Friday, April 16, 2010

The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

The future hubs and I are currently busy putting together the invites for our wedding (two months, eeek!)  So this is going to be a weekend full of movies we've already seen but I've never written reviews about.  It's also the weekend of awesome remakes.  Anyone who knows me/reads this blog knows that I am a bigtime whiner about remakes.  Don't ruin a classic, come up with your own idea blah blah blah.  However, there are some pretty badass remakes out there and The Hills Have Eyes  is one of them.

The cover to this movie is stupid and therefore I will represent the awesomeness of this flick with a shot of Big Brain (see left)  He is the creepiest mutant in the movie and way better than any of the promo shots.  The remake actually follows the originally pretty closely.  There's some differences in plot points, but all in all, it remains true to Craven's original vision.  The one thing I really like about this remake is the transformation of the "hill people" into radioactive mutants instead of just weirdos with a taste for humans.  I like reasoning behind things.  That's probably why I liked Rob Zombie's Halloween and everyone else hated it.

The Hills Have Eyes is the story of a family driving to California (the remake is set in present day, as opposed to the 1970s).  Some spikes on the road cause them to crash the car and trailer and be stranded in the middle of the desert, miles from civilization.  Little do they know that they are being closely watched by cannibalisitic mutants chilling out in a nearby bomb testing site.  Pops takes off for the nearest gas station for help, while the hipster son-in-law peaces in the other direction.  Both of these things were obviously horrible ideas and do not end well.  When the mutants approach the family's trailer, all goes to hell and the battle begins.

The makeup and special effects in this movie were killer, although I do prefer the actors/actresses from the original version.  There was one thing that confused me about this movie though (maybe someone could clarify)  Big Brain explains that when the government forced them out of their houses, they hid in the mines during the bomb tests.  Nuclear testing began in the 1950s.  This movie is set in the 2000s (they mention cell phones several times)  Anyone that "hid" (including freak pictured above) would have to be in their 80s at this time.  I feel like there was a continuation/timing issue with that.  Anyway, I know it's nitpicky.  This movie is great, even though the original still holds up.

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