First, I need to start this off with a quick definition, in light of the fact that I will be referencing it in the coming sentences (and quite possibly future reviews). For those who don’t know my brother Bill, his favourite movies are the kind that deal with slashers, killers, monsters, vampires, werewolves, and especially zombies, etc… Hence, a “Bill Movie” is your typical, creepy, blood and guts kind of fare. When you have a taste for those kind of movies, you can’t just stick to mainstream titles. You’ve got to delve into the B, C, and even D titles. And he doesn’t limit himself to North America, either. He’s particularly fond of the Italian horrors, as well as the Japanese psychological thrillers. We’ve never found the source of this pastime; the nearest we’ve come is that our mother saw Rosemary’s Baby when she was pregnant with him. That seems just as good a reason as any. He continues ever onward on his unending quest to find a movie that will actually scare him.
Now for the actual review. I’ve never seen the original Hills Have Eyes, and I’ll admit the first time I saw the trailer, the first thing that popped into my mind was “Bill Movie all the way.” I normally don’t like Bill Movies, but, by proxy, I’ve been to or seen quite a few of them, so I feel I have a pretty good base of knowledge with which to compare.
I really enjoyed Hills Have Eyes. I’ll definitely be picking it up on DVD when it comes out. I think a movie like this only really works when the characters seem real, are strong, and multi-dimensional. For these movies to work (i.e. to go above and beyond) you have to actually care about the characters. Whose side you’re on doesn’t matter so much as long as you’re at least on someone’s side. If I had taken more film classes, this is where I’d start flinging out words like “id,” “superego,” and “catharsis,” but I haven’t, so I won’t.
Anyway, check it out. It’s a fun movie.
