Review of Hills Have Eyes, The (Special Edition)

Introduction

The Carter family, `Big` Bob (Ted Levine), his wife Ethel (Kathleen Quinlan), their children Brenda (Emilie de Ravin, Bobby (Dan Byrd) and Lynn (Vinessa Shaw), together with her husband Doug (Aaron Stanford) and their baby daughter Catherine head on a road trip to California along with their two dogs. It is only when they stop at an isolated gas station in New Mexico and take the short cut suggested by the proprietor that their major problems begin, for they don`t know that that area of New Mexico had been used as a nuclear test site and is now home to a family of mutants who refused to leave and have survived.

The basic plot is faithful to Craven`s original and follows the Carter family`s quest for survival after their car crashes leaving them stranded in the desert where they are attacked by the mutants and are forced to take drastic and violent action to protect themselves.

Video

The DVD keeps the theatrical aspect ration of 2.35:1 allowing the director and cinematographer to show the barren landscape in a series of wide shots whilst missing nothing in the close, more `intimate` scenes which are, for the first time, uncut.

There are subtitles available for the film and both of the commentaries.

Audio

The only soundtrack available is an impressive Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix which provides clear dialogue whilst every aspect of a 5.1 surround system is put to good use during fights and other set-piece effects.

Features

The review disc comes with two audio commentaries, the first from Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseur and producer Marianne Maddalena with the second from Wes Craven and Peter Locke who produced the film. The first commentary is the most interesting as all three had `hands on` involvement in the shoot and, in the case of Aja and Levasseur, are able to give details on the technical aspects of the shoot and the gestation of the project with Maddalena on hand to add details about the actors and prevent the commentary from becoming too technical and dry. The Craven and Locke commentary was a real disappointment as Craven was in Burbank (editing Red Eye) whilst The Hills Have Eyes was being filmed so almost acts as a mediator allowing Locke to impart his views of the film and offer his (limited) insights into its making.

The `Surviving The Hills` feature is a 50 minute `making of` documentary which covers pretty much every aspect of the film, some in more details than others, but it is disappointing not to hear from the cast.

The `Leave The Broken Hearts` music video by The Finalist is the music that played over the second half of the end credits. The video shows the band playing against a background of footage from the film which is interspersed with extracts from the film itself.

There are six trailers for other films throughout the DVD: the trailer for `Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil` is to be found in the Extra Features menu; the `Inside Look` feature on the main menu contains trailers for `The Omen` and `The Ringer`; finally the `Coming Soon` option is available with trailers for `Stay`, `Silent Hill` and `The Sentinel` plus a commercial for Mars!

There are apparently more features on the commercially available disc including production diaries and casting sessions.

Conclusion

Alexandre Aja and Grégory Levasseur shot to the attention of horror fans with their 2003 international hit Haute Tension (High Tension or Switchblade Romance) and apparently became friends as teenagers due to their shared passion for Wes Craven`s 1977 breakthrough film The Hills Have Eyes. Nearly 30 years later, the two remade one of their favourite films with a new subplot and the availability of improved effects, both computer generated and in the form of prosthetics applied by the KNB EFX team.

This DVD contains the uncut version of the film and has about six pieces of footage that were cut from the theatrical version; none of these are whole scenes but rather reinstated cuts/edits of violence and gore which were originally removed to appease the ratings board. I did not think that they made a massive difference to the film; they didn`t add to the story but one of the main features of the film is the almost shocking level of violence and gore so their reinstatement makes one scene more intense and makes the character arc of Doug slightly more satisfying.

One of the strong points of Wes Craven`s original was the subtext in which the `civilised` city family almost swapped places with their uncivilised counterparts; this doesn`t happen in this version as the cannibalistic mutant family are, for the most part, too violent and unsympathetic. I would guess that Aja and Levasseur replaced this subplot with one of the dangers of nuclear testing and the use of nuclear weapons but this appeared to be over-explained and simplistic.

The Hills Have Eyes is a well constructed and visually stylish horror film with enough bloodletting to satisfy even the most ardent gorehound. If you found the theatrical version a bit strong or are naturally squeamish then I would give it a miss. However if you like your horror films violent and bloody then this will more than meet your requirements despite lacking the cerebral subtext of the original.