Deep in the Heart of New Mexico

Rating: 6/10 (21 July 2007)

I saw the original The Hills Have Eyes - a compelling, stunning, morally bereft film by a then Wes Craven dedicated to showing the baser side of humanity on film. A chore he did surprisingly well. I knew what to expect from a remake from his 1977 film about a family of cannibals living in the New Mexico desert preying on any interlopers that might make their way through their territory. I was surprised; however, that the remake was done with so much care and attention to detail as to not just make a hasty remake but a homage to Craven's film as well. The Hills Have Eyes through its first 2/3rds is as compelling, tense, taut, relentless as the original but with greater character development. The acting in this movie was really quite good with Ted Levine standing out as the patriarch of a family going west in a huge camper with two dogs(and a couple of lovebirds). Levine is one of those actors that just has a presence about him and a believability to any character he creates. The rest of the cast does well in their roles despite being asked to undergo some major character transformations. Director Alexandre Aja shows he knows how to use a camera and I loved the location shots in Morrocco so convincingly used as the Sout-West American desert. As I earlier stated, the first 2/3rds of the film are gold(gold, Jerry!) The last 3rd, at least for me, lacks that same kind of tension as we start to get a reason WHY the cannibals are in the desert to begin with - and though I think it is a nice attempt at some kind of explanation, I just did not find it very credible. That being said, the way it was set and the look were nonetheless impressive. The remake of Craven's original film is a gory, at times very unpleasant film which has the ability to do what so few sequels do today - stand on its own feet to some extent as a movie worth seeing in its own right.