Well-made modern exploitation trash.

Rating: 8/10 (11 April 2019)

Having never seen "The Hills Have Eyes" (1977), I can't say whether this is a good remake - what I can say is that this is a solid exploitation film. Importantly, our protagonists are fairly likeable and only irritating in the ways that normal people are. Their chemistry with one another is good, and the actors convey their characters' distress later in the film very well.
The story is well-paced, dedicating a good chunk of its running time simply to introducing the protagonists and their family dynamic, as well as building up the tension with hints of something wrong. Halfway through the film descends into chaos, and the attack is an awesome sequence that flips everything on its head and turns this into something of a revenge flick. This film is trashy and definitely not high art, but it's fully aware of that fact and embraces the exploitative nature of the original film's subject matter.
There's a sort of grainy, grindhouse look to the orange-y desert landscapes that really suits the atmosphere. Good use is also made of the environment, including the desert and hills, a huge bomb crater full of old cars, and the bomb-testing village littered with scorched mannequins. There's also some good makeup and prosthetic work on display, most notably the hill-person known as 'Big Brain', and good sound design around the violence (gunshots, rattling chains). Even the throbbing, bass-y score is good, and mixed in nicely with some old-timey "Fallout"-esque music.
The nuclear themes are outdated and portrayed in an over-the-top way, but they're still kinda creepy for what they are. There's some neat symbolism to the protagonists' use of guns too, as the nuclear American family brings weapons into the wilderness. Not a particularly deep movie overall, but a thoroughly enjoyable and distressing exploitation piece.
8/10.