The Hills Have Eyes.... and murderous mutants with axes and other nasty weapons

Rating: 7/10 (9 March 2006)

SLIGHT SPOILERS: I just came from seeing a sneak preview of The Hills Have Eyes and the first thing I have to say is that this movie beats Hostel easily for Most Brutal Movie of the year award. This movie is one rough ride and once it really gets going, it doesn't stop. I want to keep this review short but I will touch on a couple of things worth mentioning: - I felt very tense watching this. For the first hour or so, my stomach was twisted into a tight knot. It's been a while since a movie's done that to me. The suspense as things slowly unfold is extremely well done.

The acting is actually pretty good on all counts, especially in the case of Aaron Stanford who is excellent in this. The audience went berserk for him at one point and I was clapping along with everyone else, especially at this one point at the very end.

Some very sadistic violence. If watching well meaning, innocent people get it in different ways is not your thing, then look elsewhere. This is a film about tragedy and injustice and the film pulls no punches when it comes to dispatching people, mutated or not. Even after people are killed, they still get disrespected.

Great special effects. The make up on some of the characters is downright disturbing.

Director Aja more than made up for the piece of crap that was "Haute Tension".

The rape scene isn't as bad as you have been led to believe.

This movie suffers from one of those things I absolutely hate about horror movies: characters doing absolutely idiotic things. You know what I mean, going off to inspect things by yourself, leaving weapons near seemingly dead killers, etc, etc. It happens several times and each time it's just more annoying.

I really enjoyed this film and I think that word of mouth is going to carry this movie for a big opening weekend. This is one for the gorehounds and I honestly don't think that anyone with an appreciation for horror flicks will walk away disappointed.
In the end, I'm just happy that horror movies are beginning to get some balls again.
Strongly recommended.
RATING: ***1/2 out of *****.