BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

simonconnolly72-467-863881 Shot on 16mm, tiny budget, inexperienced crew - these are the limitations that make people creative, and this is no exception. It's standard family stranded in the middle of nowhere hunted down by crazies plot but Craven does a great job seeing as this was only his second movie. The only reservation after all these years is that the actors playing the cannibals seem quite tame and cultured with the exception of the son "Mars" who looks totally inbred. I'd prefer to duke it out against these guys rather than the ones in the remake or the characters from wrong turn. but even so, this is from a day when things were basic, simple, and so much better

Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki One of the strongest assets of this film is the haunting beauty and simultaneous unearthly-ness of the neolithic looking, nearly otherworldly looking, desert landscape, which becomes a character in and of itself, in this occasionally unwatchably brutal tale of a suburban family, lost in the desert on a road trip to California from Cleveland, being set upon by an inbred hillbilly clan of killers, who have been living in the hills for decades. The hillbillies are genuinely​ frightening, because the filmmakers found odd and unusual looking people for the roles, using little makeup effects, aside from clothing and dirt, to distort their appearances. They're extremely violent and merciless in their attacks, yet there is also a sense of humour about them, even coming up with a few one liners ( like when Mars tells Pluto, " You got rocks in your head, ... ! " ) That adds depth to the characters, which a lot of other horror films would probably not have bothered with, which would make the killers quieter, shallow, and less memorable. It also gives much needed humour, a chance for the audience to catch their breath. Their imbecillic behaviour toward each other shows great care on the part of filmmakers and actors, to create memorable characters, rather than silent, cardboard cutout killers.Another admittedly minor point I enjoy: the odd, free time music as Bobby runs from the horrific sight in the desert, stumbling down the rocks

inspectors71 This is garbage, but it's quality garbage. Just when I thought Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes is about to drift into the totally incoherent lane, he saves it by giving us something imaginative. It's the oft-told story (I threw "oft-told" in there just for the fun of it) of a well-adjusted family on the way to California for a vacation. Daddy's got a bum ticker and needs to rest. Mom warns him about said ticker. There's a couple of girls, a baby, and a son-in- law, and derned if they don't get a warning to stay on the highway, and off the moors. Wait, that's another movie.Sure enough, the Ohioan doofi get themselves stranded out there in the desert, and are almost immediately set upon by a bunch of blood- thirsty half-wits who live up in the rocks, use surplus walkie- talkies, and like to kill almost anything that has the bad fortune to wander in front of them. Craven gives you just enough information about the hill people to keep you from being totally bewildered. When you have enough 411, he starts disemboweling German Shepards, crucifying retired police detectives, and shooting mom and sis (Dee Wallace, just out of the back of the station wagon with her hubby), raping, pillaging, and kidnapping a baby for, apparently, the bad guys' holiday dinner.It's sick, twisted crap, but I kept jumping when I got something I didn't expect.I guess I should jump right now because I liked The Hills Have Eyes. I also like Mandingo, so you know I have no taste.Catch it on Flix.

Steve Pulaski The one thing that Hills Have Eyes fans, I feel, find difficult to admit, no matter how great of a film they think Wes Craven's low-key, no-budget horror masterwork is, is that it's undoubtedly a film riding the coattails on the popularity of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Upon the release of Tobe Hooper's essential horror film that has become a genre gold-standard, nearly every film company - even ones that were created simply for this purpose - were jumping at the opportunity to hire directors, scour the neverending sea of casting calls and auditions, and looking for affordable effects artists in order to make a film that would be a frightening little flick people could catch on a Friday night.One of those directors was Wes Craven, who would later go on to create Freddy Kruger in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, one of the most well-received and highly regarded horror franchises ever made. Before that, however, Craven was a fairly inconsistent, unpredictable man in the director's chair, churning out as many winners as he did films like his pornographic venture Angela: The Fireworks Woman and eventually The Hills Have Eyes II. However, the original Hills Have Eyes is something to marvel at, much of its quality stemming from its universal plausibility and rawness. This is a film that personifies horror and uncertainty with a biting and unforgivable sense of dread that you can feel from the start.The plot isn't even worth digging into; a well-off suburban family embarks on a road-trip in their four-door, equipped with a full-size trailer, only to break down deep in the Nevadan desert and be the targets of animalistic savages that lurk in the mountainous parts of the desert. One of the savages is known as "Pluto," played by horror legend Michal Berryman, most notable for his facial deformities and distinctive look, who acts almost feral in his attempt to be the fearless do-boy of the group. The savages stalk and harass the family, making use of their insufficient firearms and easily spooked nature, even going as far as to attacking one of the young girls and leaving her a panicked wreck for much of the film.Watching it in present day, appropriately during the month of October, The Hills Have Eyes still has the ability to shock to the core, specifically in the way it executes its more suspenseful sequences. These are where the film's lower budget and small scale work in its favor. Consider the screams, the bloodshed, and the moments of sheer terror interjected in the long-term sequences of suspense in this film; all of these little quirks are elevated by naturalism. The screams heard by the characters rip through the film's audio-track, almost distorting every sound and hitting the center of your eardrum in a violent manner as if it's stabbing it in an unrelenting fashion. The bloodshed of the film isn't a bloodbath, but a sporadic showcase of the film's ability to make its gorier scenes as realistic and unsettling as the screams we so frequently hear.Finally, there's Craven's pacing and execution, which turn out to be successful almost all the way through. Craven is a fan of quiet, natural buildup; the kind that relies on the murmur of the water, the wind in the trees, and the chirping of crickets in order to create an environment that's equal parts believable and unnerving. Here, Craven builds slowly but surely, assuring that the execution is seamless and that nothing moves too fast, not even the scenes we've been waiting for since the start of the film. It's all even-handed and balanced and pleasantly so.The Hills Have Eyes lacks any kind of form or polish and that's precisely what makes it the movie that it is. Horror films don't need aesthetics that run studios millions of dollars, nor do they need proved greats as headliners or complex props and setpieces. The most memorable films are the ones conducted on that realistic, natural scale that leave us sleeping with one eye open and checking under our beds and blankets before we turn out the light. These are the films that personify the unknown and the elements of fear in a way that makes us remind ourselves to "sleep tight" at night.Starring: Martin Speer, Michael Berryman, Virginia Vincent, Dee Wallace, Susan Lanier, Robert Houston, Lance Gordon, and Russ Grieve. Directed by: Wes Craven.