Six out of stupid families were never heard from again.

Review: The Hills have Eyes

This is what I get for being dragged to movies with freinds. It was bad. Not as bad as Ultraviolet, I think... but bad in it's own rights, and much worse in some. Want the short review? Here:

GORE GORE GORE GORE bad acting GORE GORE GORE GORE lack of realism GORE GORE GORE rape GORE GORE GORE.

Ugh... I disliked this movie a lot. I expected a gorefest with no story, and that's exactly what I got. Why am I dissapointed you ask? Well, it was even less than that, actually. Gore was more than I thought necessary at times, they just threw limbs and things of the sort whenever they could. The story started out sort of interesting, but definately took a nose dive after the first 10 minutes.


I'll post it quite simply. (SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS) :O

The Good:
* Character developement for the faimly, everyone has a personality and are believable characters
* Setting looked excellent, and for the most part, the costumes/make-up was really good too
* Definately was what I thought it was going to be: Gorey slasher. There wasn't any false advertising here, no hidden romantic comedy or deep drama. It was gore gore gore.
* Cinemetography was pretty good with the wide open shots, and stuff like that.

The BAD:
* Character developement was great until the movie reached it's turning point, when they're less scared, and more worried about fighting back. The very caculating 'enemies' are suddenly very flawed in everything they do, while the 'heroes' are very adept at nearly anything they try.
* Setting is off because if the place they talk about is as desolate as they portray it, how the hell do they survive out there at all? And why turn to cannibalism? They have access to someone who can get them food and stuff. They are just 'wild', not 'stupid'. They can manage explosives (oh, yeah, how the hell did they manage to make a remote activated explosive?), weapons, hold a conversation, and have children who aren't 'wild', but seem to act like children should at their age.
* Cinemetography got bad when it got close. It was too zoomed in to the face (shoulder to the top of the head, no space around at all). Felt cramped and you really had no idea what was going on. I'm sure this was their intention, to add a bit more scare into it, but it just felt more frustrating than anything.
* Writing, had some nice dialogue, but everything after the 'introduction to the gore' was pretty bland.

the UGLY:
* Character (the main one), suddenly gained a superior constitution and uncanny speed. Able to in less than 2 seconds, in complete silence, get him, and his barky dog (whom he is silencing with one hand) into a car 20 feet away without causing a sound. The 'guard' who turns around sees nothing, of course! Also, he gets knocked out once. Wakes up in a bin full of body parts, and is locked in with a faulty lock. He busts the lock open and escapes, making a LOT of noise on the way out. Nobody hears or even attempts to do anything about it, even though there's someone in the next room with a walkie-talkie. Oh, and it was only a few minutes later, because the sun outside hasn't changed much, if at all. He gets fingers cut off, thrown through walls, and more! Yet, he is able to get up after all of this and regain his footing and stamina almost instantaneously.
* Setting made no sense really. They were living in a town that was a government test site for nuclear warheads, and that's ok, it was pretty interesting. They have access to machinery? They have access to cars? Why don't they drive the cars? Why an elaborate ploy with the Explosives? Why do half a job, and just scare them, rather than get it done completely? ---more on this event later---
* Cinemetography gets brutally annoying at times, in some action scenes, it's really hard to tell what's going on and when, because they don't transition scenes well, making it more disorienting (in a bad way).
*MUSIC OMFG THE MUSIC: ok, this is a personal issue of mine. The composer must have been told that half the movie was a thriller, and the other half was an war movie, because any triumphant scene in the movie was treated like ... it's hard to explain. the Music was completely misplaced after the first 30 minutes.

All and all, I disliked the movie, it was just a showcase for gore, and a bad movie in my book. Want gore? You got it. Want anything else? Keep on going.