The Hills Have Eyes (2006 film)
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| The Hills Have Eyes | |
|---|---|
 The Official U.S. Film Poster |
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| Directed by | Alexandre Aja |
| Produced by | Wes Craven Peter Locke Marianne Maddalena Cody Zwieg |
| Written by | 1977 Screenplay: Wes Craven Screenplay: Alexandre Aja Grégory Levasseur |
| Starring | Aaron Stanford Emilie de Ravin Ted Levine Dan Byrd |
| Music by | Joe Dolce Brad Fiedel Tane McClure |
| Distributed by | Fox Searchlight Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  March 10, 2006 March 10, 2006 April 20, 2006 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 Million |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Hills Have Eyes is a 2006 remake of Wes Craven's 1977 film of the same name. French director Alexandre Aja and art director Grégory Levasseur met with Craven in November 2003 to discuss the making of the film, which was released in US and UK theaters on 10 March 2006. It earned $15,500,000 in its opening weekend in the US, where it was originally rated NC-17 for strong gruesome violence (including rape, terror, and strong language), but was later edited down to an R-rating. An unrated DVD version was released on June 20, 2006. A sequel, The Hills Have Eyes 2, is confirmed to be released to theatres March 2, 2007.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Emilie de Ravin — Brenda Carter
- Aaron Stanford — Doug Bukowski
- Dan Byrd — Bobby Carter
- Vinessa Shaw — Lynne Bukowski
- Kathleen Quinlan — Ethel Carter
- Ted Levine — Bob Carter
- Robert Joy — Lizard
- Maisie Camilleri Preziosi — Baby Catherine
- Laura Ortiz — Ruby
- Billy Drago — Papa Jupiter
- Michael Bailey Smith — Pluto
- Tom Bower and Desmond Askew — Big Brain
- Ezra Buzzington — Goggle
[edit] Survivors
- Brenda Carter
- Doug Bukowski
- Bobby Carter
- Baby Catherine Bukowski
- Beast
[edit] Plot
At the beginning of the film, there is the following onscreen passage: "Between 1945 and 1962 (although the trailer for the films says "Between 1962 and 1992") the United States conducted 331 atmospheric nuclear tests. Today, the government still denies the genetic effects caused by the radioactive fallout." These words set a bleak tone, and partly allude to the motives of the film's villains. When the setting switches to the present-day, men in NBC suits are seen combing over the desert rubble with Geiger counters. They are abruptly interrupted when they are brutally attacked by what seems to be a large man wielding a pickaxe. The men are killed, chained crudely to the back of their own pickup truck, and dragged off into the open desert.
Along a nearby dirt road is the Gas Haven, a small time fuel station run by an elder man. The man, clearly upset, yells out to the emptiness around him that he "quits" and he "can't do it anymore." He walks to the door of the station only to find a black duffle bag filled with valuables -- and a severed human ear. He takes the bag into the back room of the gas station and sorts through the mounds of jewelery and wallets. Midway through examining his "treasure", he is interrupted by the arrival of customers needing gas.
Driving in an SUV towing a trailer, Ethel (Kathleen Quinlan) and Bob (Ted Levine) Carter are traveling to San Diego, California on their Silver Anniversary from Cleveland, Ohio. Along for the trip are their teenage daughter Brenda (Emilie de Ravin), teenage son Bobby (Dan Byrd), eldest daughter Lynne (Vinessa Shaw), her pacifist husband Doug (Aaron Stanford) along with the couple's baby daughter Catherine (Maisie Camilleri Preziosi) and the family dogs, Beauty and Beast. Taking the time for a pit stop, the family stretch their legs and the dogs are let loose. Beauty wanders into the back room of the gas station and begins to bark at an unseen object outside the window. As the group prepares to depart, Lynne heads to the back room of the station, following Beauty and attempting to take her back to the trailer. Not seeing the duffle bag, she is confronted by the gas station attendant and quickly leaves with the dog. Suspicious that Lynne may have seen the valuables, he decides to tell the group of a "short cut" through the hills.
After driving a few miles along the "short cut", the tires of the SUV are punctured with a line of strategically placed sharp spikes (which are quickly pulled away and hidden to give the impression of an accident). The blown out tires result in losing control of the vehicle which crashes into a large boulder leaving the family shaken but unharmed. Doug, who works in telecommunications selling cell phones, attempts to call for help but cannot get a signal. Doug is chastised by his father-in-law as a Democrat, implying that Bob is conservative. Bob, a retired detective, decides to walk back to the gas station for a tow truck and Doug would walk the opposite way to get help. Bob takes a gun for himself and leaves another for Bobby, telling him that he is in charge. Bob reassures the group that he would be back before nightfall, but as a precaution Ethel rounds the group together and says a prayer. Unknown to the family they are being watched by someone through a pair of binoculars.
When the men depart, Brenda, Ethel, Bobby, Catherine and Lynne are left behind at the trailer. As Brenda opens the door to their trailer, she accidentally releases Beauty. The dog runs off into the hills and Bobby chases after her as the rest of the family call for Bobby to return. Bobby, not hearing his family, runs deeper into the hills, finally stumbling upon Beauty's corpse. He kneels next to Beauty and realizes she has been torn apart. Stunned at what he has discovered, Bobby runs and slips on a rock. Instantly knocked unconscious, he is watched by a young girl whose face is distorted. She watches over Bobby as another mutated man perches atop a cliff overhanging them, eating the severed leg of Beauty.
Meanwhile, Doug finally makes it to the end of the dirt road "short cut", only to find an enormous crater filled with cars and other forgotten belongings. He heads down to the bottom exploring the odd place and rummages through the numerous cars’ belongings, completely oblivious to the blood smeared on some of the cars. As the view widens, it shows that this crater is not the only one, but one of many craters created by nuclear tests.
As night falls, Bob finally makes it to the gas station and finds it deserted. After taking a bottle of water from the display cabinet, he stumbles into the back room looking for a phone. Noticing the duffle bag, Bob's curiosity gets the best of him and from searching the bag he finds a styrofoam container. Opening the container, he finds a severed ear with earrings adorning it, and after looking around at the room he realizes the danger. Pulling out his gun, Bob takes a closer look at newspaper clippings and photographs on the walls that depict the horrific effects of the nuclear testing and the missing people resulting from the gas station attendant’s deal with the mutated family in the hills. Over many years, the gas station attendant would lure victims into the hills and the mutated family would give him their valuables. Because of this the attendant had become weary of the life he had chosen.
Bob walks out of the gas station and finds a car parked on the forecourt. Moments from driving off, he hears a distraught voice coming from an outhouse nearby and with his gun at his side he proceeds to investigate it. Cautiously opening the door to the outhouse he sees the gas station attendant crying and completely hysterical saying that this was no way to raise children (referring to the children being raised with the cannibalism and killing). Shotgun in hand, the attendant raises the gun to his chin and quickly pulls the trigger -- blowing his own head off. (This scene is much more graphic in the unrated version of the movie).
Bob takes a few steps back, but not before taking the shotgun for his own protection. Papa Jupiter (Billy Drago), who could be considered the leader of the mutated family, begins to taunt Bob from the darkness. In a blind panic Bob fires several rounds ineffectually into the darkness and makes a run for the car. Bob quickly makes it to the car, but in the reflection of the rear view mirror sees Jupiter. Before he can escape, his head is pounded repeatedly into the car windscreen. Dizzy and barely conscious, Bob is dragged into a mine tunnel by Jupiter with the help of Jupiter's mutated family members, Lizard (Robert Joy) and Pluto (Michael Bailey Smith).
Back at the trailer, Brenda still calls out for Bobby. As the night hours continue, the Carters become increasingly concerned for Bobby's safety. Bobby, still unconscious, has been protected by Ruby (Laura Ortiz) who has stayed by his side since his fall. Hearing Brenda's call, Bobby wakes up and makes his way back to the trailer. As Ethel cleans his wounds he is silent about Beauty's death. The women tell Bobby that Beast has gone missing as well and although they tried to radio for help, there was no answer except for what Lynne refers to as what sounded like a "perverted call".
Moments later Doug returns with several items in hand, which includes a fishing pole and toys for Catherine. He explains that the supposed "short cut" runs 5 miles to a dead end, where there is some sort of "dump site". Doug, exhausted from the walk, heads to the SUV with Lynne to sleep, but Bobby -- upset about the violent death of Beauty -- tells Doug to stay in the trailer. After politely refusing, Doug agrees with Bobby that they would search for Bob if he does not return by midnight. Mildly assured, Bobby goes to search for Beast (but is scared by growling, laughing and taunting coming from the darkness) and Brenda, is not aware of the danger as she heads to sleep. With her earphones playing music she cannot hear the mutant, Pluto, creep into the trailer. He caresses her and pulls back the blanket covering her, and when she suddenly wakes before being able to utter a syllable Pluto muffles her screams. Unaware of his sister's peril, Bobby wakes up Lynne and Doug, alerting them to the "people in the hills" and informing them of Beauty’s death, explaining that he remained quiet to avoid scaring his mother. Suddenly, an explosion in the distance their attention. (The explosion was initiated on Pluto's radioed instruction as a means of distraction so Brenda could be violated by Lizard).
In horror, they realize that Bob has been tied to a dead tree and set ablaze. Lynne, Bobby and Ethel go running to him screaming and in shock. Doug runs into the trailer to fetch a fire extinguisher and in the commotion does not notice Pluto with Brenda. Before Lizard rapes Brenda, as well as killing a bird, he drinks and eats the family's food, shoving Pluto aside. A frustrated Pluto angrily trashes the trailer killing the other bird and crouches down to baby Catherine in her bed, while she touches his hideously deformed face.
Meanwhile, all is done to save Bob with no avail. The fire is put out and as Doug unties Bob, Bobby runs off with his gun with vengeance in mind. Lynne returns to the trailer and is greeted by Lizard, holding baby Catherine and a gun. After clocking him with a frying pan Lizard disarms her and while pointing their father's revolver at the baby he forces Lynne to let him suckle her breast. Ethel enters moments later and tries to hit Lizard from behind but is instead shot in the stomach and thrown across the trailer. Witnessing this, Lynne takes a screw driver and plunges it into leg of Lizard, who without hesitation shoots her in the head. Pluto runs from the trailer and Lizard leaves the trailer, holding Brenda by the neck. Lizard attempts to shoot Brenda in the head before leaving but the gun is empty. Lizard exclaims that he'll come back for her and hobbles away, leaving Brenda hysterical. Bobby shoots at the two mutants who jeer and laugh, whilst Lizard exclaims "Bitch darn stuck me like a pig!"
Doug and Bobby then return to see the ensuing damage. As Bobby tries to comfort Brenda, Doug enters the trailer to see Lynne lying on the floor, the side of her head bleeding onto the floor. Doug cradles his wife as she passes away and he realizes that their daughter Catherine has been taken. A barely alive Ethel is comforted by a shaken Doug and made comfortable before her passing moments later. Over Brenda's sobbing, voices over a walkie talkie are heard, and Bobby creeps to the trailer door shooting through it hoping to kill the source of the noise. Realizing there is no danger, Doug and Bobby leave the trailer and pick up the walkie talkie only to hear the voice of Jupiter say, "Kill them all. Doug yells into the walkie talkie, demanding them to give back Catherine, but he is answered only with the crying of Catherine over the static. Doug asks Bobby how much ammo he has left and as Bobby replies, "a clip and a half", as he mulls a plan to rescue Catherine.
Beast, returning from killing the mutant Goggle (Ezra Buzzington), accompanies Doug on his quest. Beast, trailing the scent of the mutants, leads Doug through a mine tunnel which contains the scattered graves of dozens of slain miners. Once out of the tunnel, Doug stands atop a cliff and sees what looks like an abandoned town down a dirt path. Over the walkie talkie, he tells Bobby and Brenda his location and proceeds into the town.
Meanwhile, Bobby and Brenda, still at the trailer, begin to prepare for the next attack. As Brenda ignites a tire, hoping the smoke would attract a rescue, Bobby rigs the entire surrounding area. Using the fishing line and pole Doug had retrieved from the "dump site", he carefully fences the area off, tying the line to the fishing pole with a baby rattle dangling from the tip. They hope the sound of the rattle will warn them before they get attacked as they place the bodies of their loved ones into their SUV.
Walking deeper inside the town, Doug realizes that it is not an abandoned town but a military testing village. He walks past empty 1950's style houses containing eerily posed and burnt mannequins, until his eyes come to the house where Catherine is harbored. After leaving Beast safe inside a junked car, Doug goes into the house with baseball bat in hand. He carefully creeps past the bald, wig-wearing female mutant watching over Catherine but is knocked unconscious.
Doug wakes up disoriented and as he uses his lighter to look around, realizes that he has been locked in a meat storage bin filled with the severed limbs of previous victims. He panics and quickly breaks free just as Beast escapes from the car and runs off. Doug climbs out of the storage bin and makes his way to the dining room where the charred body of Bob rests, an American flag impaling his skull. As he makes his way, Doug begins to hear the the US national anthem faintly sung through raspy breaths. As Doug turns the corner, a man whose mutation has hailed him the title Big Brain, is supported in a wheelchair and is the source of the singing. He explains to Doug that they told the people to leave their homes because they were going to be destroyed. But the townsfolk didn't leave, they fled to the mines and the military set off the bombs resulting in the mutation of dozens of people. After explaining to a very distracted Doug, he yells "Its Breakfast Time", and an irate Pluto bursts into the room.
Wielding an axe, Pluto lunges at Doug and after a struggle Doug is saved by Beast who has made his way into the house. As Pluto fights off Beast and apparently knocks the dog unconscious, Doug takes the opportunity to run, hiding in a room that serves as a crude bathroom. He attempts to secure the room by using the bathtub to block the door, but Pluto instead breaks through the wall. Pluto grabs Doug by the neck, tossing him around like a rag doll. Doug takes the baseball bat, which has now been splintered and broken, and plunges it into Pluto's stomach. Pluto pulls out the bat and continues to overpower Doug, tackling him and throwing him through a window. All seems lost as two of Doug's fingers are cut off (albeit only in the unrated cut of the film) and he begins to tire. As Pluto raises the axe to ultimately kill Doug, Doug retrieves the screwdriver from his side and points it desperately at Pluto but as all hope fails, Doug drops his hands and begins to beg for his life. "Please don't kill me." Doug pleas to Pluto, Big Brain mimics him and laughs. But as Pluto savors his victory, Doug drives the screwdriver into his foot. With his foe distracted, Doug retrieves the flag from Bob's corpse and stabs it through Pluto's neck then finishes him off with a single axe blow to the head.
Big Brain tells Lizard over the walkie talkie to kill Catherine as Doug leaves the house in a rage, but not before Beast can take revenge on Big Brain, killing him. Doug, now with Pluto's bloody axe, takes out Cyst, another mutant family member and takes his shotgun. Across the village, Lizard, receiving Big Brain's message takes a butcher knife and prepares to kill baby Catherine. Realizing Lizard's intentions, Ruby takes Catherine and flees- serving only to fuel Lizard's rage.
Meanwhile at the trailer, Brenda and Bobby go to see who set off their improvised "baby rattle alarm", but find the sound was merely that of a rolling tumbleweed. As they head back to the trailer, they discover that the body of their mother was taken by one of the mutants. Bobby tells Brenda to head to the trailer to execute their plan. Bobby then runs into the hills to find the culprit and encounters Papa Jupiter devouring Ethel's heart. Bobby deliberately catches the attention of Jupiter, who begins to pursue Bobby towards the trailer. Inside the trailer, Brenda releases the gas from the remaining propane tanks as Bobby runs inside, attaching a strip of matches to the sliding door behind him. Jupiter breaks through a trailer window and pins Brenda. Bobby frees Brenda and binds Jupiter's hand to the window. They proceed to escape through the opposite window as Jupiter is about to break free. Not realizing the two have already escaped, he makes his way to the sliding door which strikes the matches and ignites the gas inside the trailer. The trailer explodes as everything nearby is engulfed in flames, while Bobby and Brenda rejoice.
Deep in the hills, Ruby is about to return baby Catherine to Doug when Lizard jumps from a high perch between Ruby and Doug. Ruby protectively ducks away with Catherine, leaving Doug to fight Lizard. Doug, worn out from the previous fights, only seems to be killed as Lizard loses interest and goes after Ruby once more. Lying on the ground, Doug spots his wedding ring through the bandages and blood and finds the strength to continue. He steadily gets up and goes after Lizard, hitting him with the shotgun and shooting him down. As Lizard seems to go down for the last time, Ruby slowly gives Catherine back to Doug, who is so caught up in this moment that he does not notice Lizard stand up. Ruby throws herself at Lizard in the ultimate sacrifice, plunging them over a cliff, ostensibly killing them both.
Meanwhile, Bobby and Brenda walk through the charred ruins of their trailer and find Papa Jupiter still alive, though severely injured and impaled through the chest. Brenda suddenly takes Jupiter's mining pick and finishes him with a firm blow to the head. As Bobby and Brenda seem to mull what has transpired, Brenda spots Doug with Catherine and Beast. Doug joins Brenda and Bobby in a hug. As they celebrate their victory, a pair of anonymous binoculars watches from the hills.
[edit] Deaths
- 6 workers-Killed with a pick-axe
- Beauty-Chest ripped open.
- Gas Station Owner-Blew his head off with a shotgun
- Bob Carter-Tied to a tree and burnt to death.
- Lynne Bukowski-Shot in the head
- Ethel Carter-Shot in the chest.
- Goggle-Throat ripped out by Beast.
- Pluto-Stabbed through the head by Doug
- Cyst-Shape end of a pickaxe through the eye by Doug
- Big Brain-Killed offscreen by Beast
- Lizard-Beaten and shot repeatedly by Doug, then pushed off of a cliff by Ruby.
- Ruby-Falls off cliff, while pushing Lizard
- Papa Jupiter-Blown up by Bobby then stabbed through the head by Brenda with a pickaxe
[edit] Survivors
- Brenda Carter
- Doug Bukowski
- Beast
- Bobby Carter
- Baby Catherine
[edit] Response
Although the film was a commercial success, playing in total 2,521 theatres and taking in (as of June 15, 2006) a total of $41,773,472 in the United States Box Office and $57,808,032 worldwide, it has only a middling freshness rating at rottentomatoes.com [1]. Ebert and Roeper gave the movie "two thumbs down". Roeper has said, "I appreciate a quality kill and a good jolt of the senses as well as anybody... but this is an ugly slice of splatter porn that simply wore me out."[2]. But The Hills Have Eyes has been praised by many other critics, such as Ted Fry of The Seattle Times who wrote, "Consider yourself warned. The Hills Have Eyes, a brilliantly reimagined version of Wes Craven's 1977 micro-budget horror classic, is unrelenting in its brutality and contains imagery as disturbing as anything seen on mainstream movie screens since The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)." [3] It has also been reported that Wes Craven enjoyed the remake.
[edit] Sequel
Wes Craven and his son have written the script and have began to film The Hills Have Eyes 2, which stars Jessica Stroup, Michael McMillian, and Daniella Alonso. It is slated for release in March 2007, a year and one day after its predecessor.
[edit] Trivia
- The trailer crash was shot in one take.
- Director Alexandre Aja and art director Grégory Levasseur initially intended for the film to be shot in Morocco because of the similar landscape they needed to achieve (the New Mexico desert). But due to some producers' fears of terrorist attacks, Aja and Levasseur were told to find other locations. After an extensive search, another location wasn't found suitable and producers finally agreed to film in Morocco.
- Aja pays tribute to the film True Romance in the scene where Doug pretends to give up, begging for mercy, then stabs a laughing mutant in the foot. He also referenced True Romance in his debut film High Tension.
- The introductory credits images of mutated babies from the nuclear fallout are actually images of the effects of the defoliant Agent Orange. Some of the pictures show babies with facial deformities, dental deformities, Hydrocephalus, neural tube defects, fused-fingers, and club foot.
- Almost all of Ted Levine's (Bob's) actions and lines were improvised.
- Papa Jupiter displays no deformities. However shown in "The Making Of", Papa Jupiter appears to have a large parasitic twin attached to his upper left torso.
- The young children of the film had their deformities added by CGI with the exception of Ruby who had a combination of CGI and makeup. All the other mutants relied on makeup effects.
- The mutants' deformities were modeled after actual fall-out mutations to make them look as true-to-life as possible. Lizard has a cleft lip and deformed jaw, Pluto has facial and dental deformities, Goggle has facial and dental deformities, Ruby has fused-fingers as well as facial and dental deformities, the bald woman was born with no hair, the two mutant children have facial deformities, and Big Brain has Hydrocephalus.
- The bald woman with the wig is not killed.
- The two children who are in the house are also not killed.
- Make-up artist, Greg Nicotero, was featured as Cyst, the mutant with the halo head-gear.
- The movie is set in New Mexico, and strongly implies that a large number of above ground nuclear tests were performed in that state. In fact, the only nuclear detonation in New Mexico was the Trinity test, the first test of a nuclear weapon. The United States performed most of its above ground nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site.
[edit] See also
| The Hills Have Eyes Series |
|---|
| Original Series: The Hills Have Eyes | The Hills Have Eyes Part II The Hills Have Eyes III aka Mindripper Remake Series: The Hills Have Eyes (2006) | The Hills Have Eyes 2 |
[edit] External links
- Official Website — WARNING! Contains adult language and strong violence
- The Hills Have Eyes at the Internet Movie Database
- The Hills Have Eyes (2006 film) at Yahoo! Movies
- Interview with director Alexandre Aja at www.sci-fi-online.com
- The Hills Have Eyes at Rottentomatoes.com
- The Hills Have Eyes movie review and Unrated DVD review at Dread Central
- Differences between the theatrical and unrated DVD at DavisDVD
