Decent horror fun.

Rating: 8/10 (13 September 2008)

When I first saw The Hills Have Eyes, I thought it was one of the most perfect movies I'd ever seen. Obviously, my stance on that has changed, but I still think this is better than a lot of pretension time-wasters out there within the horror genre. I can understand why opinions on this movie would go in both good/bad directions, which I think is why I'm just taking the middle stance.
First and foremost, this movie understands something it seems no one really understands anymore in HollywoodÂ—entertainment. Among the worthless movies out there today, you hear so much about the moral points a film makes, or the social commentaries, but those things are not entertaining or worthwhile. The Hills Have Eyes doesn't go there. It's pure entertainment.
However, with that comes the cheesy factor. Mutants aren't exactly serious, but the film takes itself very seriously. I can see this making a lot of viewers think it's cheesy, but I was okay with it. I wasn't really okay with the fact this was just another overdone virus story that has been done a thousand times.
The violence is decent. It's more graphic than the lame cut-away-scenes in Hostel, but not as over-the-top as it could have been and it was pretty generic.
Overall, fun little horror flick. Nothing more, nothing less. Watch it with some friends, and don't expect a masterpiece, though I will say it was well-done.
5/10