Truly Awesome

Rating: 9/10 (30 March 2008)

The remake of Wes Cravens classic from the 70's is pretty cool to say the least. The story is about an American family on a road trip who happen to find themselves stranded in the middle of a desert, little do they know the desert is crawling with mutants from nuclear experiments gone wrong. Needless to say, chaos ensues. Its got a decent cast for a horror movie with Aaron Stanford and Ted Levine both in major roles. However the main factor that separates this from other horror movies is how the viewer gives a toss about the characters. People are usually very blood-thirsty before seeing a horror movie but when I saw this I actually wanted (some) of the characters to live. Don't get me wrong, this movie is abundant in gore and bloodshed, but its handled very well. There's one scene in particular that will mercilessly yank at your heartstrings. Another huge plus this movie has is the mise en scene. The hot desert setting with the sandy mountains and hot sun provides a very eerie atmosphere that is hard to come by in modern film. The one thing i will say about this movie is that the monsters got off to easy. It feels like they didn't get what they deserved. I don't know about you but if someone killed my parents and raped my sister I would want them to suffer for it. Unfortunately this wasn't really the case. They all got killed fair and square, but I think the viewer would be much more satisfied if a wood chipper or a flame thrower was involved. Then again life isn't always fair, especially in horror movies. Overall I think this is the best horror movie ever. I'm not a huge fan of the genre but i must admit i haven't seen too many of the older flicks. To me films like Saw and Hostel are just too... boring, and i was glad when the characters met their gruesome deaths. The Hills Have Eyes actually converted me to the 'good guys' side and I was genuinely sad to see them go.