Remakes that are on par or better than the original are tough to come by these days, but when they do it is usually welcomed with open arms. That seems to be the case with Alexandre Aja’s 2006 horror film, The Hills Have Eyes, which stars Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw, Emilie de Ravin, Dan Byrd, Ted Levine and Robert Joy. And while I may not have seen the 1977 Wes Craven classic, most people that I have spoken too seem to agree that this is a worthy tribute to Craven’s original.
The Hills Have Eyes is about the Carters, an American family on a road trip to San Diego for their parents’ anniversary. After making a pit stop for some gas, their attendant tells them of a shortcut to shave some time off their trip. They thank the man but little do they know that it’s a trap. As their vehicle breaks down and crashes in the middle of the desert, the family becomes stranded unbeknownst that where they are is a former nuclear testing ground. As the movie marches forward we discover that some miners never left the testing grounds during the bombing and, as a result, have mutated into carnivorous creatures of the hills. The movie becomes a game of survival as the mutated people continue to attack and pick off members of the Carter family and they do their best to fight back.
While there wasn’t a real moment where I felt truly scared, I did think that this was a very well crafted film, one that’s more of a thriller than a horror. Aja is able to create enough fear in you that you end up silently cheering for the Carters, hoping that they may be able to kill some of these creepy son-of-a-bitches. He also does a good job of not creating a full on slasher through the amount of time he leaves between each kill. When he uses gore it is in the right amount and doesn’t feel too gratuitous, which is great for a horror that wants to be taken seriously.
What I really liked about the film is that it stays clear of the typical horror cliché’s that we’ve all become accustomed to. Rather than focusing on creating suspense at night, most of the film ends up taking place in daylight which changes the tone of the film significantly. It may go for some of those cheap pop-up-out-of-nowhere scares on occasion, but for the most part it tries to instill fear in you through good character development, empathy, and how isolation, whether in day or night, can be quite scary with a group of savage mutants running around. Additionally, the film strays away a group of teenagers and focuses on very distinct characters of a family, thus avoiding those cliché leave ‘your friend behind to survive’ moments and focuses on the family bonds of togetherness. Lastly, the best part about the cliché avoidance is that the creatures were actually human. They may have been mutated but they weren’t completely stupid. They had 
intelligence, they had motivation and they all understood their roles within their circle, something that can’t be said for Zombies. While some may only exhibit the most primitive behavior of mammals, there are others who have brains and even one that has a heart. Like the Carters, they all belong to a family and do what they can to survive in their nuclear testing town.
As for the acting, I thought it was pretty good. There were certain characteristics about each character I didn’t like, but the actors made sure to deliver those specific flaws in the right way and they did it well. The same goes for the men and women who played the mutants. They clearly embraced their disgusting nature and nailed their red-neckish roles to the T, making sure that you hated them but also understood why they were acting the way they were. But, to be honest, my favorite characters were the dogs, Beauty and Beast. They were fantastic and were actually a vital part of the film and family unit.
Overall, The Hills Have Eyes is a pretty good horror/thriller. It won’t necessarily scare you much but it does a wonderful job of building a story and avoiding the typical pitfalls of all the cookie-cutter horrors that are made today. It’s worth checking out for those who have seen and enjoyed the original and it ends up being a perfect little popcorn flick for a Sunday night for those that haven’t.
Rating: A well told, anti-cliché driven mutant horror that’ll actually keep you engaged (6.3/10)
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