S10 Reviews: The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Rating: 7/10 (10 March 2006)

Plot: A family taking a road trip to celebrate the mother and father's silver anniversary run afoul of another type of nuclear family, one that is cannibalistic and mutated.
Alexandre (High Tension) Aja wrote and directed this remake of the 1977 Wes Craven (who is attached as a producer) semi-classic. It sticks pretty much to the source material story-wise. Almost all of the original is replicated here but a few new wrinkles were thrown into the mix mostly having to do with Jupiter's clan and their origins. A little bit of a political slant is thrown in for good measure but it's not awfully heavy-handed and most will glance over it. The remake turns up the style quite a bit over the original no surprise considering the better budget and change in directors. The gore got bumped up significantly and the family looks more disgusting than ever. Now for the big question, how does it stack up to the original?. I say it did pretty well. The original had it's flaws as well as this one but I think they were both done honestly and Aja did an excellent job trying to pay homage to the original and breathe more life into it. The acting is as good as you'd expect with a pretty good cast. Lovers of the original should be OK with it, I am.
Both the original and the remake score a 7.5 or 8 on my scale.