always seen the movie in this context, even back in my youth.

There's not much horror or tension in the film as it's played for the thriller element since the action comes thick and fast in the form of attack and counter attack.

I wasn't impressed with the acting of the cast and I'm still not.  There's nothing subtle about this film and that can especially be said for the over-acting cast, though some are worse than others.  All the characters seem to be over-the-top and unrealistic.  The only character I found I could just about believe in was Pluto, at least Michael Berryman tried to give him some depth.

This was certainly a film of its time which got everybody talking, though, as with The Exorcist, I couldn't understand what the fuss was about.  In my eye's there were better films in the same genre.

If you haven't seen the film then it's worth watching just to see what all the fuss was about and it does has cult status, as well as being a milestone in the industry.  Though one viewing should be enough.