Directed by: Alexandre Aja
Written by: Alexandre Aja and Grégory Levasseur
Cast: Michael Bailey Smith, Tom Bower, Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, Dan Byrd, Emilie de Ravin,& Aaron Stanford
Runtime: 107 min
Rating: NC-17 (Unrated Version)
Trailer

The Hills Have Eyes, Alexandre Aja’s stellar remake of the Wes Craven cult classic is a bloody, no-holds-barred horror film that is just as thrilling as it is excessive. Featuring horrific stabbings, beheadings, mutilations and a truly disturbing rape sequence, Aja’s remake is probably a little too much for the faint of heart, but where it stands above typical Hollywood slasher films is in its underlying critique of U.S. policy and popular culture.

The plot sticks pretty much to the original. A road trip takes a tragic turn for a family after they are stranded in the middle of the desert on their way to California. They are terrorized and stalked by a family of wayward hillbilly mutants, deformed during American atom bomb tests, who use their victims as a source of valuable supplies, food and general nastiness. Where Craven’s original was heavily influenced by the hippy culture of the time and satirized the nuclear family of the 60’s and 70’s, Aja literally shows the modern nuclear family, warts and all. The overt references to Americana during the first act reinforces conventional American stereotypes: The ubiquitous American flag, the family prayer circle, belittling the lone democrat, and the prevailing gun culture – they’re all used to implicate them in their own demise.

Certain changes ultimately turn this version of Hills into a far superior film than the original. For starters, Aja changes the family’s unfortunate drive through the desert from something they do out of simple curiosity to see a silver mine, to a deliberate setup by a gas station attendant (Tom Bower). It’s usually never a good idea to listen to a gas station manager in the middle of nowhere, especially when he has no teeth! The film blames boorish American ignorance for the family’s unfortunate circumstances. In a way, Aja is punishing his family for coming off as loud and un-likable, which mirrors the constant references to the atom bomb testing the American government took part in – something the original never had, and as one of the mutants proclaims, “You’ve made us what we’ve become…” This radical shift away from the pessimism of the hippy culture to political allegory turns a relatively ludicrous concept into something with a little more weight to it. And besides, when the American flag is driven through a mutant’s throat while the Star Spangled Banner is sung in the background, it’s a nice little fuck you, from the red, white and blue.

When the violence starts, it is tough, and at times, brutal to watch, but it is without a doubt truly horrifying at effectively eliciting scares. Aja spares no one, including several terrifying sequence involving the family baby. And honestly, is there really a way of making a mutant movie like this without a heavy dose of violence? Probably not.

It’s by no means perfect, though. Instead of comparing the two families as the original does, Aja just barely sketches the mutants. We’re not given any insight into their lives or what their dynamic is as a family unit. In this version, they’re just a bunch of deformed psychopaths. Every scare is constantly followed by a heavy musical cue on the soundtrack, which gets tiresome pretty quickly, especially when it’s done constantly during the setup. Also, what’s with the endless references to nuclear testing? Is it just an excuse to show gruesome pictures of deformed children? I don’t know, but it suggests Aja isn’t sure if his audience is capable of interepreting the meaning through simple suggestion alone.

Overall though, the air of dread and macabre is highly effective and unnerving. There is an eye in them hills, and possibly an ear, nose and throat. It’s not subtle, but it’s a technically proficient and highly effective shock-horror film.

Richard X
© Cinephile Magazine, 2006

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