The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Alexandre Aja

Writers:

Alexandre Aja (screenplay) &
Grégory Levasseur (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

10 March 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The lucky ones die first.

Plot:

A suburban American family is being stalked by a group of psychotic people who live in the desert, far away from civilization.

Plot Keywords:

Stabbed In The Head | Teenage Girl | Cannibal | Walkie Talkie | Gun

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Aaron Stanford	...	Doug Bukowski
Kathleen Quinlan	...	Ethel Carter
Vinessa Shaw	...	Lynn Carter
Emilie de Ravin	...	Brenda Carter
Dan Byrd	...	Bobby Carter
Tom Bower	...	Gas Station Attendant
Billy Drago	...	Papa Jupiter
Robert Joy	...	Lizard
Ted Levine	...	Big Bob Carter
Desmond Askew	...	Big Brain
Ezra Buzzington	...	Goggle
Michael Bailey Smith	...	Pluto
Laura Ortiz	...	Ruby
Gregory Nicotero	...	Cyst (as Greg Nicotero)
Maisie Camilleri Preziosi	...	Baby Catherine
Ivana Turchetto	...	Big Mama
Maxime Giffard	...	First Victim
Judith Jane Vallette	...	Small Deformed Child
Adam Perrell	...	Small Deformed Child

Directed by
Alexandre Aja

Writing credits
Alexandre Aja		(screenplay) &
Grégory Levasseur		(screenplay) (as Gregory Levasseur)
Wes Craven		(1977 film)

Produced by
Wes Craven	....	producer
Frank Hildebrand	....	executive producer
Samy Layani	....	producer: Morocco
Inigo Lezzi	....	line producer: Morocco
Peter Locke	....	producer
Marianne Maddalena	....	producer
Cody Zwieg	....	associate producer

Original Music by
tomandandy

Cinematography by
Maxime Alexandre

Film Editing by
Baxter

Casting by
Mark Bennett

Production Design by
Joseph C. Nemec III

Art Direction by
Grégory Levasseur
Tamara Marini		(supervising art director)

Set Decoration by
Alessandra Querzola

Costume Design by
Danny Glicker

Makeup Department
Howard Berger	....	special makeup effects designer
Salima Oulad Dahhou	....	hair stylist (as Salima Ouled Dahhou)
Karl Derrick	....	on-set special effects makeup artist
Massimiliano Duranti	....	hair department head
Jake Garber	....	special makeup effects shop supervisor
Grady Holder	....	dental prosthetics: K.N.B. EFX Group
Abounouom Mariam Lee	....	makeup artist (as Mariam Lee)
Mario Michisanti	....	makeup department head
Gregory Nicotero	....	special makeup effects designer (as Greg Nicotero)
Scott Patton	....	makeup designer
Matteo Silvi	....	key makeup artist
Kevin Wasner	....	on-set special effects makeup artist

Production Management
Tina Anderson	....	post-production supervisor
Moncef Belam	....	production chief
Fettah Lahouissi	....	production manager
Alix Taylor	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Adil Abdelwahab	....	first assistant director: second unit
Grégory Levasseur	....	second unit director
Jon-Luke Lourens	....	second assistant director
Shamiel Soni	....	second second assistant director
Franklin A. Vallette	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Cristina Cecili	....	head painter
Mark Fruin	....	property master
Harry Pain	....	assistant art director
Lorenzo Sartor	....	carpenter
Luigi Sergianni	....	construction manager

Sound Department
Richard Adrian	....	sound designer
Christopher Alba	....	assistant sound editor
Dane A. Davis	....	sound designer
Ezra Dweck	....	sound re-recording mixer
François Eudes	....	sound designer (as François-Eudes Chanfrault)
J. Aloysius Flanagan III	....	sound re-recordist
Ginger Geary	....	foley artist
Ronald Kelly	....	assistant foley editor
Mark Larry	....	supervising sound editor
Ryan Maguire	....	foley mixer
Kimberly R. McCord	....	dialogue editor
Carla Murray	....	sound effects editor
Chris Navarro	....	adr recordist
Dick Philip	....	boom operator
Ken S. Polk	....	sound re-recording mixer
Sean Rowe	....	foley artist
Solange S. Schwalbe	....	sound editor
Frank Smathers	....	supervising adr editor
Eric Thompson	....	adr mixer
Bryan O. Watkins	....	sound effects editor

Special Effects by
Danilo Bollettini	....	special effects coordinator
Jason Pinsker	....	lab technician: KNB EFX Group
Franco Ragusa	....	special effects supervisor
Dirk Rogers	....	special effects technician: K.N.B. EFX
Lino Stavole	....	mold/lab technician: K.N.B. EFX Group
Patricia Urias	....	3D transfer technician
Patricia Urias	....	foam runner
Lindsay Vivian	....	special effects runner
Jenny Wallace	....	special effects runner

Visual Effects by
Laurent Ben-Mimoun	....	digital matte painter
Chad Goei	....	digital artist
Jamison Scott Goei	....	visual effects supervisor
Tom Haney	....	digital compositor
Wing Kwok	....	digital compositor
Laura LeFaivre	....	visual effects producer
Noll Linsangan	....	digital compositor
Darin McCormick-Millett	....	digital opticals producer: Pacific Title and Art Studio
Sookie Park	....	lead compositor

Stunts
Guiomar Alonso	....	stunt double
Guiomar Alonso	....	stunt double: Laura Ortiz
Joseph Beddelem	....	stunt rigger
Philippe Losson	....	stunt performer
Jason Oettle	....	stunt rigger
Cedric Proust	....	stunt coordinator
Florian Robin	....	stunt double: Aaron Stanford
Florian Robin	....	stunts
Rainer Werner	....	stunt rigger

Camera and Electrical Department
Alessandro Cardelli	....	gaffer
Andrei Cretan	....	assistant camera
Ancuta Iordachescu	....	focus puller: "c" camera, second unit
Ionut Lupulescu	....	focus puller: "b" camera
Imad Rechiche	....	assistant camera
Greg Taieb	....	video assist operator
Lacey Terrell	....	still photographer
Valerio Villalba	....	focus puller
Erik Wilson	....	camera operator
Erik Wilson	....	director of photography: second unit

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Nancy Au	....	costume department supervisor: Los Angeles (as Nancy Capper)
Kelly Chambers	....	wardrobe assistant
Anna Lombardi	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Michael Hatzer	....	color timer
Mark Scovil	....	first assistant editor
Kathy Thomson	....	digital colorist
Gary Burritt	....	negative cutter (uncredited)
Shepard Hall	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Jeremy Drake	....	musician: guitar solos
François Eudes	....	music designer (as François-Eudes Chanfrault)
David Franco	....	music supervisor
William Kehoe	....	score assistant engineer
John Kurlander	....	score mixer
Dwight Mikkelsen	....	conductor
Dwight Mikkelsen	....	orchestrator
Sheri Ozeki	....	music editor
Robert Puff	....	music preparation
Jamie Steele	....	score mixer
Matias Vellutini	....	assistant to composer
Scott Williams	....	musician

Transportation Department
Najma El Mahjoub	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Saadia Aalami	....	assistant: Samy Layani
Noureddine Aberdine	....	location manager
Mohamed Atbir	....	set production assistant
Michael Barnes	....	financial legal services
Soumaya Bellafquih	....	assistant: Samy Layani
Géraldine Bergé	....	script supervisor: second unit
Greg Bernstein	....	legal services
Tara Billik	....	assistant: Marianne Maddalena
Lmahjoub Boulmi	....	animal wrangler
Mehdi El Atlassi	....	assistant: Frank Hildebrand
Carly Feingold	....	assistant: Wes Craven
Redouane Fihi	....	production assistant
Charles Heaphy	....	production financing
Nazha Kajja	....	production coordinator
Nazha Kajja	....	set production assistant
Cheryl Leigh	....	script supervisor
Alex Matcham	....	production controller
Miriam Matejovsky	....	assistant: Alexandre Aja
Nanette Munro	....	assistant: Peter Locke
Heidi S. Pavey	....	coordinator: Los Angeles
Katryna Samut-Tagliaferro	....	production co-coordinator

Production Companies

• Craven-Maddalena Films
• Dune Entertainment
• Major Studio Partners

Distributors

• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2006) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Netherlands (2006) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2006) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox de Argentina (2006) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox of Germany (2006) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Amuse Soft Entertainment (2008) (Japan) (DVD)
• FS Film Oy (2006) (Finland) (theatrical)
• FS Film Oy (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Fox-Warner (2006) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Gativideo (2006) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2006) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Presidio (2007) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Germany (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. (2006) (Philippines) (theatrical)

Special Effects

• K.N.B. Effects Group (special makeup effects) (as K.N.B. EFX Group)
• Pacific Title (opticals)
• Rez-Illusion (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Danetracks  sound design & editorial
• Lakeshore Records  soundtrack
• Pivotal Post  Avid editing equipment provided by
• Pivotal Post  editing facilities
• Widget Post Production  sound post-production
• Wilshire Stages, The  ADR recording facility

Also Known As:

Despertar del diablo (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
The Hills have Eyes - Hügel der blutigen Augen (Austria) (Germany) [de]
У холмов есть глаза (Russia) [ru]
Aima stous lofous (Greece) [el]
Colinas tienen ojos, Las (Spain) [es]
Colline a des yeux, La (France) [fr]
Colline hanno gli occhi, Le (Italy) [it]
Mägedel on silmad (Estonia) [et]
Sziklák szeme (Hungary) [hu]
Tepenin gözleri (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Viagem Maldita (Brazil) [pt]
Visage de la peur, Le (Canada: French title) [fr]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong gruesome violence and terror throughout, and for language.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (edited for re-rating) (certificate #42400) | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | Singapore:R21 | UK:18 | Hong Kong:III | Singapore:M18 (edited version) | Canada:18A (Nova Scotia) | Norway:18 | Germany:18 | Sweden:15 | New Zealand:R18 | Australia:R | Mexico:D | Argentina:18 | Netherlands:16 | Malaysia:18SG | South Korea:Limited | Portugal:M/18 | Ireland:18 | USA:Unrated (uncut DVD version) | France:-16 | Poland:18 | Brazil:18 | Italy:VM14 | Hungary:18 | Iceland:16 | Canada:18A (Ontario) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Japan:R-18 | Finland:K-18 (self applied)

Filming Locations:

Marrakech, Morocco

Company:

Craven-Maddalena Films

Trivia:

The nuclear crater that Doug encounters is completely computer generated.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where Bobby is chasing after Beauty, the sweat stains on his shirt change size.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Gas Station Attendant: Ruby, is that you?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Funeral for a Fiend (#19.8)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

One Drop of Poison

A rather decent entry

"The Hills Have Eyes" is one of the best of the crop of remakes, but still has some problems in it.

**SPOILERS**

Embarking on a family vacation, Big Bob, (Ted Levine) his wife Ethel, (Kathleen Quinlan) children Bobby, (Dan Byrd) and Brenda, (Emilie de Ravin) along with older daughter and son-in-law Lynn Bukowski, (Vinessa Shaw) her husband Doug Bukowski, (Aaron Stanford) and their baby on the way to California. Taking a shortcut route, they find themselves stranded in the middle of the desert. Deciding to split up to go look for help, the group back at the camper soon become convinced that they are not alone and that an unseen presence is watching them. When a small family of mutants attack the trailer and wreck general havoc, they set out to track the family down. When they find them living in an abandoned mining town due to secret military tests that have deformed and disfigured them, they set out to avenge the earlier attack and get away intact.

The Good News: As one of the best entries in the current crop of remakes, this manages to get several things right. One of the most apparent is that this is a violent and really gory film. Pickaxes play a large role in many of the films, being slammed into heads, eyes, backs, legs and more, often times unleashing a big pool of blood. There's some other great blood unleashed from several gunshots, including a spectacular shot where one's head is blown to pieces from a shot, and there's also some non-lethal gunshots that are pretty bloody. The most graphic scene, though, is undoubtedly the main cannibal seen feasting on the body of a previously killed victim, and too see them digging in and munching away is a nice, graphic moment that is hard to forget. Gorehounds will not be disappointed with this one. When it really wants to, this is a really creepy and suspenseful film as well. The first scene, where a bloody figure suddenly appears in the point-of-view of a researcher in a radiation suit-and-mask just before one or more mutants attack them in the desert with pickaxes, stabbing them in the heads and bodies, with some being thrown around into rocks, is a real wallop and manages to do the best thing possible, which is to set up what the movie's going to be about for the majority of the time and get the viewer into the movie. The sudden appearances of people and objects out of nowhere manages to get some really good jumps, and the big confrontation contains several. The real highlight, though, is the assault on the trailer, which is just long, brutal and drawn-out, and is just a never-ending smörgåsbord of cruelty that is really just protracted to it's maximum. There's no way this can be any better, it's simply perfect. This, along with the gore, makes this one watchable. The second-half change, the assault on the deserted mining town, is deftly original and creative, and marks one of it's best aspects, and is far better than the original. This here has a lot going for.

The Bad News: As good as it is, there are some problems with this one. One of the main problems with the film is that there is just way too much padding in this one. The beginning of the film, with the family being stranded in the desert, is full of scenes that offer nothing but stretch the film out. Having them sit around joking with each other is a nice familiar moment, but as most of the jokes told aren't that funny, it's just avoiding the inevitable. The beginning moments also contains one element that should've been done without, the whole cell phone and technology thing. This was just way too predictable and clichéd by this point, and if the film had been set in the 70's or early 80's, it would have gotten rid of this flaw in a believable and necessary manner. Another big problem is that this part is just way too familiar. This set-up has been used so many times that it's quite obvious what's going on fairly early and doesn't really have any real surprises beyond what the family does to survive. This reveals what's going on far too early for there to be anything scary beyond that one factor, and easily could've been fixed by making the gas station scene seem like it wasn't a trap in disguise. The last big flaw in the film is that the film really manages to give away too much of the mutants and their back-story, neither of which is very frightening. The mutants don't look scary in the least bit, and come off as just people with bad skin and a scar or two. That we also know too much about them is also a big mistake, since what makes them frightening is the unknown. That we know as much about them devalues their mystique, and since they aren't frightening-looking, they really manage to take away a lot of the film's menace. These, though, don't take away from what the film does right.

The Final Verdict: It's violent, gory and manages to get in some nice shock moments, but it also really bungles a few key areas, knocking this one down a tad. Hard to say if it tops the original, but it is one of the best of the crop of remakes, making this one of the few that hardcore horror fans should see, remake-fans or not.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Rape, animal violence and constant children in danger