Not Just Another Horror Remake

Rating: 9/10 (1 August 2006)

Fresh off his visceral masterpiece Haute tension, French director Alexandre Aja gets behind the camera once more for his second film, a revamping of Wes Craven's 1977 Texas Chainsaw wanna-be The Hills Have Eyes.
Upon a casual glance, it's easy to dismiss Hills as yet another useless Hollywood remake of a gritty '70s horror film  the original is indeed gritty and from the '70s. However, unlike Dawn of the Dead or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hills is a film that could actually benefit from an updating. Also, unlike the Dawn and Chainsaw remakes, Hills has a director at the helm that actually loves the genre and knows what the hell he's doing.
By now, the scenario is all too familiar: an all-American family gets lost in the middle of nowhere and falls prey to some twisted clan of deranged psychopaths. Clichéd? Sure, but don't forget that the original Hills was one of the first. So just what does Aja bring to the table that sets Hills apart from the other (usually laughable) films of this type? An abundance of style, realism, emotion, and gore.
Aja seems to have a very solid understanding of the most primal emotions possessed by mankind, and in Hills, he explores them in a way that most filmmakers wouldn't dare. As in Haute tension, the violence is presented in a delicate blend of realistic horror and exploitative titillation. When the family is first attacked, the violence is brutal and ugly. However, when the tables are turned a member of the family becomes the one inflicting the violence, the bloodletting is slightly heightened and exploited for entertainment. Could the protagonist be enjoying his vicious revenge? Aja portrays this masterfully and dares his audience to enjoy it with the protagonist. Just how far should one be willing to go? How far is too far? Is this just as wrong? Can it be justified? Something else atypical about Hills is that we actually care about the characters. Instead of the usual ditzy blonde teens we can't wait to see get killed off, these characters are believable and we feel for them. They are all wonderfully portrayed by the fine cast, especially Aaron Stanford (whom you may recognize from X-Men 2 and 3), who gives a surprisingly terrific performance.
Something else that makes Hills more than just an average slasher flick is the masterfully subtle social commentary. The ever-present motif of the American flag (quite literally being shoved down a throat at one point)the rousing score so peculiarly similar to Ennio Morricone's distinctly (and ironically) American The Good, The Bad and The Uglythe ubiquitous desiccated desert landscape that bears a suspicious resemblance to the Middle Eastthis film has something to say.
The only real flaw I can find in Hills is that there are, occasionally, a few groan-inducing "jump scares". They're cheap, gimmicky, and wholly unnecessary. But considering that Haute tension is pretty much entirely without such trickery, I can only guess (and hope) that they were due to studio interference. They have to at least somewhat cater to that moronic demographic, I suppose.
So what's next for Aja? He says his next film, The Waiting, is going to be a gore-less ghost story. He says he wants to see if he can be scary without the gore. There you have it, folks  a man that is unafraid to unflinchingly show copious bloodshed, knows how to present subtle social commentary, and is looking to challenge himself. If the horror genre has a savior, Alexandre Aja is it.