By Reena Sandhu, Staff Writer
2 out of 5 stars
A remake to Wes Cravens 1977 cult classic, “ The Hills Have Eyes” was as disappointing as the remake of “ House of Wax”. Their pathetic attempt to rise a scare out of audiences, only rose their bottoms out of the theater.
Director Alexander Aja pushes the rated-R envelope with nonstop gruesome images. The movie starts with archive scenes of bomb test that has gone wrong in the desert. The images cut to gory images of miner test subjects who have been flawed into some odd mutations. Years later a family vacationing through this very dessert gets stranded with these mutated people. Fighting for their lives the family displays a bit of overacting throughout the movie. Being miles away from potential help, the family battles these hungry mutated miners.
The movie was presented, however,with lots of corny scenes the audience is unable to take
seriously.
The “payback” segment of the movie was expected, and failed to lure watchers. Aja made this movie just like any other thriller, delaying the retaliation period. The plot lacked any real logical issues. However the visual effects, along with the make-up done for the mutated miners, was done exceptionally well. The detailed masking of the characters, made you believe these characters really had the abnormalities.
But for the most part, Wes Craven would have been better off not remaking the movie in the first place.