Psycho Drive-In logo
Search
  • PDI Press
    Featured
    • ON SALE NOW! NOIRLATHOTEP 2: MORE TALES OF LOVECRAFTIAN CRIME!!

      Corin Totin
      December 31, 2018
      News, PDI Press, PDI Press Catalog
    Recent
    • ON SALE NOW! NOIRLATHOTEP 2: MORE TALES OF LOVECRAFTIAN CRIME!!

      psychodr
      December 31, 2018
    • VOICES FROM THE NIGHT: The Living Dead Tell Their Stories

      John E. Meredith
      October 31, 2018
    • American Carnage: Tales of Trumpian Dystopia

      psychodr
      March 24, 2018
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-L
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
  • Columns P-Z
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    Featured
    • Knives Out (2019)

      Corin Totin
      November 29, 2019
      Movies, Reviews
    Recent
    • Knives Out (2019)

      Nate Zoebl
      November 29, 2019
    • Night Work (2019)

      Nate Zoebl
      November 8, 2019
    • Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw (2019) Blu-ray

      Paul Brian McCoy
      November 5, 2019
    • Books
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
    Featured
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Corin Totin
      July 13, 2018
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Dory Hoffman
      July 13, 2018
    • David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

      Dan Lee
      March 7, 2017
    • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

      Andre Lamar
      September 29, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

      Jason Sacks
      July 28, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

      Dave Hearn, Paul Brian McCoy
      July 27, 2016
    • Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

      Gary Richardson, Laura Akers
      April 16, 2016
  • News
    Featured
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      Corin Totin
      July 30, 2019
      DVD/Blu-ray, News
    Recent
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      psychodr
      July 30, 2019
    • X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives on Digital 9/3 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD 9/17

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2019
    • Avengers: Endgame arrives on Digital 7/30 and Blu-ray 8/13

      psychodr
      July 16, 2019
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Breaking
  • Knives Out (2019)
  • Night Work (2019)
  • Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw (2019) Blu-ray
  • Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
  • Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)
  • The Lighthouse (2019)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-L
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
  • Columns P-Z
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Home
Columns
Versus

The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Corin Totin
April 7, 2017
Versus

hills-vs

Doing a comparison of The Hills Have Eyes original vs remake was challenging in that both films were so well done that an obvious winner wasn’t instantly apparent as it is in some cases.

Both films follow the same basic storyline pretty closely (not a given for all remakes) which involves a family crossing the desert on their way to California. Soon after stopping at a remote gas station, they crash their vehicle and become stranded. It’s not long before a family of cannibals descends upon them and shit gets real.

The main thing that makes both the original and the remake so effective is that the characters are realistic and well-defined. I’m glad that the filmmakers in both cases understood that you don’t need long drawn-out scenes of exposition and character development to make the viewer attached to the protagonists. Both directors wisely opt to efficiently establish everything you need to know about the characters with minimal, but telling interactions. In both films, you really feel for these people who are trapped in a horrible situation and feel that they are doing the best they can to figure a way out of it.

hills-have-eyes-01

Both films are also brutal, mean-spirited stories without any levity once the action gets underway, which is what I love about them. It’s great to see serious, visceral horror with characters you actually care about. Movies like this also aren’t shy about killing them off so the stakes are actually high because any of them could die at any time. I find this to be a much more satisfying experience than waiting for a cast of cheap stereotypes to get butchered.

While the story and characters of the original are great, there are certainly some areas that could have been tightened up a bit. First on my list would be the outfits worn by the cannibal family, some of which have a bit of a “Flintstones-Halloween-costume” vibe to them. In addition to munching on human flesh, said family also had a bit of a habit of chewing the scenery and some of the performances would have been more effectively menacing had they been tempered a bit. Another issue is the gore which, while certainly good for the era, at times looks a bit dated and fake by today’s standards.

hills-have-eyes-03

To be fair, the remake has the advantage not only of modern special effects, which look fucking great by the way but also a solid story that is already laid out for filmmakers. Still, there were some interesting alterations that director Alexandre Aja made to Wes Craven’s original film. Perhaps the most noticeable of these is that the cannibals are significantly more deformed in the remake which is a result of nuclear radiation from tests performed in the area over the years. This makes them more monstrous than the cannibals in the original whose minor abnormalities stem back to a patriarch born with a mysterious genetic condition. Right from the brilliant opening title sequence that features chilling footage of real nuclear bomb detonation, Aja establishes nuclear proliferation as an underlying theme throughout the film and in effect the true genesis of the monsters themselves. To this point, the monsters could, in fact, be perceived as representing the merciless destruction caused by nuclear weapons when used against average civilians.

In conclusion, the 2006 version is a rare example of exactly what a remake should be. You take a film from decades before that has a solid, worthwhile story and update it with sleeker production values and more visceral gore for today’s desensitized audiences. The most important thing, however, is to keep the elements that made the original film work in the first place, which Aja has done while infusing it with his own style of gorgeous brutality. If more remakes followed his example the concept of remakes, in general, wouldn’t carry the well-earned stigma of simply being a way for Hollywood to make a quick buck with minimum effort.

hills-winner


This article originally ran on Corin Totin’s Sick Flix website. Check it out for more dark and disturbing film reviews!


 

(Visited 212 times, 1 visits today)

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Alexandre AjaCorin TotinThe Hills Have EyesVersusWes Craven

Legion Chapters 6-8
Comet TV April 2017 Viewing Guide!

About The Author

monsterid
Corin Totin

Corin Totin is a Film School graduate and owner of Sickflix.net where he reviews Horror and Alternative Cinema films. He is a strong supporter of freedom of expression and believes that art that pushes boundaries and breaks taboos is essential to preserving that freedom. You can visit his site www.sickflix.net, like him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sickflix.net or follow him on Twitter @SickFlixHorror.

RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

Archives

All work on this site is Copyright © each individual writer.
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-L
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
  • Columns P-Z
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
View Mobile Site
%d bloggers like this: