The Hills Have Eyes | Blu-ray Review

Wes Craven left an indelible mark on American genre cinema thanks to innovations which inspired two iconic horror franchises, including the origination of Freddy Krueger with 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street and again in the late 1990s with the metatextual Scream quartet (1996-2011). But Craven, who succumbed to cancer in 2015, left behind a comprehensive and varied filmography often overlooked in favor of his more mainstream achievements. Both of Craven’s first two theatrical features have since been remade, including his grindhouse debut The Last House on the Left (1972), and perhaps more popularly, the reboot of his The Hills Have Eyes, thanks to French import Alexandre Aja in 2006. But Craven’s original 1977 treatment still stands as one of the horror auteur’s most accomplished, even as obviously inspired as he was by Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a film which reinvigorated horror cinema as pronouncedly as Craven himself would a decade later. Still, this grisly tale about an all American heteronormative nuclear family torn apart by a band of deformed derelict cannibals mutated by nuclear waste and feeding off of stray creatures in the California desert retains the subversive textures the remake would expand upon nearly thirty years later, and truly deserves to be recognized as a seminal title in the progression of American horror.

Retired cop Big Bob Carter (Russ Grieve) is taking his family on a road trip through the California desert, pulling an RV with his son Bobby (Robert Houston) and son-in-law Doug (Martin Speer) while wife Ethel (Virginia Vincent) and daughters Brenda (Suze Lanier-Bramlett) and Lynne (Dee Wallace) accompany him in the car. Taking an unexpected detour to visit some silver mines in the mountains, the Carters are warned from continuing onward into the uncharted wilderness by Fred (John Steadman), a swarthy old coot who lives alone as the owner of an isolated gas station convenience store, the last vestige of civilization for miles around. Refusing to take his advice assuming he’s trying to detract others from discovering the wealth of silver rumored to be in the ground, the Carters face a rude awakening when they discover the a savage group of cannibals living in the hills.

DP Eric Saarinen, who never worked prominently in genre either before or after this title (he lensed Albert Brooks’ Lost in America before working with commercials exclusively by the mid-1980s), begins with an ominous silhouette of some hills, a perfect visual accompaniment to a title Craven initially loathed (his original title was Blood Relations). From there, Craven reduces most of the action to two locations, the dilapidated gas station (with a handwritten side reading “No Mo Gas”) owned by John Steadman’s Fred (who is a much friendlier and integral figure than in the remake) and the film’s shocking site of carnage in the broken down RV, before descending into a face off in the titular hills. Certainly, the narrative seems rather simple when broken down, but it’s as intelligent and subversive as Craven’s other great (and neglected title), 1991’s The People Under the Stairs.

The name of the game in The Hills Have Eyes is survival. The film’s original theatrical poster (a copy of which is provided in this lovingly crafted update from Arrow Video) features a sinister Michael Berryman by the tagline “A nice American family. They didn’t want to kill. But they didn’t want to die.” In essence, this is a cruel odyssey prizing the survival of the fittest, both family units operating by their own socially dictated codes, reduced to brutality and savagery for survival. Craven’s original depiction of the ravaged family in the trailer was brutally and monstrously remounted by Alexandre Aja, but the rendering is as equally horrendous here, topped with a famous line from Peter Locke’s badly bewigged Mercury, “Baby’s fat. You fat…Fat and juicy” as he leers at Suze Lanier-Bramlett. The film is also an early feature for Dee Wallace, who would go on to star in a dizzying number of notable 80s horror and genre films (E.T.; The Howling; Critters; Cujo), here playing a surprisingly sexual mother of a new born.

The resounding message of the film appeals to a younger generation divorcing itself from the toxic, harmful ideals of their parents. Everyone is a product of their environment, most assuredly the mutated Papa Jupiter played by James Whitworth, and Michael Berryman’s Pluto. Russ Grieve and character actress Virginia Vincent are the products of 1950s era American ideals, a retired, ornery patriarch and his sweet but decidedly simple hausfrau (Vincent’s stupidity, calling for help over the CV by exclaiming “Maypole,” may be the only comedic relief) automatically considered the heroic protagonists in comparison to the mutated cannibals who were forced to retreat into the hills for survival after being exposed to radioactivity. Clearly, Robert Houston’s (who would later become an Oscar winning documentary filmmaker) Bobby and Lanier-Bramlett’s Brenda (forced to use the dead corpse of their mother as bait in one delirious sequence) have figured out they can’t take for granted their supposed superiority, while Janis Blythe’s Ruby realizes the ways of Papa Jupe and his violent clan will lead her only to death.

Disc Review:

If you need any proof of Arrow Video’s high quality presentation, look no further than this beautiful 4K restoration of The Hills Have Eyes (and just compare it to the earlier 2011 Blu-release from Anchor Bay). Producer Peter Locke supervised this release, which includes the original theatrical release as well as an alternate ending version. Presented in 1.85:1 with 1.0 Audio, the high definition transfer arrives in all its grindhouse glory, including a bunch of extra treats, such as a reversible fold-out poster, six postcards and a limited edition 40 page booklet. Audio commentary from Michael Berryman, Janus Blythe, Susan Lanier, and Martin Speer is available, as is a commentary track from academic Mikel K. Koven, and additionally, from Craven and Peter Locke.

Looking Back on the Hills:
Wes Craven, Peter Locke, Michael Berryman, Janus Blythe, Robert Houston, Susan Lanier, Dee Wallace and DP Eric Saarinen all appear in interviews for this hour long making-of documentary.

Family Business:
This brand new sixteen minute interview with actor Michael Speer was conducted in Los Angeles in June, 2016.

The Desert Sessions:
Arrow conducted this eleven minute interview with composer Don Peake in Los Angeles in May, 2016.

Alternate Ending:
An eleven minute alternative ending is included.

Outtakes:
Nearly twenty minutes worth of outtakes with audio are included.

Final Thoughts:

For those appreciative of the seedier side of Wes Craven and 1970s horror classics, The Hills Have Eyes is required viewing—and this is the definitive edition with which to experience it.

Film Review: ★★★½/☆☆☆☆☆
Disc Review: ★★★★/☆☆☆☆☆