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Wes Craven’s second feature film after his rape/revenge sage, The Last House On The Left, The Hills Have Eyes is another step in the right direction. This time it’s about a family on a trip to LA when they decide to take a shortcut through the Area 51 testing zone. Of course they get into a wreck and are stranded out in the desert alone, or so they think. What they don’t know is watching from the hills is a family of inbred cannibals watching the family, slowly getting ready to make their move. Don’t be fooled though, the Area 51 thing has nothing to do with the story. The cannibals are their from when the gas station owner in the desert there thought he had killed his son after the son had burned his house down killing the rest of the family. The man then dragged the body into the desert and left him their, unknowing to him that he would live on in the cover of the hills. Ever since he has lived and started his own family off the deserted road. Film wise there is not much for gore here, it’s goes more for shock value here without the blood unlike in Last House On The Last. It has a nice story with a very fitting background to go with it, a feeling of isolation is within the movie the whole time. I don’t think the movie reached it full potential though in the end, mostly because of budget restrictions I suppose, but this is still a very well done second effort from Wes Craven. It is a big step above the Last House On The Left, even though it does share some of the same themes from that film, such as a fight to stay alive between two different groups and both take place in a sort of stranded situation with no escape, like the Woods in Last House and now the desert in Hills. Hills Have Eyes was followed by a sequel in 1985 which was condemned by most. The sequel may not be as good as the first, but it’s still an enjoyable film. There also has been talk about a third film in the series as well as a remake that has been Announced with Wes Craven serving as Producer this time around.
