The Hills Have Eyes

Wes Craven's 'The Last House On The Left' is a horror milestone. It's a very crude and uneven movie, but still for me a very powerful one. It contains some scenes that are still extremely intense and disturbing, and that have rarely if ever been surpassed in subsequent horror movies. I don't known if Craven is embarrassed by it or what, but he seems to have distanced himself from it in his subsequent career. He went on to make several movies that were much more commercially successful, but were a lot tamer and much more viewer friendly. 'The Hills Have Eyes' is almost a transitional movie, the beginning of the slow journey from "old" Craven to "new" Craven. Compared to 'Last House...' it's a walk in the park, but alongside say the 'Scream' trilogy it looks the Manson family's home movies! Craven was still working with a very low budget compared to the mainstream, but for him it was a big step forward from 'Last House...' the results are not as shocking and confronting but it's a lot more consistent and technically more efficient, so I can understand why some horror buffs regard this as his best movie. Personally I find it difficult to choose between the two. The story concerns a family on a road trip looking for a silver mine they have acquired. There's Dad (Russ Grieve) a retired cop, Mom (Virginia Vincent), and three kids - Brenda (Susan Lanier), Bobby (Robert Houston) and Lynne (Dee Wallace). Also along for the ride is Lynne's husband Doug (Martin Speer) and their baby. Despite warnings from a local old coot (John Steadman) they stray from the main road and soon find themselves stranded in the desert. Little do they know that Jupiter (James Whitworth) and his cannibalistic clan, which includes sons Mars (Lance Gordon) and Pluto (Michael Berryman) have sniffed them out and are miiiighty hungry! Craven manages to create a lot of tension in this movie, the "normal" family are realistic and convincing, especially when things begin to fall apart, and Jupiter, Mars and Pluto are three fantastic baddies. Michael Berryman really capitalizes on his naturally odd looks (the results of multiple birth defects), and steals every scene he's in. Of all the cast Dee Wallace went on to the highest profile career ('The Howling', 'Critters', 'E.T.' etc.), but this movie made Berryman into a horror icon. James Whitworth is also terrific, and Lance Gordon gets THE line of the movie ("Baby's fat. You're fat... fat and juicy."), but Berryman outshines them both in the same way that Krug (David Hess) dominates his gang in 'Last House...' I like this movie a lot. I don't think it's as impressive as 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' or 'Dawn Of The Dead', but it still deserves a place among the best of 1970s American horror, and should be watched by anyone with an interest in the genre. If Craven had retired after the double punch of 'The Last House On The Left' and 'The Hills Have Eyes' he would be a horror legend. Unfortunately he didn't, and went on to be involved in some very lame movies (especially the sequel to this which should be AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS!) This decision has obviously proved to be very financially rewarding for him, but it is one that will forever divide horror movie fans.

Wes Craven is a director who did a lot to revive interest in the horror genre, but he also did a lot to ensure that we were unlikely to get our horror the way we used to. While I personally have nothing against his mega-successful "Scream" franchise and have enjoyed both films immensely, I feel sad knowing that Craven will never be able to recapture the awesome low-budget effectiveness of his earlier works. He has developed his directorial skills a LOT since then, but any horror fan will tell you that slicker does not necessarily mean scarier. Now that Craven has successfully broken free from the genre that has provided him with a living for over a quarter century (and has moved on to directing inspirational films with Meryl Steep!), we will never see another film like his "The Hills Have Eyes", which is raw, intense horror at its best. The film doesn't quite have the same impact as Craven's earlier "Last House on the Left", but it is a more skilful piece of work, and is still one of the most frightening genre flicks ever made.

Like all great horror films, the plot requires very little description. The upper-class, white-bread Carter family are on a road trip to California and decide to take a detour through the desert to check out a silver mine that the parents received as a silver wedding anniversary gift. They ignore the warnings of a crazy old man they encounter at a gas station who warns them to stay on the main road, and end up wishing they'd listened to him after their trailer becomes trapped in the middle of nowhere with a broken axle on the car. It soon becomes apparent that they've stumbled into an area that is populated by a family whom the Carters would never have to worry about encountering back home in Cleveland. The members of this family are named after planets in the solar system (Jupiter, Mars, Pluto etc.) and are able to survive life in the desert by praying on unsuspecting travellers like the Carters. After a night of unbearable hell, the Carter family has lost some of their members and most of their supplies and decide to take revenge once daylight hits. They end up acting more violent and psychotic than the villains.

Not even David Lean has used the desert to better effect. Craven's direction here is top-notch, and does a terrific job at conveying the isolation of his location and the helplessness of the whole situation. He takes his sweet time building up the mutant family's attack on the Carters, so that the tension almost becomes unbearable. By the last act, the film is less concerned about the heroes finding their way out of the desert, but about whether or not they are going to end up stooping to the level of their enemies. Of course, these themes of vengeance and family were covered by Craven before in "Last House on the Left", but this time around, he ensures that they will reach a wider audience by presenting them within the confines of a more straightforward genre film. The main factor that prevents this film from being superior to "Last House" are the villains, who are somewhat cartoonish and not quite as memorable as Krug & Company. However, they still do provide plenty of menace, and like the "Last House" gang, exude a certain likability when they're not acting vicious, especially Michael Berryman, who steals every scene he's in as the dim-witted Pluto. All in all, "The Hills Have Eyes" is an unforgettable experience and one of the best films of its kind. Even though videotape copies of "Hills" have been in the darkest depths of moratorium hell for years, every horror fan should go out of their way to check it out. Especially since we just don't get them like this any more...

The Carter family are travelling through the desert on their way to California. Head of the family Bob (Russ Grieve), a retired police officer, decides to visit an inherited silver-mine on the way, and ignoring the advice of Fred (John Steadman), a local filling station owner, drives off the main road towards the hills. An accident leaves the family stranded and easy pickings for a family of cannibals lead by Jupiter (James Whitworth). Following a savage attack by this family, which leaves a number of the Carter's dead, the survivors realise that to continue surviving they too will have to become savages.

Wes Craven followed his controversial debut ‘The Last House on the Left' (1972) with this far greater arranged and compelling tale of family warfare. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is a movie with a raw brutality that has been unsurpassed in any of Craven's films to date, and is possibly the finest horror movie to be directed by Wes Craven. Despite not being as graphic as one would expect the movie never ceases to unnerve or alarm. The atmosphere, which bears a slight resemblance to ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974), maintains an unsettling air from beginning to end as the viewer is sucked into the nightmare that the Carter family is forced to endure. The desolation and hopelessness is portrayed beautifully by Craven, who utilises intelligent camerawork and a haunting soundtrack to fully create the feelings of terror. For everything that the screenplay lacks, Craven's direction more than makes up for and one wonders why Craven is no longer able to make such raw, gripping and emotional movies such as this. During the movie it becomes easy to identify with some of the characters and then feel fulfilled when they exact their retribution.

The acting, while not up to the standard of Craven's more recent offerings such as ‘Scream' (1996), is of a fairly high standard for a low budget 70's horror flick and certainly helps in aiding ‘The Hills Have Eyes' to accomplish a brutal, psychological edge. James Whitworth offers a fantastic performance as the despicable Jupiter and should probably be thought of higher as a horror film villain. His performance demands respect for its power and authority and is accompanied well by Michael Berryman and Lance Gordon. Producer Peter Locke even had a small role as Mercury, the watchdog for this contemptible family of savages. Interestingly the cannibal family come across as deranged hippies, which explains their planetary names. Virginia Vincent was the only performer that I really could not tolerate, but that could be because of the poor scripting for her religious-nut character Ethel. A very special mention has to go to Stryker the Alsatian, who `played' the part of Beast.

I highly recommend this for horror fans. Those people who think that the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street' series is the be all and end all of horror should certainly check this out. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is, in my opinon, Wes Craven's most thought out and gripping horror film to date which features some good performances, excellent camerawork, enthralling sequences and some first-rate special effects. ‘The Hills Have Eyes' is an excellent example of classic Wes Craven and is one of his most creative movies. My rating for ‘The Hills Have Eyes' – 8/10.

While traveling in a trailer through the desert to California, the retired detective Big Bob Carter (Russ Grieve) stops in an isolated gas station with his family for fueling and rest. Bob is traveling with his wife Ethel (Virginia Vincent), his son Bobby (Robert Houston), his daughters Brenda (Susan Lanier) and Lynn (Dee Wallace) and his son-in-law and Lynn's husband Doug (Martin Speer) and their daughter baby Katy (Brenda Marinoff). When they leave the gas station, the owner advises Bob to stay in the main road. However, the stubborn driver takes a shortcut through a nuclear testing site and wrecks his station wagon. With the family stranded in the middle of nowhere, Bob and Doug walk on the road trying to find some help. Bob is captured by an insane and sadistic member of a deranged evil family that lives nearby the spot. Doug returns to the trailer, and along the night the Carter family is attacked by a group of psychotic cannibal criminals. Absolutely trapped by the murderers, they have to fight to survive.

The 1977 "The Hills Have Eyes" is still an impressive movie thirty years after the release date. I have never had the chance to see this low-budget movie, which has not been released on DVD in Brazil, and the VHS is rare. The violent, crude and claustrophobic story has not been dated; on the contrary, I believe it is more credible in the present days, when we can see violence everyday on the news, than in 1977. This movie is certainly one of the best in the filmography of Wes Craven. The cast is pure emotion and fear on the side of the Carter family, and evilness and sadism on the side of Jupiter's family. Ruby, performed by Janus Blythe, is probably the most interesting and ambiguous character, living with a dysfunctional family but still acting like a human being. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Quadrilha de Sádicos" ("Sadistic Gang")

Note: On 30 December 2014, I saw this movie again.

Note: On 09 July 2020, I saw this film again on DVD.

Wes Craven's second film is well-crafted and frightening to say the least. LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was more realistic (almost too much), but this perfect drive-in movie leaves you wanting more. It must have been an unbearable shoot. Check out the 2-disc DVD.

A definite 7 out of 10 with Michael Berryman giving the best performance. Perfect locale in these California mountains that is scarier than the Bates Motel. Great cast with all unknowns. Dee Wallace was quite touching as the young mother and the old Grandpa Fred in the beginning was authentic to the max! Even if you're not a big horror fan, you should check this out late at night. Wes Craven has a good eye and feel for blood relations!