Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Based on Wes Craven's 1977 suspenseful cult classic, The Hills Have Eyes is the story of a family road trip that goes terrifyingly awry when the travelers become stranded in a government atomic zone. Miles from nowhere, the Carter family soon realizes the seemingly uninhabited wasteland is actually the breeding ground of a blood-thirsty mutant family...and they are the prey.
Alexandre Aja's remake of Wes Craven's cult classic is a competent but brutal exercise in extreme horror. The cinematography stands out with its stark, sun-bleached desert visuals and effectively claustrophobic framing of the wasteland setting. However, the plot is largely by-the-numbers survival horror with thin character development, and the acting is serviceable at best. As a remake, it adds gorier set pieces and a slicker look but doesn't meaningfully reimagine the source material, keeping Novelty low. The ending is functional but unremarkable, wrapping up without particular tension or surprise.