The Hills Have Eyes

MOVIE #1,216 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 10.31.23 50 MOVIES IN 32 DAYS! For our special Halloween double feature, I decided to watch the first two Wes Craven movies from the 70s. And while I was really not impressed by his controversial debut, I thought this one was really solid and entertaining. There are some parallels to his debut, including the use of booby traps (much more successful here!) and most importantly the inclusion of a “good” bad guy who becomes essential in pushing the plot to the finish: Ruby is exactly like Last House’s Junior, only, in this case, she goes above and beyond by harnessing a rattlesnake to kill her own brother.

The final act is extremely good, full of fun action shot in the high desert sunlight, culminating in the explosion of an RV. The last 20 minutes or so make the film, without a doubt. Craven is obviously a master of the genre (although, perhaps somewhat overrated?) and you can really see the creativity in crafting thrilling, scary set pieces start to come into form here. I will probably work towards filling in the gaps of his filmography every October in lieu of doing a formal, chronological Director Focus.

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,215 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,217 ⫸

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The Hills Have Eyes is a 1977 American horror film written, directed, and edited by Wes Craven and starring Susan Lanier, Michael Berryman and Dee Wallace. The film follows the Carters, a suburban family targeted by a family of cannibal savages after becoming stranded in the Nevada desert. It was released on July 22, 1977.