couldn't take it seriously.

Rating: 4/10 (21 March 2006)

The Hills Have Eyes is too predictable, too corny and just didn't deliver the thrills that I was hoping for. It goes to great lengths to attempt to disturb you, and there were parts that were unsettling. It fits with the mood of the film, but it doesn't mean I was entertained.
Yeah, like a typical slasher/horror there were points of high tension, some great fighting and frightening imagery, but thrills become cheap when a movie isn't good. And this movie felt cheap. The characters are just way too predictable and stereotypical, and the ones that make it are so fake it's unbearable. And to top it off, every time one of the mutants is killed by our protagonists this corny triumphant chorus chimes in, which pretty much destroys the mood altogether.
The mutants are well done, yet when they are off-screen and we only hear them it's not very frightening. The characters on screen are just about wetting themselves, and I hear a poor voice-over on screen. This movie had a lot of potential, and it is very clear, but there were things that were done so wrong that the pieces didn't quite fit together.
A lot of people are calling this a great horror movie. As a big fan of horror, I can't really see that. I knew what was going to happen to each character as they were introduced and what role they were going to play, the soundtrack belonged in a Mel Gibson film, and was mildly disturbing but not scary at all. It's one of those films you walk away from and just say, "okay.."