Hills have Eyes

Chris Tedesco · 03-11-2006, 10:17 AM

So I didn't see an official discussion for this yet, so thought I'd ask if anyone has seen it yet. I'm going today. RT is at 50% so seems like a love it/hate it type. Hope I'm in the love it camp.

I'll post back after I see it.

Simon Massey · 03-11-2006, 10:52 AM

Saw it last night. Some great moments, the build up and the first attack were great and overall I enjoyed the film. However, after the first attack the remaining film could not live up to this and resorted to gore and loud moments to shock you. It was also let down by a typical cliched horror ending which was unnecessary.

TravisR · 03-11-2006, 11:32 AM

I thought that it was pretty good. Not amazing but a worthy remake. It was very faithful to the original except for the seqeunce in the abandoned town and the use of the original's alternate ending. It had some good scares and eventhough it's early in the year, I'd bet that it will be one of the best horror movies of the year.

When I saw it, two people left during the opening credits (which is about 2 or 3 minutes into the movie). I guess from the ads they thought that they were going to see a light hearted comedy instead of a movie about crazy mutants killing people.

I'd say that this is easily one of the best horror remakes ever and probably one of the better remakes of any movie.

RyanJM · 03-11-2006, 12:06 PM

This movie, more than anything, was just annoying.
Overall: 5/10

*Spoilers below*

The behavior of the characters was stupid. Everyone acted unrealistically to tons of key situations.

1) The father, who is a retired detective, panics and sprays bullets around in the dark when he has a six-shooter. Then gets into his car w/o checking the back after the door was open w/his back turned.

2) The dad's on fire, it's obvious that someone killed him and set him on fire, and yet people just sit there and cry instead of worry for their safety and the people around them. That is ridiculous. They acted as people would if they saw their house on fire, when they should have acted like someone was killed right in front of them and the killers are hiding in the dark.

3) The kid is handed a gun by his police-man father (so it's obvious he knows how to use it and has had training), and yet when the bad guys run away from the trailer he fires the gun while jumping around like an idiot. You would be so enraged by what you saw w/your dad etc... that you would just immediately take the shooter's stance and empty a full clip. He fires three bullets while hopping around. Sure.

4) The husband goes into town and sees a mutant dragging a body w/a shotty in one hand. He's 10 feet away and not seen, has a baseball bat in his hand, and decides to hide...sure. You saw your wife murdered and your baby kidnapped. You swing the bat at the mutant's head until he is dead and take his gun. End of story.

5) Same guy then goes into house where baby is being held, decides to sneak past woman watching TV rather than bash her skull in. Then holds baby in both hands trying to sneak away. Great move. A minor nitpick is when he's in the box trying to break out, my brother and I both thought the same thing: Curl up and use your legs to kick it. They're only 3 times stronger than your arms...

6) Same guy is in house, gets saved by dog, gets his bat and decides to hide rather than take advantage of the dog's help and kill the guy w/the help of the dog.

7) Kid goes on angry march to kill mutants that took mom. Finds mom being eaten and decides he is now scared, and will run away firing bullets w/one arm behind him. Kid is now certified dumbest person alive, and least likely to ever be clutch in a pressure sitation.

8) Hero guy drops shotty next to mutant he just "killed". Seems to happen a lot in movies.

Random other complaints:

-Every 15 yr old boy in movies like this is a "punk kid" and generally useless.

-They are in the desert, stopped on a very flat spot, and yet somehow the mutants can sneak up on them with relative ease.

I can't understand how it's so hard to make characters at least act normally and with half a brain. I'm continually amazed that some of these scripts get greenlighted, and wonder at the abilities of writers that spend weeks and months writing crap like this. And don't say "If they acted smart the movie would be over in 20 mins", because my brother and I thought out fixes to the movie in 10 mins that would have made it both believable and entertaining.

TravisR · 03-11-2006, 12:24 PM

The only problem with nitpicks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 is that it expects people to have a clear head in an insane crisis. No one would have the presence of mind to do all the things that you say they should have done. It's way more believable for people to panic than for them to grab a "shotty" or "immediately take the shooter's stance and empty a full clip".

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Shawn_KE · 03-11-2006, 01:07 PM

I just hope to be entertained. The original was pretty good, but nothing I would put on a pedestal.

RyanJM · 03-11-2006, 01:13 PM

Travis, I thought that it wasn't so much a clear head, but rather realistic reactions. You don't need to have a clear head to be afraid for your safety and return to your trailer w/your gun out and ready. You don't need a clear head to be angry and fall back on your training w/a weapon to empty a full clip while standing the only way you ever stand while firing a gun. You don't need a clear head to be angry and take a bat to every mutant in sight. And you certainly don't need a clear head to put 2 in the chest and 1 in the head of a guy eating your mom's body.

A clear head would be calmly executing people. A realistic reaction is all I was asking for

Ryan Wishton · 03-12-2006, 12:02 AM

I thought the original was fairly average. Nothing more. I didn't see it until the 2000's though, so I am sure I didn't get the experience someone in the 70's would have.

I will check this remake out on DVD since it's coming out in June as an unrated release.

I was suppose to see this theatrically, but decided against it when hearing of an unrated DVD being released only a few months from now.

Ross Williams · 03-12-2006, 12:45 AM

I saw it last night. I agree somewhat with some of Ryan's comments. But they didn't bug me nearly as much. Some of the character reactions were stupid, but mostly I did take it as they're in a crazy f'd up situation, so they're not going to be reacting normally. Though the stupid, leaving the shotgun next to the "deadguy" was extremely cliche'... everyone in the entire audience knew he was going to stand up. I think if he'd just walked up and blasted the guy's head off, that the audience would have cheered.... but they had to go with the stupid horror standby ending.

On the whole though, I really enjoyed the film. The original certainly wasn't a classic, mainly just a good idea for a horror film. I thought the remake was actually better. I appreciated how brutal it was... the character development was done decently, so you actually cared about these people, which made the situation that much harder to watch.

Probably the best horror film I've seen since the Dawn of the Dead remake.... I'd sure love to see an original horror film.

Adam_WM · 03-12-2006, 11:12 AM

I saw it last night. I thought it was fine (basically a 6/10). It seemed to me that the movie was not sure what it wanted to be: a serious horror film (as evidenced by the graphic violence and initial attack scene) or a throw-back to the glory days of 70's horror (as evidenced by the many horror cliches and overly triumphant rock score in moments of success).

I have to commend Alexandre Aja. He's a great director. The shots and composition of the film were great. If Hollywood can match this guy up with a script without implausible plot turns (High Tension) and without abundant cliches (Hills), we'll have a real winner on our hands.