The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

On the way to California, a family has the misfortune to have their car break down in an area closed to the public, and inhabited by violent savages ready to attack.

Director:

Wes Craven

Writer:

Wes Craven

Stars:

Suze Lanier-Bramlett, Robert Houston, John Steadman

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Steadman	...	Fred
Janus Blythe	...	Ruby
Peter Locke	...	Mercury (as Arthur King)
Russ Grieve	...	Big Bob Carter
Virginia Vincent	...	Ethel Carter
Suze Lanier-Bramlett	...	Brenda Carter (as Susan Lanier)
Dee Wallace	...	Lynne Wood
Brenda Marinoff	...	Katy
Robert Houston	...	Bobby Carter
Martin Speer	...	Doug Wood
James Whitworth	...	Jupiter
Michael Berryman	...	Pluto
Lance Gordon	...	Mars
Cordy Clark	...	Mama
Flora	...	Beauty

Storyline

A family going to California accidentally goes through an Air Testing range closed to the public. They crash and are stranded in a desert. They are being stalked by a group of people, which have not emerged into modern times.

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Plot Keywords:

gas station | desert | cannibal | grindhouse film | drive in classic | 

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Taglines:

Esta tranquila familia no quería matar... pero tampoco quería morir (Mexico)

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

(at around 15 mins) The scene with the tarantula was not scripted. The crew simply found the spider walking around the shooting location, and decided to incorporate it into the movie. They released it alive and well afterwards. Dee Wallace said little acting was required when her character Lynne interacts with the tarantula, because her fear of the spider was very much authentic.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 14 mins) As Jupiter and Pluto are heading toward the trailer, the scar on Jupiter's face disappears for several shots.

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Quotes

Big Bob Carter: Do you always try to stop trespassers by hanging yourself?

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Alternate Versions

The original UK cinema version was cut by the BBFC and lost part of the final climactic stabbing plus the closeup shot of Pluto's bloodied and mauled ankle. The initial 1987 video release on the Palace label surprisingly restored all of the previous cuts but lost a brief 2 second scene where Mars points a gun at Brenda's open mouth. The 2003 Anchor Bay release saw all BBFC cuts fully restored.

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Connections

Referenced in Mimesis (2011)

User Reviews

Craven's first good movie is an integral part of the horror/grind-house/exploitation flicks of the 70's

Made in a budget close to 300 to 400 thousand dollars (give or take a dollar), and shot in just several days in the desert with limited crew and actors, The Hills Have Eyes isn't really a stylistic masterpiece under such limitations like its twice removed cousin Texas Chain Saw Massacre (then again Wes Craven didn't have the visionary chops of Tobe Hooper). However watching it, even in the wee hours of 3 AM in the morning on TV, it was still quite the little entertaining good versus evil flick. The remake of it, which will be known to more perhaps than Craven's original (or more seen), has the bucks to claim its lot of gore and expanded production design. But with this film, we get just the bare bones, so to speak, of a mutant cannibal film, where a family of six (with two dogs aptly named Beauty and Beast, ho-ho), get railed off the road in the middle of a desert, and a creeping sense of doom as the night rolls around.

Craven puts together a cast of relative unknowns, but at the same time casts to type extremely well, with all of the family members (particularly the elder naive mother and bitter father) just right, and the mutant family (featuring the welcoming presence of Michael Berryman) with their names akin to planets, quite terrifying as well. There isn't much to their work, but there shouldn't be. This is the kind of film where you want the situation to just do what it can, and Craven doesn't get in the way save for a few tongue-in-cheek moments and some spots of gore. The moments of violence actually become somewhat more graphic than expected just by how fast they go or what isn't shown (apparently there's a X-rated cut that's out of existence). What's interesting too is how there's a little- not much but some- background on these mutant characters, the ties that bind this group of hungry maniacs together, with one perhaps not as twisted and remorseless as the others.

As I said, if you're looking for Craven's masterpiece you might not find it, as there are moments where the story and dialog kind of crack in their place. But I was in a nice grip of excitement as the story unraveled into its last half hour or so, with a few twists that, to me, rival over those in the new Aja remake. It's a gritty, strangely amusing shoe-string production that knows what it is and is just happy to be shown somewhere. At the least, it shows Craven growing a bit from his horrid days of Last House on the Left, pointing to his fresher ground of Nightmare on Elm Street. This is the kind of movie that every horror or 1970's drive-in fan should see once, and has rightfully had a place as a cult film for decades now. 7.5/10

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 July 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blood Relations

Filming Locations:

Apple Valley, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$230,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blood Relations Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Dolby (Double Tension System) (Japan theatrical release)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1