The Hills Have Eyes(1977) Review

7/10

Wes Craven has become one of the most notorious filmmakers in the horror business.  Being responsible for classics like "A Nightmare On Elm Street," "Scream," and many others, he has become a household to the masses.  This 1977 cult film never met the same glory as his other work, but over the decades, it has acquired a fanbase of its own. It has spawned sequels and remakes, and it definitely had quite an influence on other horror films to come.  

This film starts a little slow, as we meet an old man and a young girl named Ruby in a very rural area that is close to being a desert. The two of them start talking about how Ruby is starving, but that there is nothing left to trade for food.  After this, a family comes by to get some gas for their station wagon. Then the family leaves and they drive around and talk, and they see a big plane flying in the sky. Things start to get a little more tense as the family gets stranded in the middle of nowhere.  You know at this moment that something crazy is going to happen. The movie get even weirder as one of the young boys in the family named Bobby is seen ignoring his sister and giving her a death glare, and the fact that his face has been altered in some way.  Even though things were still slow at this point, at least there was one teaser jump moment to get things going, and a mystery to make you engrossed in the film.

About 32 minutes into the film, the first attack happens.  The victim of the brutality had just been talking about his abnormally large son, and then coming through the window the son takes him and beats him with a crowbar.  I can't even express how relieved I was that something finally happened in the film, because honestly if things would've stayed boring any longer, I might've fallen asleep. 

The family of savages are absolutely disgusting. They are sadistic, cannibalistic, deformed, dirty, and completely immoral. They steal babies, assault young women, murder, etc. The idea that they're attempting to cook the young baby Kate is absolutely awful, and it's such a brutal thing even for a horror movie.  My personal favorite of the gang was Michael Berryman as Pluto. He was a very deformed and creepy character, but was also quite humorous at times. 

The violence in this film is sick, brutal, and absolutely awesome. While its gore is tame compared to now, it still has a lot of bite to it, and really stands as a strong point of the movie. There is stabbing, mauling, shooting, etc.  The coolest scene is the Achilles' tendon tear in my opinion.  

The last quarter of the film is very intense, as the good family attempts to save Kate from the cannibals. There is a lot of brutal fighting and chase scenes, and it is one of the most exciting parts of the film.  The ending scene especially ends well because it ends my favorite thing; a "what the heck" moment. 

This movie was made 38 years ago, and to be honest, it hasn't aged as well as other films from the decade. I have seen many movies of this time, and even older that do just fine, but this one wasn't meant to work for more than a year in my opinion. The soundtrack makes me feel like I'm watching a serial movie from the 70's. So while I did enjoy the film a bit, this factor did bring it down a bit. 

After viewing this film for the second time, I can say that I enjoyed it a little bit more. There is some pretty exciting scenes, and the characters are cool enough. While it is still extremely flawed and dated, it is definitely worth a watch, and I think it could be enjoyable for fans of the genre.