THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake - - go see it!

[The Burgomaster]

I saw this today and it is an exceptionally worthy remake.  In many ways, it remains faithful to Wes Craven's classic original, but it is much more brutal and relentless.  Highly recommended.

[daveblackeye15]

Hmmm, I dunno....

I'll wait and see what other's think.

[flacorocks]

I wanted to see this really bad today buy my gf hates horror flicks. We saw 16 blocks instead. One thing funny though..I was waiting in line to get the tix and a kid about 12 or so told some girls he was with "We probably don't want to see it anyways, who is going to believe that Hills have eyes?" I about reached over and slapped him!! HAHA!!  Ahh to be young again....I will be going to Slither alone for sure!!!!!

[The Burgomaster]

THE BOSTON GLOBE gave it a good review . . . said it "completely obliterates" the original.  They may be right.  VARIETY also gave it a good review.

Trust me . . . this isn't your typical rushed, crappy remake.  Wes Craven was invloved and the guys who made HIGH TENSION (another excellent horror movie) were responsible for it.  The camerawork and editing are excellent and the suspense and violence are riveting.  And there is much more gore than you would expect.  

Maybe best of all is the make-up on the mutants . . . it's obvious that the make-up artists studied real people with genetic defects before they made this movie.  Don't wait . . . go see it.  

[plan9superfan]

I, on principle, am against any remake of a great Wes Craven movie.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

Like i said before, I am very leery.  If I can see it cheap, I'll go/rent/borrow, but thats all.  Its not my favorite genre, and I really like the original.
-Ed

[plan9superfan]

Remakes are not a genre I like very much either.

Specially 2000s ones.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Sweet Jesus....I just came back from seeing it.  Take Burgo's advice and see it ASAP.  

I'm fond of the original, but this just completely blew it away.  It doesn't play by any rules set by other horror films and seems out of control during it's entire running time.  What amazed me the most was how much Aja got away with when it comes to violence.  This film is gory as hell, and has a lot of scenes I would never expect to see in an R rated film today.

My wife and I were the only people in the theater when the movie started.  About 5 minutes into it, a group of 11-12 year olds walked in (or snuck in).  At first, they were laughing whenever someone said a curse word.  Then, during the attack on the trailer, I heard every one of them get up and leave.  I have no doubt that they are now scarred for life.

Go see this film.  Excellent excellent excellent piece of work.

[daveblackeye15]

Hmm, I getting kind of interested now, since the guy who did this was the guy who did the Dawn of the Dead remake.

[The Burgomaster]

Let me interject some additional info here.

For those of you who have read my other threads over the years, I am NOT a big fan of remakes and I am DEFINITELY NOT a fan of current movies, in general.  I think that the industry as a whole took a turn for the worse after the late 1970s.  I am very much opposed to the industry's current reliance on CG effects and MTV-type camera work.

That being said, I am VERY surprised that this movie is so good.  Of course, there are people out there who worship the original and will be totally against this remake no matter how good it is.  Believe me, I love the original.  I've seen it about 10 times.  I own the DVD.  But sometimes you just need to admit that a remake can be as good as (or better than) the original.  Such is the case with this movie.  Don't condemn it before you see it.  It is one of the best movies of its kind to be released in a long, long time.  It is a high-energy, non-stop thriller.  And Skaboi is right.  This movie looks much more like NC-17 territory than R.  Even if yoiu hate the movie, you'll be impressed with the gore.  

[Mr_Vindictive]

Burgo,

The only problem that I had with it was the first five minutes or so.  The writing about the nuclear tests was fine, but then the first scene felt out of place compared to the rest of the film. The desert in the first scene even looks nothing like the rest of the film.

I had a bad feeling though with the first shot of that scene with a CGI fish running through a small river.  I was starting to wonder if Aja had given into our American sensibilities and used CGI throughout the film, but as you mentioned, that's not even remotely the case.  Everything here is latex and absolutely stunning to look at.  Not to spoil anything for the others, but there is one of the family members who is in a wheelchair, and once you see him, you will be amazed at how well the latex was done in this film.

It's hardcore to it's bone from beginning to end.  I'm going to start calling Aja's films, "Ulcer Films".  Both this and Haute Tension are so stressful on the viewer that it feels like you'll have an ulcer by the end of it.  That is great filmmaking.

[daveblackeye15]

I know you dislike remakes as well Burgo. But that doesn't mean we'll nessacrerly agree on both liking a remake.

But I do believe in if "Burgo (or any other person that dislikes remakes unless it's a surprisingly good remake) likes it then it must be a good remake."

I think I will try to catch it but when it hits the dollar fifty theater.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Well, I just looked it up and it looks like HHE got raped by the new Sara Jessica Parker comedy and the new Tim Allen Disney remake.  This is pretty damned sad.  Parker's film made 24 million while Hills only made 15 mil.  WTF!?!?!?

I was hoping that the film would have a good box office and have other films start following it's balls to the wall violence and gore quota.  Word of mouth could possibly save this film, but a the moment it looks like it will only break even.  That, my friends, is a shame.

[ulthar]

Well, give it time; word will probably spread.  Flicks like that SJP masterpiece open strong (is 24 mil even a strong opening anymore?) for a week or two due to marketing and hype, but they tend to have no staying power.

I know you know this already, Skaboi; I'm just re-emphasizing it.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Ulthar,

Yeah, I hope the film does have some staying power.  If not, it'll probably do the same thing as most horror films, which is make money on DVD.  It never fails to amaze me how a horror film will bomb at the theater and then make buckets of cash on video.  I guess that most people just don't care to see horror films in theaters anymore.