A Horrifying Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2006)

Remakes have been excellent lately. Aside from a few crappy ones such as The Fog and When a Stranger Calls, the remakes are often better than the original film which they are based upon. Such is the case with Alexandre Aja's The Hills Have Eyes, a remake of Wes Craven's cult classic. Hopes were set high for this remake after Aja's amazing High Tension.
Aja effectively takes a tired old tale and turns it into a frightening horror film with extreme gore, violence, substance, and character. The acting is perfect, with each actor fitting their roles seamlessly. It may have taken nearly half the movie to get into the horror, but when it got there, the events that occurred were all the more effective. The movie is certainly not for everyone, with its graphic nature and chilling scenes.
The Hills Have Eyes stays very close to the original with better effects and acting. I can't see why so many critics hate it so much, because only about half an hour differs from the original. The original was good, but not good enough. It needed something more, and Alexandre Aja gave the remake just that. The original's sequel, The Hills Have Eyes Part II, was simply dreadful, and hopefully the makers of The Hills Have Eyes 2 won't make the same mistake.