The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Wes Craven

Writer:

Wes Craven (writer)

Release Date:

22 July 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The lucky ones died first...

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Cannibal | Camping Trailer | Remade | Exploding Car

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes (USA) (LD title)
La colline a des yeux (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
De heuvelen hebben ogen (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Hügel der blutigen Augen (West Germany) [de]
La colina de los ojos malditos (Argentina) [es]
La pandilla abominable (Argentina) [es]
Las colinas tienen ojos (Spain) [es]
Le colline hanno gli occhi (Italy) [it]
Le visage de la peur (Canada: French title) [fr]
Oi ktinanthropoi (Greece) [el]
Slagterbanden (Denmark) [da]
Yön silmät (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

89 min | UK:86 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | USA:X (original rating) | USA:Unrated (unrated DVD version) | Finland:(Banned) (1986) | Finland:K-16 (1996) | USA:R (MPAA rating) | Italy:VM14 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (cut) (1987) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | Germany:18 (uncut) (2008) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:18 (re-rating) | Australia:R | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Victorville, California, USA

Company:

Blood Relations Co.

Trivia:

According to star Robert Houston the audition process for the film depended a lot on whether or not an actor could cry on cue.

Goofs:

Continuity: After the cannibal punks break into the family's trailer, Mars opens the birdcage, takes out the bird, snaps off its head and drinks its blood. Later, while Mrs Carter is being laid out on the sofa bed after being shot, the birdcage is clearly visible behind her, still closed and with the bird hopping around inside.

Quotes:

Ethel Carter: [while looking at a road map] We are not lost, we're right here somewhere on this little blue line.
Lynne Wood: This road is not a blue line, it's a dotted line, if it's even on the map at all!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Robot Chicken: Two Weeks Without Food (#4.8)" (2009)

Classic Craven, and one of the best horror films of the 70's.

Wes Craven's greatest B horror film was this harrowing low-budgeter that has gained quite a fan base over the years.

Charming, all-American family becomes stranded in the dessert wilderness and are preyed upon by a clan of savage hill-dwellers.

Violent, shocking, gory, and genuinely frightening, it's not hard to see why The Hills Have Eyes gained it's reputation as one of the most ruthless horror films of its decade. Craven's direction is well done, nicely exposing the raw and scenic filming locations. His story is also quite powerful. Craven gives us a taught, merciless tale of fear and survival that dares to break the audience's comfortable expectations! It has plenty of unexpected twists and a steely suspenseful climax. As with Craven's early film, Last House on the Left (1972), The Hills Have Eyes is a film about clean-cut,likable people who must become brutal animals to avenge themselves. It's solidly intense and very poetic.

The cast of unknowns turns in great performances. Lanier, Houston, Speer, Grieve, Wallace, and Vincent all make for a well identifiable American family. While Whitworth, Gordon, and Berryman make for perfectly scary monsters!

A startling and memorable thriller all around, The Hills Have Eyes remains one of Craven's greatest achievements and one truly relentless horror picture! Genre fans should not miss it.

**** out of ****