The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Director:

Wes Craven

Writer:

Wes Craven (written by)

Release Date:

22 July 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Just keep telling yourself it's only a film...It's only a film...

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:

Gas Station | Desert | Cannibal | Map | Camping Trailer

Awards:

1 win

Cast

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
Striker	...	The Beast

Directed by
Wes Craven

Writing credits
Wes Craven		(written by)

Produced by
Peter Locke	....	producer

Original Music by
Don Peake

Cinematography by
Eric Saarinen		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Wes Craven

Casting by
Gus Schirmer

Art Direction by
Robert A. Burns		(as Robert Burns)

Costume Design by
Joanne Jaffe

Makeup Department
Dave Ayres	....	special makeup
RaMona Fleetwood	....	hair stylist
Karen Grant	....	makeup artist: second unit
Ken Horn	....	special makeup
Donald Mulderick	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Walter R. Cichy	....	production manager (as Walter Cichy)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Valley Hoffman	....	assistant director

Art Department
Mary Church	....	props

Sound Department
Jill Debin	....	sound effects
David Lee Fein	....	sound effects
Craig Felburg	....	sound mixer: second unit
D.G. Fisher	....	assistant sound
Peter Hitchcock	....	sound effects
David Marsh	....	sound effects
Jan Schulte	....	sound mixer
Hal Watkins	....	re-recording engineer

Special Effects by
Greg Auer	....	special effects
John Frazier	....	special effects

Stunts
Alton James	....	stunts
Ron Stein	....	stunt coordinator
Ron Stein	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Carolyn Ames	....	best person: second unit
Dennis Bishop	....	gaffer
Larry Boyd	....	grip
Robert Eber	....	assistant camera: second unit (as Bob Eber)
Ray Fischer	....	still photographer
William Moore	....	grip (as Bill Moore)
Leslie Otis	....	assistant camera
Lynn Rogers	....	key grip
Richard Scheid	....	grip
Tim Wawrzeniak	....	assistant camera: second unit
Ken Wheeland	....	best boy

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Paula Cain	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Robert Alsheimer	....	assistant editor
J. Larry Carroll	....	set editor

Music Department
Don Peake	....	conductor

Other crew
Florence M. Amico	....	production assistant
Joanie Blum	....	script supervisor
Rick Braverman	....	script supervisor: second unit
Jim Dannaldson	....	snakes
Moe Di Sesso	....	dogs
Rhonda Hopkins	....	production assistant
Peter Locke	....	presenter
Tom Morrocco	....	dogs
Tom Pickette	....	location coordinator
Tom Pickette	....	location scout
Rose Marie Yurinko	....	assistant to producer

Production Companies

• Blood Relations Co.

Distributors

• Vanguard (I) (1977) (USA) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Astral Films (Canada)
• Atlantic Film (2005) (Sweden) (DVD)
• CMV Laservision (2009) (Germany) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• Future Film (1997) (Finland)
• Harmonyvision (1981) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-Ray)
• Image Entertainment (laserdisc)
• Magnum Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• Starmaker Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Vestron Video (video)

Other Companies

• BT Industrial Supply  expendables (uncredited)
• Doneil Productions  sound effects
• Freeze Frame  titles
• MGM Laboratories  prints
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)  rerecording (as MGM)
• Movielab  film processing

Also Known As:

"Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes" - USA (LD title)
"La colina de los ojos malditos" - Argentina, Mexico (imdb display title)
"La colline a des yeux" - Belgium (French title), France
"Aima stous lofous" - Greece (DVD title)
"De heuvelen hebben ogen" - Belgium (Flemish title)
"Hügel der blutigen Augen" - West Germany
"La pandilla abominable" - Argentina
"Las colinas tienen ojos" - Spain
"Le colline hanno gli occhi" - Italy
"Le visage de la peur" - Canada (French title)
"Oi ktinanthropoi" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Os Olhos da Montanha" - Portugal (imdb display title)
"Quadrilha de Sádicos" - Brazil (imdb display title)
"Slagterbanden" - Denmark
"Sziklák szeme" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Wzgórza maja oczy" - Poland (imdb display title)
"Yön silmät" - Finland

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) | 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) | Portugal:M/18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Australia:R | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Apple Valley, California, USA

Company:

Blood Relations Co.

Trivia:

There were two babies that were used in the film as the same character (Katy) though the baby is only credited as Brenda Marinoff.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: After Mars pulls Pluto off of Brenda and throws him onto the trailer floor, Pluto's lips don't move when he says, "You son of a bitch!"

Quotes:

Brenda Carter:We're gonna be french fries! Human french fries!

Movie Connections:

References Suspiria (1977)

Solid, original shocker

THE HILLS HAVE EYES is an example of a strong premise interpreted intelligently by an original, non-pussified director. If this had been made (for the first time) now, it'd be weak as pi**.

HILLS is a raw, solid, shocking little terror flick about a multi-generational family who get stranded in the desert. They are stalked and attacked by another multi-generational family.

"They wanted to see something different, but something different saw them first," is how the ad line ran for this classic. It sums up the premise nicely. The desert family is an ugly, in-bred, brutal unit, but, like our "heroes", they just want to survive the only way they know how.

Baldy Michael Berryman, who plays Pluto, is the standout sicko in this drama, but no actor fails to impress here as the terror mounts and survival instincts short like fuses.

Director/writer Craven does a superb job characterizing both families and keeps proceedings moving at a clip. The characters are no cliches, they are flesh and blood people, and it is so refreshing to not sit through another template terror flick with pre-ordained peaks and troughs.

This film gets nasty, too, yes, siree. There are shootings, stabbings, burnings and strangulation. Two Rin Tin-Tin-like dogs bring a little Barnum and Bailey to the action and the desert location, where the entire film is set, is a perfect, sun-drenched hell on earth.

Although much can be learned from rotten movies, much about staging realistic terror and keeping it simple, stupid, can be learned watching HILLS.

A classic.