The Hills Have Eyes was Wes Craven's second directorial film after The Last House on the Left (I'm not counting his stint as Abe Snake directing The Fireworks Woman). Much like The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes has a gritty, low budget, violent look, having been shot on 16mm film. Given the budget of approximately $230,000, Wes Craven was able to craft a violent, sometimes humorous horror film that to this day is still quite popular among the horror crowd. The film has gone on to spawn a few sequels and a couple actual good remakes, however, we are not here to talk about those. Instead, we are going to focus on the first film only, as Arrow Video has gone above and beyond in releasing an absolutely stunning Blu-ray release. Read
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I laughed at some of the sketchy acting and the often times hilarious low-budget look of the film. I was a naive, stupid boy back then and nowadays I can appreciate a film better. Instead of laughing at the acting, I accept it as a product of its time. The low-budget look of the film no longer seems terrible, but impressive given the actual budget. This time around, I feel in love with the film, much in thanks to Arrow Video's amazing work on the fixing up the transfer, which I will get to in a bit.
The story behind The Hills Have Eyes is a fairly simple one. A family on a trip to California, take a detour through the desert to visit an old silver mine. Unbeknownst to them, the area they are travelling through was a nuclear testing ground, that has spawned a family of savages in the hills. After getting run off the road by a feisty rabbit, the family gets stuck in the desert, right across from the hill people's home.
After the group split up (of course!), the hill people advance and start the rampage in their quest for a nice juicy meal (a nice baby for example). Thankfully, the family has some kickass dogs to help protect
I laughed at some of the sketchy acting and the often times hilarious low-budget look of the film. I was a naive, stupid boy back then and nowadays I can appreciate a film better. Instead of laughing at the acting, I accept it as a product of its time. The low-budget look of the film no longer seems terrible, but impressive given the actual budget. This time around, I feel in love with the film, much in thanks to Arrow Video's amazing work on the fixing up the transfer, which I will get to in a bit.
The story behind The Hills Have Eyes is a fairly simple one. A family on a trip to California, take a detour through the desert to visit an old silver mine. Unbeknownst to them, the area they are travelling through was a nuclear testing ground, that has spawned a family of savages in the hills. After getting run off the road by a feisty rabbit, the family gets stuck in the desert, right across from the hill people's home.
After the group split up (of course!), the hill people advance and start the rampage in their quest for a nice juicy meal (a nice baby for example). Thankfully, the family has some kickass dogs to help protect