So derivative it hurts

Rating: 4/10 (15 March 2006)

There comes a point when the latest trend sweeping Hollywood falls into a specific pattern. Innovation becomes a stereotype and movie after movie seems to simply retread ground already worked by it's predecessors. Genres become stale and boring and right now, it's happening to the old-school Horror film. When movies like Wrong Turn originally came out, their depictions of sadistic brutality and unrelenting violence were a breath of fresh air compared to the waves of little Japanese girls getting Naomi Watts all worked up, but with The Hills Have Eyes the ideal has become overworked, stale and predictable.
Set in the deserts of New Mexico, this remake of the 1977 Wes Craven movie features an American family on a road trip to California who find themselves falling afoul of a group of mutant rednecks warped by the radiation from atom bomb tests in the area for generations. And as we all know, not only are rednecks bad, but nuclear radiation also causes super strength, high pain tolerance and an insatiable desire for human flesh.
From here on in, the movie seems to be on a single-track mission to outdo all the violence the genre has thrown up recently and in this, it certainly succeeds. The initial assault on the family trailer is horribly graphic but unlike the previously mentioned Wrong Turn, here it seems to go a bit far, as if the director is having too much fun lingering the camera on the sight of a woman being raped while her mother gets a hole blown in her chest only inches away. Sure, there is some fun to be had when one of the protagonists goes nuts and fights back in suitably vicious ways in the second half, but witnessing the earlier scenes is neither scary or entertaining, it's just unpleasant.
This isn't the only problem either. In typical Hollywood fashion, the intended scares are mostly created by quick jump shots to disturbing images or by trying to make you jolt out of your seat by having something surprise one of the characters and playing a loud blast on the speakers at the same time. There's even the pre-requisite redneck gas station attendant who could have warned them of the danger and obligatory "finding the cars of all the previous victims" scene that's appeared in nigh on every single horror film since The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Wonder if there'll be a hint towards a sequel at the ending...well dur...
To put it simply, this is not a great film. The second half is entertaining enough but unfortunately for Wes and co, it's a case of seen it before too many times. If Hostel and Slither are really going to jump-start the horror genre into unexpected realms of extremity later this year, they're going to have to pull a few pretty impressive surprises out the bag.